PERNS OE GREAT BRITAIN, 59 



seems to tinge their fuU dark green hue with a tint 

 of decay. They are twice pinnate, their pinnae alter- 

 nate, and again divided into pinnules, which run down 

 closely together, gradually merging into the rachis; or 

 they taper to a crescent-shaped base, and are attached 

 to the rachis by the point of the crescent, the upper 

 base being thus extended into an ear-shaped lobe, and 

 the lower base shaped as if an arched piece had been 

 cut out of it. In young plants the pinnae are serrated 

 or pinnatifid, or with one or more pinnules distinct. 

 The pinnules have a long spine at their points, and 

 smaller spines down the margin, and a few of the 

 lowest are often shghtly stalked. The veins are branched 

 alternately, not uniting, but free to the margin. The 

 clusters of fructification form a line on each side of the 

 midrib of the pinnules, and on the larger pinnules on 

 each side of the mid-vein of the ear-shaped lobes. 



A variety of this fern, called P. lobatum, was, until 

 recently, regarded as a distinct species. It is characterised 

 by the more narrow outline of the frond, and by being 

 simply pinnate, its pinnae lobed or pinnatifid; it is 

 also of more rigid texture. 



3. P. annulare (WiUdenow's Fern, Angular-lobed 

 Prickly Fern, or Soft Prickly Shield Fern). — Fronds 

 lax, drooping, lanceolate, twice pinnate; pinnules dis- 

 tinctly stalked, bluntish. This beautiful plant, grace- 

 fully waving to every summer wind, is one of the most 

 elegant of our ferns, and happily may be numbered 

 among the common plants of our woods and hedges, 

 though it is not so general as the last species. It has 

 a very vigorous appearance, is of a deep green hue, and 



