572 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



Car, at Doncaster, and at Richmond, in Yorksliire ; in Shropshire ; in 

 Warwickshire ; in Derbyshire ; in Norfolk ; in Sussex ; at Tunbridge, in 

 Kent ; in Devonshire, &c. In all these places it gi'ows in marshy spots, 

 moist wooded ground, and wet hedgerows. Its fronds, which are produced 

 from a tufted crown, are borne on slender stalks about 1ft. long, and sparingly 

 clothed with somewhat pointed scales ; they are Ift. to IJft. long. Gin. to 

 Sin. broad, and oblong-spear-shaped in shape. The lowest leaflets, somewhat 

 triangular, are Sin. to 4in. long and l^^in. to Sin. broad. The broadly spear- 

 shaped pinnules (leafits), about lin. long and ^in. broad, are cut down to the 

 rachis (stalk) below into oblong lobes, copiously furnished with sharp -pointed 

 teeth. The fronds are of a soft, papery texture and of a pale green colour. 

 The sori (spore masses) are covered with a persistent involucre. — Hooker., 

 British Ferns, t. 20. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 444. Eaton, 

 Ferns of North America, ii., t. 68. 



This fine, erect-growing species is well adapted for the moist parts of 

 the Fernery, or the shady parts of the shrubbery, where, through its bold, 

 free habit, it is rendered very distinct and decorative. The plant will bear 

 a moderate degree of exposure, though it prefers shade ; but, whichever 

 situation it may occupy, a good supply of water at its roots is necessary all 

 the year round. 



N. spinulosum has produced a few varieties, among which the following 

 are the most distinct : 



N. S. Boottii — Boot'-ti-i (Boott's), Gray. 



This variety, which, in Eaton's work on " Ferns of North America," 

 is illustrated and described as a distinct species, though it is said to occur in 

 England, in Continental Europe, and in Siberia, is much commoner in North 

 America, where it is said to grow naturally in wet places in woods, often in 

 alder thickets near streamlets or ponds. Its was, according to Eaton, first 

 discovered near Lowell, Massachusetts, by W. Boott as far back as 1843, and 

 has since been found by several collectors near Fresh Pond, Cambridge, in 

 Middlesex County ; near Amherst and near Pelham, in the same State ; 

 also in Connecticut, Southern New York, and Delaware. So far as the 

 structure of its rootstock and its mode of growth are concerned, there is nothing 

 to distinguish this Fern from N. cristatum or from N. spinulosum. Its fronds, 



