Polystlchum.] polypodiaceje. 629 



1. C. officinarum, Willdf Common Ceterach. " Fronds pinna- 

 tifid covered beneath with imbricated chaify scales, segments ovate 

 obtuse, scales entii-e." — Br. Fl. p. 566. Scolopendrium, E. B. t. 

 1244. 



On old walls, roofs and limestone rocks ; not common. 



JE. Med. — On Brading church. Wall at Cooper's, near Bembridge, abun- 

 danily, Dr. Bell-Salter ! 



W. Med. — Carisbrook-castle walls, G. Kirhpalricle, Esq. .'.'.' 



Rhizoma perennial, short, scaly, not creeping, concealed by the tufted, blackish 

 and scaly fibres or real roots. Fronds numerous, mostly all fructiferous, from 2 

 to 6 inches long, erect or spreading, linear, somewhat fleshy, dark green, a little 

 glaucous, smooth and naked above, thickly imbricated beneath with rusty brown, 

 lanceolate, pointed and entire, chaffy scales, which in the younger frond have a 

 silvery aspect and are at all times easily detached ; sinuato-pinnatifid, the lobes 

 alternate or subopposite, roundish ovate, very obtuse, usually approximate or sub- 

 conflnent, more rarely a little remote, entire or sli<{htly waved or crenate along 

 the edges, which appear membranaceous or fringed by the incurved points of the 

 contiguous dorsal scales ; flat at first, afterwards becoming a little hollowed or 

 concave. Stipes very short, subcompressed, scaly like the frond. Sori linear- 

 oblong. 



II. PoLYPODiuM, Linn. Polypody. 



" Sori roundish. Involucre 0. Veins simple or forked {in the 

 British species)." — Br. Fl. 



1. P. vulgare, L. Common Polypody. Fronds deeply pinna- 

 tifid, the segments linear-lanceolate obtuse crenulate apjjroximate, 

 upper ones gradually smaller. Br. Fl. p. 566. E. B. t. 1149. 



p. Lower lobes of the frond forked. 



y. Frond doubly pinnalifid. 



On shady hedgebanks, trunks of trees, and in the clefts of rocks, &c. ; plentiful 

 everywhere. 



j3. Steephill, Albert Hambrough, Esq. ! 



' y. On a rock at Bonchurch, 1845, idem. [Shady lane at Brighstone, A. G. 

 More, Esq., Edrs.] 



y. This remarkable form of the Polypody resembles pretty closely that given in 

 Newman's ' British Ferns,' fig. 9, p. 113, but in this the secondary segments or 

 pinnules are broader, and divided close down upon the midrib. 



My specimen from Mr. Hambrough, as is usually the case in the var. called P. 

 cambricum by LinnEeus, is destitute of fructification. 



III. PoLYSTiCHDM, Roth. Prickly Shield-fern. 



" Sori nearly circular, covered by an indusium seated upon the 

 back of the lateral veins. Indusium circular, attached by the 

 centre." — Bab. Man. 



1. P. lobatum, Eoth. Close-leaved Prickly Shield-fern. Fronds 

 narrow-lanceolate bipinnate attenuated at the base, pinnules rigid 

 convex ovato-elliptical sublunate acuminate aristate oblique and 

 concave at the base and (more or less) decurrent their margins 

 subserrate spinulose, the inferior pinnules chiefly with a distinct 

 tooth or lobe at the base on the upper side, the foremost pinnule 

 of each pair next the rachis larger than the hinder or lower one, 



