PBKNS OP. GEE AT BRITAIN, 119 



shaped, and the pinnules are oblong and nearly egg- 

 shaped. They are also somewhat ear-shaped at the base. 

 They are rounded at the upper part, and the margins 

 are serrated. The pinnae at the upper portion of the 

 fertile frond are so densely covered with the brown 

 clusters of capsules, as to look something like spikes of 

 flowers; and they so contract the green leafy portion, 

 that they leave only a green edge, and the mid-vein 

 clear. Lower down on the frond we often see a pinnule 

 or two thus contracted, and partly or wholly covered 

 with the fructification ; and we may, during the earher 

 growth of the plant, trace the gradual contraction of the 

 leafy part of the frond through all the stages, tUl it is 

 converted into this panicle. This is often, when matured, 

 two or three feet in length, and branched so as to be 

 a yard wide. 



The barren fronds are leafy throughout, but differ in 

 no other respects from the fertile ones. In their most 

 luxuriant state, the fronds of this handsome plant are 

 sometimes nearly two yards across. 



In the barren fronds we may easily perceive the mid- 

 vein of each pinnule vnith twice or thrice forked veins 

 issuing from it to the margin. In the fertile fronds the 

 clusters of capsules are seated on these veins, which are 

 just sufficiently developed to form a receptacle. The 

 capsules are nearly globular, stalked and two-valved. 



This plant, which appears in May, is matured by 

 August, but is destroyed by the early winter frosts. It 

 was formerly in much repute for its medicinal properties, 

 but it is now little used, though its stem is astringent 

 and somewhat tonic. An old writer, who calls it also the 



