1044 



THE FERN FAMILY. 



Fig. 1269. 

 and southern Scotland. Fr, 



Fig. 1270. 



It is taller, usually 1 to 2 feet high, quite 

 glabrous, with a rather slender but stiff 

 stalk, without s carious scales. The leafy- 

 part lanceolate, pinnate, with deeply 

 pinnatifid pinnas, which are not crowded, 

 and the lowest rather distant and small- 

 er ; all attached to the central stalk by 

 their midrib or by a very short stalk ; 

 the lobes or segments entire, obtuse or 

 scarcely pointed. Sori in lines near the 

 edges, distinct at first, with an indusium 

 attached near the edge, but soon cover- 

 ing nearly the whole under surface and 

 concealing the indusium. 



In boggy or marshy places, through- 

 out Europe and Eussian Asia, except the 

 extreme north, and in North America, 

 and perhaps also in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. In Britain, usually very local, 

 but dispersed over England, Ireland, 

 summer and autumn. 



4. Mountain Shieldfern. Aspi- 



dium Oreopteris, Sw. 

 (Fig. 1270.) 



(PoZ^o^m/ftjEng.Bot. 1. 1019. Lastrea, 

 Bab. Man. Siveet Mountain Fern.) 



The stature, mode of growth in circu- 

 lar tufts, and the general shape of the 

 frond are those of the male S., from 

 which it may be distinguished by a 

 lighter colour, especially of the stalk, 

 and by the lobes or segments of the pin- 

 nas all quite entire, with the small sori 

 in a line near the margin as in the marsh 



5. From the latter it differs in its lar- 

 ger size, the stalk bearing brown sca- 

 rious scales, the pinnas so closely ses- 

 sile as almost to lap over the central 

 stalk ; and from both this species may 

 be known by the minute resinous or 

 glandular dots on the under side of the 

 fronds, from whence a fragrant smell is 

 imparted to the plant when rubbed. 



In mountain heathy districts, and 



