OSMUND A. 



39 



the Teign, and at Ivy Bridge, on the Erme, in Devon, to Speke, between 

 Crosby and Formby, and on Chat Moss, near Liverpool, as well as from Low- 

 gelt Bridge, AUowby, and Keswick, in Cumberland, to Leith Hill and near 

 Dorking, in Surrey. It is also found in the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, 

 Warwickshire, Kent, and many other places too numerous to be mentioned. 

 Of all Ferns belonging to the 

 Flora of Great Britain, probably 

 0. regalis is the one which most 

 attracted the attention of early 

 writers, for we find that Gerarde, 

 in his " Herbal," published in 

 1597, speaking of this Fern, says : 

 " It groweth in the midst of a 

 bog at the further end of Hamp- 

 stead Heath, from London, at the 

 bottome of a hill adjoyning to 

 a small cottage, and in divers 

 other places ; as also upon divers 

 bogges on a heath or common 

 neere unto Bruntwood, in Essex, 

 &c., &c." Things have greatly 

 changed since Gerarde's time in 

 regard to British plants of all 

 kinds whose habitats were situated 

 in the vicinity of large towns. 



0. regalis is the typical 

 Flowering Fern, and in this 

 country varies little in general 

 appearance. Its rootstock is so 



covered with overlapping stalk-bases of former growths and by interlacing 

 roots that the whole forms a massive, spongy clump of great thickness ; and 

 a peculiarity of this species resides in its sending out strong, blackish 

 rootlets in great abundance, some of which creep in an upward direction 

 between the scales, while others pierce directly through them, thus binding 

 the whole together and giving it great strength and solidity. Most of the 



f/g, 73. Portion of Frond of Osmunda regalis 

 (i nat. size). 



