A S P 



A. bulbiftrum. Bulbiferous Shield-fern, ^wartz n. 82. 

 Willd. n. 126. Ait. n. 20. Purfti n. 13. " Schkuhr Crypt. 

 55.1.57." (Nephrodium biilbiferum; Michaux Boreal.- 

 Amer. v. 2. 268. Filix baccifera ; Cornut. Canad. 5. t. 4. 

 Barrel. Ic. t. 1120. Morif. feft. 14. t. 3. f. 10.)— Frond 

 doubly pinnate, oblong-lanceolate : leaflets ovate, obtule, 

 pinnatifid or deeply ferrated ; upper ones confluent. Ribs 

 bulbiferous. — Found in (hady woods, among rocks, from 

 Canada to Pennfylvania. Purfi. The frond is about eighteen 

 inches high, narrow, bright-green, fmooth, delicately cut ; 

 partial leafets half an inch long at mofl:, decurrent. Mafles 

 of capfules moftly fcattered, fmall, round. The involucrum 

 feems concave, almoft hemifpherical, turning to one fide ; 

 but our fpecimens are not fufficient to afcertain its exaft 

 figure. Several of the fecondary ribs bear flefliy bulbs, that 

 fall off and become young plants, of which there are in- 

 ftances in Woodvvardia, (fee that article,) and fome other 

 ferns. 



A. Filix foemina. Female Shield-fern. Swartz n. 83. 

 Willd. n. 128. Fl. Brit. n. 7. Engl. Bot. t. 1459. 

 «< Schkuhr Crypt. 56. t. 58, 59." (Polypodium FiHx foe- 

 mina ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1551. Bolt. Fil. 46. t. 25. Filix 

 mas non ramofa, pinnulis anguilis raris, profunde dentatis ; 

 Raii Syn. 121. Pluk. Phyt. t. 180. f. 4. Morif. feft. 14. 

 t. 3. f. 8.) — Frond doubly pinnate: leaflets pinnatifid, fer- 

 rated, pointlefs, oblong-lanceolate. Stalk fmooth. Dots 

 oblong. Involucrum fomewhat kidney-ihaped. — A common 

 fern throughout Europe, in marfliy (hady places, varying 

 greatly in dimenfions, but of a broadifh-oblong figure, from 

 one to two feet high, of a fine dark green, and very fmooth. 

 Slalk flender, pale, fmooth, fomewhat angular. Leajlets 

 innumerable, tolerably uniform, delicately cut, bluntifh, 

 without any terminal briftles. Majfes of capfules covering 

 the frond, one upon each fegment of the leaflets, inferted 

 laterally into its minute mid-rib, oblong, the capfules dark 

 brown. Involucrum feparating towards fome larger adjoin- 

 ing rib, oblong, wliite, jagged or fringed, fometimes quite 

 ftraight at the infertion, fometimes kidney-fliaped, but 

 always finally afliiming the latter form, as the capfules 

 advance and caufe it to turn back. 



A. irriguum. Brook Shield-fern. Engl. Bot. t. 2199. 

 Compend. Fl. Brit. 156. — Frond lanceolate, pinnate : leaf- 

 lets deeply pinnatifid, cut and fharply toothed. Stalk qua- 

 drangular. Involucrum lateral, fliort, jagged. — Found by 

 T. F. Forfter, efq. about the boggy margins of clear fprings, 

 near Tunbridge Wells, in June. Akin to the laft, and in 

 fome degree to A. Thelypteris, but much fmaller and more 

 delicate than either. Stalk and main rib exaftly fquare, 

 fomewhat fcaly, pellucid. Leafets deeply pinnatifid, not 

 pinnate ; their lobes mofl; like thofe of A. Filix foemina. 

 Majfes of capfules fmall, round. Involucrum white, inferted 

 as in the lait, but fliorter, extremely delicate, jagged and 

 fringed, very flightly kidney -fliaped, and rather hemifpheri- 

 cal, fomewhat refembhng Cyatheafragilis. 



A. alpinum. Fine-cut Alpine Shield-fern. Swartz n. 89. 

 Willd. n. 139. " Schkuhr Crypt. 60. t. 62, a, b." (Poly- 

 podium alpinum ; Jacq. Coll. v. 2. 171. Ic. Rar. t. 642. 

 P. n. 1709; Hall. Hiil. V. 3. 15. Filicula alpina crilpa ; 

 Bauh. Pin. 358. Segu. Veron. fuppl. 55. t. I. f. 3. Morif. 

 feft. 14. t. 4. f. 27. Felce crefpo faflatile ; Pon. Bald. 224, 

 with a figure. ) — Frond triply pinnate : leaflets linear-wedge- 

 ftiaped, pinnatifid, confluent ; their fegments linear, obtufe, 

 emarginate. — Found on the alpine rocks of Carinthia, Swit- 

 zerland, France, and the north of Italy. A very flender 

 delicate fern, from fix to ten inches high, fmooth, bright 

 green, fometimes afluming a ta^vny hue. The frond is linear- 



AST 



lanceolate ; the ultimate fegments peculiarly narrow and 

 linear, alternate, fliarply cloven at the end, but otherwife 

 entire ; tapering down into the linear bordered italk, quite 

 fmooth and naked, fingle-ribbed. Every fegment bears 

 one fmall round mafs compofed of a very few capfules, rather 

 large in proportion, each having a fliining ring. The innio- 

 lucrum is very thin, white, and membranous, reprefented by 

 Wulfen and Jacquin as perfedlly peltate, without any notch, 

 and attached by a fine central thread. This would make 

 the plant a mofl; indubitable Afpidium. But in our fpecimens, 

 from Jacquin himfelf, the involucrum, turned afide by the 

 ripe capfules, remains in the form of a thin concave or 

 vaulted fcale, or fcales, attached laterally beneath them, as 

 in fome of our Briti(h Cyathete, without any peltate appear- 

 ance. Unfortunately we have no fructification in a fufli- 

 ciently early ft:ate to verify Wulfen's defcription or Jacquin's 

 figure. We rely on Seguier and Haller for Pona's, and 

 confequently Morifon's, fynonym, though the figure fug- 

 gefts fome idea of Cheilanthes fuaveolens of Swartz and WiU- 

 denow, which Pona's account of the blackifli or dark- 

 coloured hue of the root, and upper part of Xhe frond, rather 

 confirms. Seguier's plate, though deftitute of frudlification, 

 is fufficiently accurate, and cannot be difputed. 



A. montanum. Chervil Shield-fern. Swartz n. 91. Willd. 

 n. 147. " Schkuhr Crypt. 61. t. 63." (Polypodium mon- 

 tanum ; Lamarck Franc, v. i. 23. AUion. Pedem. v. 2. 

 287. Ha^ncke in Jacq. Coll. v. 2. 46. P. myrrhidifolium ; 

 Villars Dauph. v. 3. 851. t. 53, excluding Plukenet's fyno- 

 nym. P. n. 1710; Hall. Hiil. V. 2. 16.) — Frond ternate, 

 pentagonal, triply pinnate : fegments elliptic-oblong, obtufe, 

 nightly toothed at the end, decurrent. — Native of the 

 mountains of Auftria, the Tyrol, Smtzerland, Italy, and 

 France. The name given by Villars is infinitely preferable 

 to the unmeaning one which this elegant fpecies has been 

 fuffered to retain. It differs from all we have hitlierto 

 defcribed of this feftion, in the pentagonal outline of the 

 frond. The colour is a light green. Ultimate leafets, or 

 fegments, not linear, but rather elliptical, very fmall and 

 delicate. Sori folitary on each fegment or lobe, fmall, 

 globofe, of rather numerous brown capfules, entirely covered, 

 while young, with a white, pellucid, hemifpherical involu- 

 crum, which turns gradually back, remaining attached, at 

 one fide, under the capfules, like half the cup of a true 

 Cyathea. 



A. odoratum. Scented Shield -fern. Willd. n. 146. — 

 " Frond ternate, doubly pinnate : leaflets oblong, obtufe, 

 hairy, deeply ferrated ; ferratures blunt, with two teeth. 

 Root chaffy." — Gathered by M. Bory de St. Vincent, on 

 rocks in the ifland of Mauritius. Root as thick as the 

 thumb, fpringing from the fiffures of rocks, denfely clothed 

 with brown, oblong-lanceolate, very long-pointed, entire, 

 brown, chaffy fcales, half an inch in length. Stalk three or 

 four inches long, fmooth. Ribs hairy. Branches of the 

 frond four or five inches long. Leajlets linear, oblong, ob- 

 tufe, clothed on both fides with fhort hairs ; their lower 

 ferratures mofl;ly with four teeth. Willdenoiv. The com- 

 pofition of the _/ron^ feems to agree with the laft, as being 

 ternate, a character we have not obferved in any others. 

 This ftru£ture gives the whole a pentagonal fliape, very dif- 

 ferent from the cblong or lanceolate figure of the greater 

 part of this genus. 



ASSIUT, in Geography. See SiouT. 



ASTELIA, in Botany, a name originally given by fir 



Jofeph Banks and Dr. Solander, formed from a, 'without, and 



TiXi ;, a little pillar, becaufe of the want of a ftyle, which dif- 



tinguiflies this genus from feveral of its natural allies. 



— Brown 



