118 



WILLDENOW S FEEN. 



a horizontal to a vertical surface : its habit is weak, flexile, 

 graceful and drooping; a number of fronds issue from the 



'///W 



•"""m, 



crown of the caudex, and, when uniiiterrupted, spread from a 

 common centre, presenting a very beautiful appearance : the 

 texture of the frond is soft and delicate, its form lanceolate and 

 ]5innate : the pinnae are very numerous, elongate, linear, dis- 

 tinct, often distant, drooping, and j)innate ; the pinnules are 

 blunt at the apex, auricled at the base, distinctly stalked 

 and serrated at the edges, and each serrature is armed with a 

 spme : every part of the under surface of the fronds, more 

 especially the -^mxnax^ and secondary rachides, abounds in 

 reddish chaffy scales. 



When we select a specimen of this plant in its extreme state, 

 and contrast it with a specimen of P. aculeatum, also in its 

 extreme state ; when we select a central pinna of each, and 



