318 CRYPTOGAM I A— FILICES. Pteris. 



branous, inflexed, narrow, inner cover, contrary or oppo- 

 site to the outer one, and in like manner fringed, has 

 been observed by the late Mi-. Thomas Smith, F.L.S., 

 as well as by Mr. Brown. This ought perhaps to form 

 a part of the generic character of a true Pteris ; those 

 tropical, more membranous, species, which, according 

 to Mr. Brown, have it not, constituting a separate genus. 

 Yet I doubt its existence in P. crispa, which can be de- 

 termined by those only who have opportunities of examin- 

 ing this rare mountain species in a gjowing state. See 

 Hooker, p. 2. 156. 



1. P. aquilina. Common Brakes. 



Frond thrice pinnate; segments lanceolate, bluntish ; lower- 

 most pinnatifid ; upper gradually smallest ; terminal ones 

 large, undivided. 



P. aquilina. Linn. Sp. PL 1533. Willd. v. 5. 402. Fl. Br. 1 136. 



Engl. Bot. V. 24. t. 1679. Hook. Scot. p. 2. 156. Bolt. Fil. 16. 



t. 10 5 bad. Bull. Fr. t. 207. Ehrh. Crypt. 201. 

 Filix. Tillands Ic. 78. f. 

 F. n. 1688. Hall. Hist. V. 3. 7. 

 F. foemina. RaiiSyn.\24. Ger.Em.l\28.f. Lob.Ic.8l2.f. Matth. 



Valgr.v.2.627.f. Camer. Epit. 992./. had. Fuchs. Hist. 596./. 



Ic. 342. /. Dod. Pempt.Am./. Tabern. Kreuierb. 1181. /. 



Dalech.Hist. 1222./. 

 F. ramosa major, pinnulis obtusis non dentatis, Bauh. Pin. 357. 



Plum. Fil. pre/. 23. t.A./.\. 

 F. ramosa repens vulgatissima. Moris, v. 3. 583. sect. 14. t. 4,/. 3. 

 F. majoiis primum genus. Trag. Hist. 542./. 

 /3. F. saxatilis ramosa maritima nostras. Raii Hist. v. I. 151. 



Syn. 125. Pluk. Almag. 155. Phyt. t. 182./. 1. 



On ban-en heaths, and in sandy thickets and woods, every where 

 most abundantly. j3. On maritime rocks, or damp walls in 

 towns, but rarely. 



Perennial. July. 



Root long, tapering, creeping j externally black. Fronds annual, 

 erect, from one to six feet high, repeatedly compound, with 

 horizontally spreading branches, whose ribs are smooth ; the 

 primary ones nearly opposite j the next more alternate, deeply 

 pinnatifid, with crowded, lanceolate, bluntish, convex, parallel 

 segments ; the odd one generally much the largest ; lateral ones 

 sometimes greatly diminished ; all of a light bright green j re- 

 volute at the margin, which is brownish, and slightly crisped 

 or wavy, sheltering the dense linear masses of tawny capsules. 

 Barren leajiets pale and hairy at the back. The main Malk is 



