GENERA AND SPECIES. 97 
PLATE: Sev. 
ASPIDIUM MARGINALE. Swartz. 
MARGINAL SHIELD FERN. 
This is a beautiful fern, and serves better than any other 
to show the true characters of the genus. ‘The fronds are 
about two feet long, pinnate, ovate-oblong; the pinnz lan- 
ceolate, slightly curved toward the apex. The fruit-dots 
are readily observed by means of a pocket lens. They 
are placed near the margin of the pinnule, and are beau- 
tiful objects for close examination with the microscope. 
The plant is evergreen, rather coarse in texture, the upper 
side of the frond dark green, the under a very pale green. 
It is not a common fern in Kentucky, though it is very 
abundant in Rockcastle County, and doubtless in other 
mountain counties of the State. 
On account of its large size it can only be readily culti- 
vated in the open air, and not in the Wardian case. The 
Plate is too small to give any thing more than a general 
idea of this elegant representative of the fern tribe. 

