LO MARIA. 



413 



crowded and overlap each other ; they become largest in the centre of the 

 frond. It is a handsome and distinct plant, of a more or less erect habit, 

 forming a dense mass with a hollow centre, and it has a particularly wide 

 range of habitat, having been found wild at Parracombe and Culborne, 

 Devonshire ; at Walsden, near Todmorden ; at Lichfield ; near Castle 

 Malgwyn, Pembrokeshire, and in other localities. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, 

 ii., p. 393, t. 60b. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 295. 



Several forms of this variety are in commerce, the most distinct being 

 erecta of Lowe, in which the barren fronds, symmetrically arranged and 

 of an upright habit, are about Sin. long, almost strap-shaped, with their 

 leaflets so markedly imbricated (overlapping) as to make the fronds appear 

 almost double. It is remarkable that in most of these imbricated forms the 

 fertile fronds are very little longer than the barren ones, and also that in the 

 sub-variety erecta the leaflets of the fertile fronds are turned back so that 

 their edges meet. 



L. S. lancifolia — lan-cif-ok-i-a (lance-leaved), Loice. 



A singular ^^ariety, fomid near Tunbridge Wells, also on the Clova 

 Mountains, and near Llanrwst and Todmorden. Its barren fronds are narrow 

 and depauperated (impoverished) at the base, entire (undivided), and strap- 

 shaped from their summit downwards nearly half their length. The fertile 

 fronds, longer than the barren ones, have their upper portion spike-like and 

 their lower half only pinnatifid, the sori (spore masses) being disposed in 

 a continuous line close to the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion). — Lowe, Our 

 Native Ferns, ii., p. 390, fig. 801. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 ii., p. 295. 



L. S. multifurcata— mul-tif-ur-ca'-ta (much-forked), Lowe. 



A very distinct variety, found near Penryn, Cornwall, and also near 

 Over-Darwen, Lancashire, with barren fronds 5in. to lOin. long, 2in. broad, 

 nearly prostrate, each with a three to six or more times forked, flat, many- 

 pointed termination 3in. to 4in. across, the forkings often inclining and 

 curving to one side. The leaflets, frequently of unequal lengih, are slightly 

 once-forked. The fertile fi^onds show the same forked character but are of 

 erect hohit —Lowe, Our Native Ferns, ii., p. 392, fig. 803. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 295. 



