ASPIDIUM. 



A. Lonchitis. Rough Alpine Shield-fern. Swartz n. 5. 

 WiUd. n. 25. Fl. Brit. n. i. Engl. Bot. t. 797. (Poly- 

 podium Lonchitis ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1548. Fl. Dam t. 497. 

 Lonchitis afpera major ; Ger. Em. 1140. Matth. Valgr. 

 V. 2. 273. Camer. Epit. 664.)— Frond pmnate, chafty : 

 leaflets fickle-fhaped, declining, acute, with fringe-hke fer- 

 ratures ; auricled at the upper angle of their bafe ; wedge- 

 like at the lower.— Native of the crevices of dry rocks m 

 alpine or fubalpine iituations, throughout Europe. It has 

 been found in Scotland and Wales, but fcarcely we believe 

 in England, though ftarved plants of A. acukatum are occa- 

 fionally taken for this fpecies. The fronds are a fpan high, 

 more or lefs, growing in tufts, ereft, lanceolate, rather nar- 

 row, or linear. Leaflets numerous, crowded, dark greyilh- 

 green, about an inch long, the upper ones, about one-third 

 of the whole, copioufly fruftifying ; the reil barren ; feveral 

 of the lowermoft gradually Ihortened, but not contrafted in 

 breadth. Sor'i in a fimple row on each fide of the rib, rather 

 nearer to it than to the margin, pale ; the involucrum of each 

 peltate and umbilicated, without any notch, completely 

 orbicular. 



K. acropchoides. Crowded Shield-fern. Swartz n. 11. 

 Willd. n. 26. Purlh n. 2. (" A. auriculatum ; Schkuhr 

 Crypt. 31. t. 30, excluding the fynonyms." W'lUd. Ne- 

 phrodium acroitichoides ; Michaux Boreal. -Amer. v. 2. 267. 

 Polypodium fronde pinnata lanceolata, foliolis lunulatis, &c. ; 

 Gron. Virg. ed. 2. 167, excluding all the fynonyms, ex- 

 cept Clayton's. ) — Frond pinnate, chaffy : leaflets fickle- 

 fliaped, acute, with fringe-like ferratures ; auricled at the 

 upper angle of their bafe : uppermoft diminilhed, covered 

 with confluent mafles of capfules. — Native of rocks, in fliady 

 low places, from New England to Carolina, bearing cap- 

 fules in the fummer. Purjh. This fern has long been 

 cultivated in the more curious gardens of England, having 

 been introduced, if we recoUeft aright, by Robert Barclay, 

 efq. at Clapham. A taller plant than the laft, and of a 

 lighter green. The auricle of the lowermoft leaflets fome- 

 times becomes quite diftinft and feparate. The fori are 

 found upon half, or one -third, of the upper leaflets, in a 

 fingle or double row, at each fide of the mid-rib, and are 

 particularly crowded on the auricles. They become tumid 

 as the capfules ripen, and run into one mafs, ftudded, as it 

 were, with the pale-brown involucrums , which are circular 

 and peltate, though cloven at one fide, the edges of the fmus 

 folding over each other. Linnxus confounded this with 

 Afplen'ium ebeneum, as v/ell as with his own Polypodium auri- 

 culatum, an Eaft Indian fpecies, hereafter defcribed. 



A. auriculatum. Auricled Shield-fern. Swartz n. 10. 

 Willd. n. 30. Ait. n. 3 ? (Polypodium auriculatum ; 

 Linn. Sp. PI. ed. i. 1088. ed. 2. 1548. Filix zeylanica, 

 lonchitidis facie ; Burm. Zeyl. 98. t. 44. f. 2.) — Frond 

 pinnate : leaflets lanceolate, falcate, ferrated, ftriated ; au- 

 ricled at the upper angle of their bafe. Mafles of capfules 

 difl:inft, in fimple rows. — Native of the rocky furamits of 

 mountains inCeyion. Ksnig. Brought to Kew garden, in 

 1793, by admiral Bligh. Aiton. This fpecies has no affi- 

 nity or refemblance to the laft, with which Linnceus, and 

 after him Swartz, confounded its lynonyms and charafter. 

 Even Willdenow, who correfted thefe errors, is miftaken 

 in faying tke Jlalk is fmooth. The frond is froni fix to twelve 

 inches high. Sialic fcaly in front ; roughilh with minute 

 points behind. Leaflets numerous, narrow, an inch and a quar- 

 ter or an inch and a half long, tapering but not pointed, 

 coriaceous, fmooth, with fine, blunt, notched, not fringed, 

 ferratures ; even above, ftriated with tranfverfc veins be- 

 neath ; dilated at the bafe ; the auricle broad, fhort, and 



bluntifli. Sori fmall, diftinft, in an even row on each fid 

 the mid-ribs of the leaflet and its auricle. We have not feen 

 the involucrum. The ripe capfules are inferted by fine capil- 

 lary ftalks into a convex knob. Linnsus fays in Fl. Zeyl. 

 n. 383, where he originally defined his Polypodium auricula- 

 tum, that the plant is entirely fmooth. The fliagginefs and 

 flight roughnefs of the flali may therefore be variable. He 

 there cites Plukenet, t. 30. f. 4 ; which is in no refpeCt dif- 

 cordant with Kuenig's fpecimens. Mr. Menzies gathered 

 on the weft coaft of North America a fern very like this, 

 except that the ferratures are briftly, and the leaflets lefs 

 ftriated. Its ftalk is very fcaly all the way up. 



A. exaltatum. Lofty Shield-fern. Swartz n. 14. Willd. 

 n. 34; excluding the fynonyin of LinuKus. Ait. n. 4. 

 " Schkuhr Crypt. 33. t. 32, b." (Lonchitis glabra minor ; 

 Plum. Amer. 19. t. 28. Fil. 48. t. 63. L. altifTima, pinnis 

 utrinque, feu ex utroque latere, auriculatis ; Sloane Jam, 

 V. I. 77. t. 31.) — Frond pinnate: leaflets lanceolate, fer- 

 rated ; with a row of minute v.h'.te imprefiions on the upper 

 fide, towards the margin ; unequally haftate at the bafe. 

 Mafles of capfules in a liinple row, towards the margin. 



Stalk even, (lightly fcaly Native of Jamaica, and other 



parts of the Weft Indies. Brought to the ftoves at Kew, 

 by admiral Bligh, in 1793. The fronds are ufually three 

 or four feet high, ereft, ftraight, narrow, with a poliflied, 

 pale -brown ftalk and mid-rib, occafionally fom.ewhat ftiaggy. 

 Leaflets numerous, parallel, clofe, nearly ftraight, two inches 

 long at moft, very fmooth ; rather rounded at the point, 

 their fliallow, blunt, unfringed ferratures moft abundant in 

 their upper half ; the bafe dilated into two ftiort Viroad au- 

 ricles, deftitute of fruftification, of which the lower one is 

 fliorteft, and moft rounded. Sori numerous, diftinft, rather 

 large. Involucrum not perfeftlv orbicuUr, nor ftriitly pel- 

 tate, having a deep finus at the fide towards the bafe of the 

 leaflet, fo as to referable a horie-fnoe. This fern is very 

 diftinft from our Davallia falcata, though Dr. Swartz fuf- 

 pefted the contrary. Linnaeus confounded its fynonyms 

 with the following. The row of minute withered fpecks, 

 as far as we can fee, only accompany the fori, there 

 being, in our fpecimens, no barren ones as in A, punSu- 

 laium. 



A. hlechnoides. Long-leaved Shield-fern. (Polypodium 

 exaltatum; Linn. Syil. Nat. ed. 10. v. 2. 1326. Sp. PI. 

 ed. 2. 1549; excluding the fynonyms, and fubftituting the 

 following. Filix minor, in pinnas tantilm divifa, crebras 

 non crenatas, inferiore latere auriculatas, et rotundis pulve- 

 rulentis areolas averfa parte notatas ; Sloane Jam. v. i . 86. 

 t. 44. f. I.) — Frond pinnate: leaflets linear-lanceolate, 

 elongated, entire, with a rounded incurved auricle at the 

 bafe on the lower fide, and a (light dilatation on the upper. 

 Mafles of capfules in a double row. — Native of Jamaica, 

 on the fides of hills. Linnseus received his fpecimen in 

 Browne's herbarium, with an erroneous reference to Sloane's 

 t. 31, which belongs to our laft-defcribed. Hence there 

 has always been a confufion rcfpefting thefe two ferns, 

 which even Dr. Swartz could not reconcile ; fee his Syn, 

 Fihcum, 65, where he cites Sloane's t. 44, but ought to 

 have added flg. I ; as fig. 2. is Blechnum occidentale. The 

 fpecific name of Polypodium exaltatum, being taken from 

 Plumier's and Sloane's accounts of the foregoing, and that 

 being univerfally received as Afpidium exaltatum, we have 

 not changed its denominatipn. That name is not at all appli- 

 cable to the fpecies before us, which is more expreflively 

 called hlechnoides. Its height is only eighteen or twenty 

 inches. Leaflets from four to fix inches long, taper-pointed ; 

 the lower auricle of each overlapping the main ftalk, and 



hqokecj 



