34 



ENGLISH BOTANY 



Bantry ; Bandon ; Templemichael Glen (Mr. D. Murray and I. 

 Carroll). On the Glashgariff river, Cork (Drummond). Near Blarney 

 (I. C). Near the summit of Carrigana Kildorrey, north of Cork 

 (I. C.) ; Glenbower Wood, near Cork ; Glendine Wood, W T aterford 

 (Kinahan). Sparingly at Powerscourt waterfall ; and a few plants in 

 Hermitage Glen, Wicklow, Flor. Hib. (not found lately). Cumaelta 

 Mountains (Moore, Nat. Pr. Br. F.); Glenstal, Barrington's Bridge, 

 near the Keeper Mountain, Limerick (Mr. G. A. Pollock) ; on the 

 banks of the Clare river, three miles south of Newport, Tipperary 

 (Mr. G. H. Kinahan). (This station may extend to district 7.)"— 

 'Cybele Hibernica,' p. 378. 



Var. ft. In a moist, rocky cave, Blackstones, Glouin Caragh, Kerry 

 (Mr. W. Andrews), and near Killarney, Mr. Isaac Carroll. 



England, [Scotland,] Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



Rootstock about the thickness of a crow-quill, emitting wiry, 

 forking, radical fibres, densely tomentose with scales resembling 

 hairs. Stipes varying from 1 to 6 inches; lamina 3 to 12 inches; 

 pinnae and divisions of pinnae all connected by a broad wing, so 

 that the frond must be termed pinnatipartite instead of pinnate; 

 ultimate lobes oblong, with short, entire or bifid teeth. Involucre 

 situated on the lowest anterior branch of the vein of the ultimate 

 segments, urn-shaped^ tapering below, about T \ inch long, pale 

 green. Receptacle bristle-shaped, sometimes scarcely exceeding the 

 involucre, but usually ultimately twice as long or more. Spore- 

 cases reddish, concealed within the involucre. 



Of var. ft. I have no specimens, but judging from the figure in Mr. 

 Newman's ' British Ferns,' it appears to differ from the ordinary form 

 only in the frond being narrower and more acuminated, the recep- 

 tacles immersed in the substance of the leaves, and the bristle or 

 receptacle ^sometimes 3 or 4 times longer than the involucre ; Mr. 

 Andrews, in his description, says 6 times longer. Mr. Andrews lavs 

 some stress as a, distinctive feature on " the lower pinnae being dis- 

 tant and short;" but this occurs in var. a, of which I have specimens 

 in which the same rootstock bore some fronds having the lowest 

 pmnaB longer than the succeeding, and others in which they are 

 considerably shorter. 



Tins fern is remarkable for the slow development of its fronds, and 

 their lengthened duration, as they are not fully developed until the 

 second year, and until then the involucres are not produced. 

 Accordmg to Milde, however, the Mexican form is said to be fructi- 

 ferous m the first year. Mr. Andrews, as quoted in Newman's 

 British Ferns,' says no disposition to bear fruit is shown until 

 the autumn of the third year, when the involucres appear, and the 



