154 Bennett's fekn. 



! BENNETT'S FERN. 



Genus. — Lophodium. (See page 136). 



Species. — Glandulosum. Caudex tufted, very large and 

 long-enduring; its crown smooth, pale whitish brown, com- 

 posed of undeveloped fronds, covered with pale, roundish, 

 concolorous scales : stipes scarcely half so long as the frond, 

 densely covered at the base with large, roundish, concolorous 

 scales : fronds symmetrically arranged round a centre, lanceo- 

 late, pinnate, so densely covered on the under surface, as well 

 as on the general and partial rachides, with minute stalked 

 glands, as to have a rough and somewhat clammy feel : pinnae 

 pinnate : pinnules lobed ; the lobes serrated : involucres with 

 stalked glands on the margin. 



Lastrea giandulosa, Newm. Phytol. iv. 256. 



I know of no figure of this fern, and suppose that none has 

 ever been published. I distrust my power to make such a 

 drawing as would distinguish it from its congeners, since its dis- 

 tinctive characters are scarcely such as the pencil will portray. 



I have neither seen nor heard of this fern beyond the limits 

 of three English counties, -^ Shropshire, Gloucestershire, and 

 Essex; and the first of these I feel strongly inclined to exclude, 

 but extract the passage in which it is indicated : — " Even at 

 equal elevations, there are differences among the plants which 

 have been pronounced specific ; as in the instance of L. gian- 

 dulosa of Newman, a species founded upon a solitary plant of 

 L. dilatata [L. multiflorum] (as it would appear), observed by 

 Mr. Pm-chas in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire. I am indebted 



