54 BEECH FERN. 



As the foregoing observations seem somewhat at variance 

 with the opinions expressed by Mr. Watson, in his ' Cybele 

 Britannica ' (iii. 254), I am bound in justice, both to that philo- 

 sophical botanist and to the reader, to give his observations 

 in extenso. " Scottish type of distribution. * * * Native. 

 Eupestral, &c. It may at first appear an error to refer this 

 fern to the Scottish or boreal type of distribution, when the 

 zonal or latitudinal ranges are so wide or general, extending 

 from the coast level to the high mountains, from the South of 

 England to the extreme North of Scotland. It is the great 

 rarity of the plant in the most southerly and south-easterly 

 provinces of England, that suggests the boreal rather than the 

 British type. Of the twenty-two counties included in the four 

 first provinces, four only have been reported to produce this 

 species ; and one of these (Middlesex) being little probable, and 

 not certified on sufficient authority, can scarcely be reckoned 

 in the census. Most of the other sixty counties doubtless pro- 

 duce this fern, which has been actually reported from about 

 forty-five of them. I do not know how far South this should 

 be deemed a plant of the coast level. The altitude of its sta- 

 tions in the Channel and Peninsula may not be quite so low as 

 to warrant an indication of the coast level in those provinces. 

 The term ' rupestral ' does not very accurately characterize the 

 natural situations for the species ; a combination of ' rupestral ' 

 with ' sylvestral ' and ' uliginal ' would be nearer the actual 

 conditions of its growth, • — a combination of drainage with 

 shade and humidity." 



The radicles of the beech fern are black and fibrous : its 

 caudex or stolon-like rhizome is wiry, tuugh, and creeping: the 

 fronds are thrown up in May, rising on erect, succulent, and 

 very brittle stems, clothed with a few pale scattered scales. I 

 have taken some pains to represent these young fronds at page 

 55, in every stage of development. They unfold with wonder- 

 ful rapidity, attain perfection in July, and are destroyed by 

 the early frosts on the approach of winter. The position of 

 the frond is at first nearly erect, subsequently horizontal, and 



