194 MACOUN AND BUEGESS ON 



Railway, north of Lakes Huron and Superior, Out. — /. Fletcher. Current River, Lake 

 Superior. — Macon n. 



§ § Indusia curved, often crossing the veins, and attached to both sides 

 of them. 



6. — A. Filix-fcemina, Bernh., (Lady-Fern, Common Spleenwort, Female-Fern), Gray, 

 Man., 662. Hook, and Baker, Syn. Fil., 227. Provancher, Flor. Can., 716. Macoun's Cat., 

 No. 2279. Fowler's N. B. Cat., No. 750. Ball, Trans. N. S. Inst. Nat. Sci., IV, 150. Eatou, 

 Ferns of N. A., II, 225. Underwood, Our Nat. Ferns, etc., 100. 



A. athyrium, Spreng. 



Polypodium Filix-foemina, L. 



Athyrium Filix-foemina, Roth., Lawson, Can. Nat., I, 277. "Watt, Can. Nat., IV, 363. 



Athyrium asplenioides, Desv. 



Aspidium Filix-foemina, Swartz, SL*.?Je.,s-9- 



Aspidium asplenioides, Swartz, A Pursh, II, 664. 



Nephrodium Filix-foemina, Mx., Fl. Bor.-Am., II, 268. 



Nephrodium asplenioides, Mx., Fl Bor.-Am., II, 268. 



The Lady-Fern is a common and most polymorphous non-evergreen species, which 

 grows in dense tufts in moist fields and woods, where it reaches a height of If to 4 feet. 

 Rootstock resembles those of Aspleniums angtistifolium and thelypterioides in being creeping 

 and covered with old stalk-bases, but is stouter ; stalks smooth, erect, slightly chaffy at the 

 base, green or almost red in the fresh plant, but stramineous or brown when dried ; fronds 

 light-green, broadly oblong-ovate in outline, 1 to 3 feet long by 6 to 12 inches wide, occa- 

 sionally much narrowed at the base, bipinnate : pinnae numerous, short-stalked, and lan- 

 ceolate ; pinnules oblong-lanceolate, pointed, more or less pinnately incised or serrate, and 

 distinct or confluent on the narrowly winged secondary rachis ; sori short, placed near the 

 midvein, at length confluent over nearly the whole under surface of the fronds, to which 

 they give a dark brown colour ; indusia almost straight or variously curved, delicate, and 

 usually lacerate-ciliate. 



Probably no other fern is more variable than this, Mr. Moore having described nearly 

 seventy varieties as occurring in Great Britain, all of which there is no reason should not 

 be found with us, as indeed many of them have been. The following are the leading 

 forms : Var. angustum, which is so distinct as to have merited description as a species being 

 alone retained as a good variety. Var. exile, D. C. Eaton, is a depauperate form, with fronds 

 only 3 to 6 inches long, and pinnate, with the pinnae deeply cut into segments, which are 

 few toothed at the ends. Var. latifolium, Hook., has oblong-lanceolate, nearly bipinnate 

 fronds, 2 to 3 feet long, having the pinnae oblong-linear with a narrowly-winged secondary 

 rachis, and pinnules broadly ovate, foliaeeous, obtuse, and often doubly serrate. Var. 

 cyclosorum, Ruprecht, has the fronds A _ ery large, often five feet high, and bipinnate ; the 

 long pinnules pinnatifid almost to their midvein ; sori roundish, and indusium very short. 

 Var. molle, Moore, is small, with ovate-lanceolate, almost bi-pinnate fronds, the lower 

 pair of pinnae distant, and the sori distinct. Var. laciniatum, Lowe, has small fronds and 

 irregular laciniated segments. Var. rigidum, Lawson, has small, rigid fronds and the sori 

 confined to the lower part of each pinnule, while var. cristatum, AVolleston, has multilid 

 apices of fronds and pinnae. 



