KAY S WOODSIA. 



The radicles are black, wiry, and sparingly branched : the 

 caudex is thick, tufted, and lasting many years : the stipes is 

 very distinctly jointed at a distance of three quarters of an inch 

 from its junction with the caudex ; the articulation is swollen, 

 and very obvious to the naked eye when the frond is mature ; 

 at this xJoint, so far as my observation has extended, separation 

 generally takes place, the basal portion of each stipes adhering 

 to the caudex. This very interesting character, common to all 

 plants of the genus, is well described by Wahlenberg (Fl, Lapp.) 

 The stipes, above this joint, as well as the rachis, is clothed 

 with lanceolate scales, and glittering articulated hairs. Mr. 

 WoUaston, whose valuable observations on the British ferns 

 under cultivation are interspersed throughout this little mono- 

 graph, informs me that the vernation of this fern usually begins 

 about the middle of March ; it then throws up a tuft of elon- 

 gated " shepherd's-crook-formed " fronds, which are densely 

 covered beneath with light-coloured, chaffy, and hairy scales, 

 and which exhibit no appearance whatever of fructification, 

 even until they have attained a considerable degree of maturity. 

 The form of the frond is lanceolate and pinnate : the pinnae are 

 in pairs and generally opposite at the base of the frond, but 

 becoming alternate towards the apex ; thej^ are sessile, oblong, 

 obtuse, deeply lobed, and in some specimens pinnatifid, in 

 which case the lobes are crenate, as in figure c, (page 71) : the 

 upper surface of the frond appears smooth to the naked eye, 

 but under a lens of high power, a few long bristle-like scales are 

 observable, all of them pointmg outwards ; the under surface 

 appears pubescent, and, with the aid of a lens, this pubescence 

 is found to consist, first, of very long, pointed, narrow scales, 

 which are more particularly abundant about the midrib ; se- 

 condly, of glittering anjd articulated hairs, which are scattered 

 over nearly the entire surface ; and, tldnlly, of the capillary 

 segments of the involucres, which are also glittering and arti- 

 culated. The capsules are j)laced in circular clusters near the 

 margins of the lobes or pinnules ; they are frequently concealed 

 by the pubescence already described. 



