ATHYRIUM FILIX-FEMINA. 215 



Caudex very large and stem-like, very enduring : stipes a 

 fourth part as long as the frond, scarcely incrassated at the 

 base, somewhat scaly : rachis rarely in the slightest degree pel- 

 lucid, sometimes purplish : fronds very large, suberect, sub- 

 rigid, dull green, lanceolate, pinnate : jDinnte broad, sublinear, 

 acute, distinctly pinnate, their midrib winged, (fig. &, page 313) : 

 pinnules large, long, gradually acute, deeply incised or lobed, 

 each sinus penetrating almost to the midrib : lobes serrated or 

 dentate, their margins flattened : clusters of capsules elongate, 

 approximate, their arrangement unsymmetrical, crowded. 



(ieffgrajljinU |\irage. 



General : it requires only damp vegetable soil, shade, and 

 iibsence of molestation. 



3. Schreber's Lady Fern : Athyrium molle : Athyjrium 

 FiLix-FEMiNA, var. molle. 



Polypodium molle, Schreber, Spic. Flor. Lips. 70 ; Ehrh. 



Cnipt. 9 ; Hnffm. Deutschl. Flor. ii. f5. 

 Athyrium molle. Roth, Flor. Germ. iii. 61 ; Newm. N. A. 2i>., 



Vliytol. App. xii. 

 Athyrium Fihx-femina, var. molle, Newm. F. 242. 

 Athyrium E'ilix-foemina, y., molle, Bab. 413; Moore, 139. 



Caudex comparatively small, as well as the entire plant : 

 stipes very short, scarcely incrassated towards the base : the 

 frond lax, ilaccid, bright green, lanceolate, much narrowed 



