11^ PEIC3CLY FEEN. 



In one or other of its forms this fern seems to be distributed 

 throughout the United Kingdom. I have seen it more or less 

 abundantly in every county I have visited, whether in England, 

 Wales, Scotland, or Ireland ; and the lists I have received 

 through the kindness of my correspondents, invariably record 

 its occurrence. It seems to delight in the j)roteotion of man, 

 its favourite locality being our hedge-rows ; and its luxuriance 

 being greatly increased by cultivation, or even by proximity to 

 cultivated lands : its occurrence on our moors, commons, and 

 moimtains, is comparatively rare, its stature diminutive, and 

 its fronds are more sparing^ divided. 



The radicles are unusually long, strong, and tough, often 

 taking so firm a hold of the soil, especially when the plant is 

 growing in hedge-banks, among the roots of whitethorn or 

 liazel, as to require great labour in removing. The caudex is 

 very large, apparently increasing slowly with age, and enduring 

 for many years. The young fronds make their appearance in 

 April, the circinate apex being bent backwards, and remarkably 

 graceful in its appearance : the pinnae of the young frond are 

 also circinate: I have attempted, in the vignette at page 110, 

 to give an idea of this character. The fronds attain their 

 full expansion in July, and the seed appears to have reached 

 maturity in September : the fronds are tough, leathery, and 

 perfectly persistent, retaining their green uninjured by frosts 

 throughout the year, and showing no disposition to decay until 

 the fronds of the succeeding year are fully developed ; indeed, 

 they are of so rigid and durable a character, that after changing 

 their green hue for one of brown, they remain almost unaltered 

 in form ; and thus Nature often preserves the foliage of three 

 or four successive years attached to the same caudex, display- 

 ing to the inquiring gaze of the botanist a variation in charac- 

 ter that will often strike him with astonishment. The form of 

 the frond may be termed lanceolate, but it becomes more or 

 less linear, and more or less attenuated towards the base. The 

 stipes is usually very short, and is densely clothed with reddish 

 scales ; these are very large and crowded at its junction with 



