OSL.ONG, OR RAY'S WOODSIA. 



OBLONG, OR RAY'S WOODSIA. 



WOODSIA ILVENSIS. 

 \R, Brown and Bentham.~\ 



(Fig. 22.) 

 SYNONYMS. 



ACROSTICHUM ILVENSE. Linnceus. 

 POLYPODIUM AROONICUM. Withering. 



POLYPODIUM ILVENSE. SwartZ. 



A DECIDUOUS species of fern, dying down to the 

 ground in the winter and appearing again in the 

 spring. The root-stalk is densely tufted ; the fronds 

 spreading, two to four, or rarely six inches long. 

 Their form is lanceolate, more or less broad, and in 

 their mode of dursion they are pinnate ; the pinnse 

 opposite, in pairs, of an obtusely oblong shape, with a 

 deeply lobed or pinnatifid margin. They are of a 

 thick dull-looking texture, hairy above, and clothed 

 underneath with brownish bristle-like scales, among 

 which the sori are almost concealed. 



This is one of our rarest ferns. It grows on ele- 

 vated and bleak places, in the fissures of rocks, in 

 Wales and Scotland, and in some places in the North 

 of England. It is spoken of by John Ray as being 



