102 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



C. f. furcans — fur'-cans (forked), Moore. 



A cliarming and distinct form, found on Ben Lawers, and also at Killin, 

 in Perthshire. It is distinguished from the normal form by the forkings of 

 the leaflets and of the extremity of its fronds, which are about 9in. long and 

 IJin. to 2in. broad. — Lowe^ Our Native Ferns, ii., t. 66. 



C. f. interrupta— in-ter-rup'-ta (interrupted), Wollaston. 



This essentially distinct form may also be termed a remarkable monstrosity, 

 as its fronds, usually about loin, long, including their stalks, are sometimes 

 linear (narrow), and occasionally bitid or multifid (twice- or much- cleft). They 

 are always very narrow and usually Jin. to lin. broad, and are furnished with 

 leaflets devoid of all regularity, the basal ones being sometimes quite normal 

 and the others interrupted, contracted, and furnished with irregular and more 

 or less fan-shaped pinnules (leafits). — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, ii., p. 430, 

 fig. 846. 



C. f. semperYirens — sem-per-vir'-ens (evergreen), Moore. 



This form, native of Madeira, but which is said to have been found also 

 at Tunbridge Wells and in Devonshire, remains evergreen when kept in a 

 cool greenhouse during the winter. Some authors give it as a species. It is 

 a thoroughly distinct plant, ^^^'oducing from a short-creeping rhizome its 

 narrow -spear -shaped fronds, about 6in. long, and borne on short stalks of a 

 peculiarly tough nature. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, ii., p. 427. 



C. f. tenuis — ten'-u-is (slender), Schott. 



A North American form, with fronds of a remarkably slender nature, 

 about 1ft. long, and produced from a slightly -creeping rhizome. They are 

 oblong- spear- shaped, tripinnatifid (three times divided half-way to the midrib), 

 the leaflets being profoundly cleft, bluntly toothed, and of a bluish-green 

 colour. — Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, vii., t. 35. 



C. montana — mon-ta'-na (mountain-loving). Link. 



The Mountain Bladder Fern is a very handsome plant, quite distinct in 

 habit from all other species and varieties belonging to the same genus ; for 

 its lovely and very elegant fronds, which are delicately divided, strikingly 



