U CRYPTOGAMIA FILICES. 



they may be useful to the young botanist, for by him the 

 Flora Scotica and Flora Edinensis will ever be resorted to 

 for information relative to the plants of Scotland, and the 

 works are therefore deserving of commentary. 



5. A. dilatatum, stalk chaffy, bipinnate ; leaves lanceolate, the 

 leaflets deeply pinnatifid, with nearly opposite serrated segments, 

 the serratures pointed with a short bristle ; masses biserial near 

 the midrib ; cover kidney-shaped, tumid, finally orbicular, with a 

 lateral notch. 



Var. 1. Frond triangular ; leaves rather distant, nearly opposite 

 with the lower range of leaflets more elongated than the upper. 



Var. %. Frond contracted below ; leaves rather close ; regularly 

 alternate, with the upper and lower range of leaflets nearly equal. 



Hab. Moist woods, deans, and under shelving rocks, com- 

 mon. July, Aug. y. 



A very variable species in regard to size and form, but in 

 general the outline of the frond is triangular, and the 

 height between one and two feet. The var. 1, is most 

 common. 



6. A. Filix-fcemma^ stalk smooth or chaffy, bipinnate ; leaves al- 

 ternate, linear-lanceolate, the leaflets narrow, linear-oblong, pin- 

 natifid, the segments with 2-4 pointless serratures; masses 

 biserial ; cover oblong, finally somewhat kidney-shaped, jagged. 

 Lady 'Fern. 



Hab. Shaded woods and deans, common. July, Aug. If 



" Where the copsewood is the greenest, 

 Where the fountain glistens sheenest. 

 Where the morning dew lies longest, 

 There the Lady-fern grows strongest." 



The stalk is commonly described as smooth, but it is as often 

 chaffy all the way up, sometimes greatly so, and always 

 more or less so near the root. The cover of the masses of 

 seeds is oblong, and separated from one side only, whence 

 the plant is by many considered as a species of Asplenium. 



The seeds of Ferns are exceedingly numerous and minute, 

 contained in capsules collected into clusters, which, in ge- 

 neral, are beautifully arranged on the lower surface of the 

 leaf. Each capsule is encircled by an elastic crenulated 



