468 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



with narrowly spear-sliaped scales, are three times divided to the midrib 

 (Fig. 114). The lowest leaflets are much the largest, and these are divided 

 into pinnules (leafits) concave in shape, on which account the plant is some- 

 times also called the " Concave Buckler Fern." The lowest of the leafits 

 are larger than the others, and all are broadly spear-shaped, of a bright, pale 

 green colour, and cut down to the rachis (stalk) below into deeply-cleft lobes 

 that are much curled or crisped upwards. The whole of the leafy portion 

 is of a papery texture ; its upper surface is smooth and shiny, while the 

 under-side is glandular. The fructification, which occupies the whole under- 

 surface of the fertile fronds, consists of numerous circular sori (spore masses) 

 disposed in two rows along the leaflets and their lobes, and eventually 

 becoming confluent ; these are covered by a uniform indusium having a jagged, 

 uneven margin. — Hooker^ Species Filicum, iv., p. 127 ; British Ferns, t. 20. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 440. Lowe, Our Native Ferns, 

 i., t. 34. 



This Fern, of dimensions comparatively small for a Nephrodium, though 

 occurring sometimes in dryish situations, is usually found in moist, sheltered, 

 woody places, and on banks beneath hedges. Its habitats are somewhat 

 localised : it is most abundant in the western portion of England, being 

 found in many parts of Cornwall and Devonshire ; also in Somersetshire, 

 Sussex, and Cumberland ; in Wales it is met with, though not plentifully, in 

 Anglesey and Grlamorgan ; while in Scotland it is found in Forfarshire and 

 Argyleshire, and in the Isles of Arran, Mull, North Uist, and Orkney. It is 

 more j)ientiful in Ireland, being common in some parts of Antrim, Wicklow, 

 Sligo, Galway, Clare, Cork, and Kerry. 



The " Hay- scented Buckler Fern" is of easy culture, and may be grown 

 with success in nearly any degree of shade, entirely excluded from the sun, 

 or in a situation exposed to the action of its full rays ; but in the latter 

 position it is of less luxuriant habit, whereas in the shade it will unfold its 

 fronds abundantly and make a noble object. It is an evergreen species, 

 thriving best in a mixture of sandy loam and leaf-mould in about equal 

 proportions. 



N. cemulum is not given to much variety from the normal form, and 

 of the several more or less constant varieties known, those described on 

 the following page are the m,ost distinct, 



