18 MALE SHIELD FERN. 



ASPIDIUM FILIX MAS, PALEACEA (or BORRERI, as 

 it is sometimes called), has lanceolate fronds of 

 a yellowish kind, and bright golden scales on the 

 rachis. It also differs from the other varieties in 

 having purple ribs and veins, and in the sides of the 

 indusium being inflated beneath the spore-cases. A 

 very curious form of the Male Fern has the points 

 of the fronds and of the pinnae divided into a fringe 

 or tassel, a curious transformation, which occurs in 

 British species only in this and the Lady Fern. 



ASPIDIUM FILIX MAS PUMILA is permanently smaller 

 than the original plant, seldom reaching more than a 

 foot in height. The pinnae are short, bluntish, and 

 pinnatifid. The sori are borne only on the lowest 

 anterior branch of each pinnule. It is of rare occur- 

 rence, but seems to have been brought originally from 

 Snowdon. When fresh, the young fronds have a sweet 

 fragrant smell, something like mignionette. 



ASPIDIUM FILIX MAS ABBREVIATA is a permanently 

 small form of the Male Fern, about a foot in height, 

 in which the pinnules become rounded lobes, and the 

 fructification forms a line on each side of the mid-vein 

 of the pinnae. It is found in woods and banks in 

 Cumberland and Yorkshire. 



