310 



FLOWERING FERN. 



§mxi^txm. 



The radicles are strong and 

 fibrous : the caudex is tufted, 

 and very large, as miglit be 

 anticipated from its capacity 

 of annually producing such a 

 weight of foliage ; this cau- 

 dex, in naarshy situations, and 

 when shaded by alders and 

 other trees, rises full two 

 feet above the surface of the 

 ground, exhibiting an appear- 

 ance somewhat like that of 

 the tree ferns : I possess a 

 living caudex of this fern that 

 was found at West Hoathly, 

 the upper part of which is na- 

 turally coated with Hymeno- 

 phyllum tunbridgense. The 

 young fronds, varying in num- 

 ber from six to twelve, make 

 their appearance in May, ar- 

 rive at maturity in August, 

 and are destroyed by the first 

 frosts of winter ; their growth 

 is remarkably rapid and vi- 

 gorous, and, until nearly full 

 grown, they have a reddish 

 colour, like the shoots of 

 many herbaceous plants : the 

 fronds are fertile and barren ; 

 in both the length of stipes 

 and frond is about equal. The fertile frond is linear and pin- 

 nate ; the pinnae are four or five pairs in number, generally 

 opposite, liuear, and pinnate; the pinnules are Unear, generally 

 alternate, attached by the midvein only, rounded at the apex, 

 with the exception of the apical pinnule. The apex of the 

 frond is composed of a compact cluster of spikes ; these spikes 



