50 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



plant ; they are most abundant on the rachis and midrib. The ultimate 

 divisions are often more or less convex, from having their edges 

 recurved like those of some forms of Athyrium Filix-femina. The 

 sori are larger, and from this sometimes become confluent so as to 

 form continuous lines. Lastly, the constitution of the plant seems 

 quite different, for P. Dryopteris loves shade and moisture, while 

 P. Robertianum prefers dry spots and full exposure to the sun. 



Limestone- Fern, Smith's- Fern, or Limestone Polypody. 



SPECIES III.-PHEGOPTERIS POLYPODIOIDES. Fee. 



Plate 1847. 



Babenh. Crypt. Vase. Europ. Exsicc. No. 56. 



Ph. vulgaris, Mett. Fil. Hort. Bot. Lips. p. 83. 



Polypodiuni Phegopteris, Linn. Spec. Plant, p. 1550. 8m. Eng. Bot. No. 2224 ; and 



Eng. Fl. Vol. IV. p. 282. Bab. Mau. Brit. Bot. ed. vii. p. 441. Hook fil. Stud. 



Fl. p. 4G7. Moore, Nat. Print. Brit. Ferns, 8vo. ed. Vol. I. p. 70. Hook. & Baker, 



Syn. Fil. ed. ii. p. 308. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Hebr. ed. ii. p. 974. Fries, Summ. 



Veg. Scand. p. 82. Gren. & Goolr. Fl. de France, Vol. III. p. 627. Babenh. 1. c. 

 Lastrea Phegopteris, Bory. Newm. Hist. Brit. Ferns, ed. ii. p. 13. 

 Gyrnnocarpiuni Phegopteris, Neiom. Phyt. 1851, p. 371, and at p. 23 ; and Hist. Brit. 



Ferns, ed. iii. p. 49. 



Caudex elongate, slender, scarcely tortuous, creeping, branched, 

 tomentose, the younger parts sparingly clothed with lanceolate 

 scales, producing fronds at rather distant intervals. Fronds all 

 similar. Stipes erect, almost filiform, finely pubescent, at first with 

 rather numerous lanceolate or subulate often piliferous pale brown 

 scales, ultimately naked. Lamina gradually curved backwards, firm, 

 dull yellowish-green, sparingly pubescent, triangular-acuminate and 

 very acute, pinnate with the pinnaB pinnatifid or pinnatipartite but 

 not again pinnate ; lower pair of pinnae deflexed ; ultimate 

 segments often convex, oblong, obtuse, crenate or entire. Sori 

 round or oval, arranged in a line near the margin on each side of 

 the ultimate segments, but commonly only towards their base, 

 attached to the lateral veins a little below their apex. 



On rocks and amongst stones, chiefly in ravines, and on the ground 

 in damp woods. This plant has almost the same distribution as 

 P. Dryopteris, in company with which it often grows. There are, 

 however, a few more localities in the south of England, as it occurs 

 not only in Cornwall and Devon, but also in Dorset and Sussex. 

 In Scotland it occurs in Orkney, where P. Dryopteris has not been 

 noticed, although it, as well as P. Phegopteris, has been observed in 



