FILICES. 



1035 



shortly sheathing footstalk, and usually- 

 attached below the middle of the stem. 

 Spike terminal, f to about an inch long, 

 bearing on each side from about 15 to 

 25 closely sessile spore-cases. 



In moist meadows, and pastures, 

 throughout Europe and Russian Asia, 

 except the extreme north, in North Ame- 

 rica, and apparently also in the southern 

 hemisphere as well as within the tropics. 

 Generally distributed over Britain, but 

 more common in some parts of Eng- 

 land than in the north of Scotland. Fr. 

 summer. The dwarf A. (O. lusitanicum, 

 Linn.) is now believed to be a mere va- 

 riety, only differing from the common 

 form in its small size, the slender stems 

 varying from 1 to 3 inches, the leaf linear 

 or lanceolate, narrowed into a stalk, and 



seldom above 1| inches long. It is usually to be found only in early 

 spring, and in Europe chiefly near the sea, in the Mediterranean re- 

 gion, and up the west coast of Europe to the Channel Islands, but 

 not on the main British Lsles. 



II. MOONWORT. BOTEYCHIUM. 



Stem of Adder s -tongue, but the leaf is divided, the terminal spike 

 is branched, forming a panicle, and the spore-cases are globular, and, 

 although sessile, quite distinct. 



A small genus, distributed over the temperate regions of the north- 

 ern hemisphere, and more sparingly in the southern one. 



1. Common Moonwort. Botrychium Lunaria, Sw. 

 (Eig. 1259.) 



{Osmunda, Eng. Bot. t. 318.) 



Hootstock very small, bearing a single erect stem, 3 to 6 or 8 inches 

 high, surrounded at the base by a few brown sheathing scales. The 

 leaf about the centre of the stem, 1 to 3 inches long, pinnate, with from 

 5 to 15 or even more obliquely fan-shaped or halfmoon-shaped seg- 



