NEPHRODIUM. 



511 



Variations from the type are very numerous, some which have been 

 raised artificially from spores, and others which' have been found growing 

 spontaneously, being exceedingly handsome and of a permanent character. 

 Many of these are described and illustrated in Moore's " Nature-printed 

 Ferns"; while in the hst published in 1865 by Mr. P. Neill Fraser, of 

 Canonmills Lodge, Edinburgh, upwards of a hundred varieties are enumerated. 

 The following are the most distinct and interesting : 



N. F.-m. abbreviatum — ab-brev-i-a'-tum (shortened), Bahington and 

 Moore. 



This peculiarly distinct form is the one which Wollaston gives as 

 a species under the name of Lastrea pseudo-mas. It is common along the 

 banks of the Tees, above High Force, an imposing waterfall about four miles 

 above Middleton ; and occasional plants occur along Widdicomb Moor and 

 Cronkley Fell, becoming more abundant as one approaches Cauldron Snout 

 from the Glints. It is also found on Snowdon and Ingleborough ; in 

 Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Gloucestershire, Forfarshire, and at 

 Killarney. This variety is distinguished from the ordinary FUix-mas by its 

 tufted habit, for, whereas the typical species is usually found growing in 

 single crowns, this form is found in clumps which may be readily divided 

 into as many as twenty distinct plants. The nature of its foliage is also 

 different, as its fronds, seldom more than 14in. long, have their leaflets 

 conspicuously curled, thus differing strikingly from the uniformly flat leaflets 

 of Filix-mas ; whilst the usual solitary spore-case on each leaflet of the 

 variety is equally a marked contrast to the six or eight spore- cases on each 

 leaflet of the typical plant. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, i., fig. 186. 



N. F.-m. a. cristatum — cris-ta'-tum (crested), Clowes. 



A sub-variety, of dwarf and compact habit, originally found in Borrodale, 

 Cumberland. Its fronds, 1ft. to IJft. long, furnished with opposite leaflets 

 and leafits and a very scaly midrib have their extremity, as well as that of 

 their leaflets, which are comparatively narrow and loosely set, ornamented 

 by a tassel formed by the mid vein being once or twice forked. — Lowe, Our 

 Native Ferns, i,, t. 30 ; New and Rare Ferns, p. 69. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Gardening, ii,, p, 440, 



