110 THE CHRISTMAS AND HOLLY FERNS. 
cones 
Ruston se: Ay EPP 
Se aenus 
Polystichum Braunti, 
Braun's Holly Fern. 
The last of this trio of Polystichums 
—P. Braunti—is, like the holly fern, 
an inhabitant of the more northern 
parts of our continent. It is a sin- 
gularly decorative and_ beautiful 
species and belongs to a type that 
is found the world over. The typ- 
ical species is called Polystichum 
aculeatum and our plant was long 
thought to bea variety of it. It is 
now considered by most botanists to 
be a distinct species. 
The rootstock is short and thick 
and the fronds usually reach a height 
of twofeet or more. They are lan- 
ceolate in outline on short stipes 
and twice pinnate. The pinne are 
linear-oblong, usually acute, and 
broadest at base, their ovate or ob- 
long divisions appearing like small 
duplications of the holly fern’s pin- 
nules, even to the ear on the upper 
side at base. Both stipe and rachis 
are densely clothed with short hair- 
like growths as well as with the 
ovate, brown scales common to its 
allies. The sori are on the backs of 
ordinary fronds and not very con- 
spicuous. The fronds remain green 
through the winter but the stipes are 
unable to hold them erect. On ac- 
count of the resemblance of the pin- 
