6. Common Poitpobt {Polypodmm Yulgcure). Pl. '5. 



A fern with bright green fronds springing from a thick 

 rhizome. They are drooping and slightly spear-shaped, and 

 deeply pinnatifld. The sori are placed on either side of the 

 midrib of the long pointed lobes. It is common in all parts of 

 the British isles, and grows on old -walls, rooks, and the 

 decaying trunks of trees. It shonld be grown in light soil, 

 mixed with charcoal and vegetable monld. ' Newman calls it 

 Otenopteris Vulgcms. 



XI. PTBEIDB^. 

 1. Beake oe Eagle Pebn {Pteris AqmUna). Pl 4. 



A tall fern, with fronds varying from two to five or six feet 

 in height. They grow singly, and there is a great space between 

 the points where the pairs of pinnae branch from the main 

 stem. The pinnae are bi-pinnate, and the pinnules deeply cut 

 into pointed lobes, on the margin of which the sori are clus- 

 tered. They are to be found in any brake, wood, or moorland 

 district. The dark fibres, running through the stem longi- 

 tudinally, present a curious configuration, known as " King 

 Charles's Oak," or " King Charles in the Oak," when that part 

 of the stem which is below the ground is cut transversely. 

 Potash is made from it, and it is used for packing fish and 

 fruit, littering horses and pigs, and even for thatching sheds in 

 Scotland. Newman calls it Eupteris Agmlma. The name 

 " AquUina " is given to it because some have imagined the 

 figure in the stem above mentioned to resemble a spread eagle. 



XII. WOODSIE^. 



1. Oblong Woodsia. {Woodsia Ihensis). 



A little fern, with pinnate fronds from two to four inches in 

 length, growing in thick tufts. The pinnae are pinnatifld, with 

 an indented margin; the surface is covered with red, dark brown 

 hairs, which are thicker in the under part and almost conceal 

 the son. It is very scarce; growing in the clefts of rocks in 

 a few mountainous districts of Great Britain. It may be 

 reared in common soil. They do not thrive under glass ; but 

 require shade, very little moisture, and protection for the 

 rhizome through the winter, when grown in the open air. It 

 is also called Bay's Woodsia, and AcroeUcJmm and Poh/podmvm. 

 Ihiense, and Polypodiwm, Arvonicwm, by botanists. 



