

30 LADY FERN. 



LADY FERN. 



ASPLENIUM FILIX FCEMINA. 



\Bentham, JBernhardi, Hooker, and ArnoU.] 



(Fig. 23.) 



SYNONYMS. 



ATHYRIUM FILIX FCEMINA. Bdbington, Moore, 



Newman. 



ASPIDIUM FILIX FCEMINA. Swartz, Smith. 

 POLYPODIUM FILIX FCEMINA. 



THIS is the most lovely of our British ferns, and 

 by its delicate cutting, its bright green colour, and 

 exquisite grace of form, has gained special admira- 

 tion from those who find it in its native haunts. Its 

 habit is tufted ; it has the short woody root-stalk of 

 the Male Fern, but is more divided ; the stalk is less 

 ecaly, and the sori different. The fronds, which appear 

 in May, are lanceolate, twice pinnate ; the pinnules 

 deeply cut or pinnatifid ; the lobes sharply toothed. 

 At first the vernation of the fronds is circinate, but as 

 they advance, the apex becomes free and hangs down, 

 as in Aspidium Filix Mas, assuming the appearance of 

 a shepherd's crook. The fronds are exceedingly fragile, 

 and wither almost immediately on being gathered. 

 The sori are very abundant, covering the back of the 



