POLYPODIUM. 



233 



overlapping, spear-shaped, pale brown scales. The spore masses, which are 

 much raised, are disposed in a single row on each side of and close to the 

 mid vein. P. {Phegopteris) villosum of Fee is synonymous with Nephr odium 

 pubescens. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 512. 



P. (Phegopteris) Yogelii — Phe-gop'-ter-is ; Vo-gel'-I-i (Vogel's), Hooker. 



This beautiful, robust-growing Fern, native of Fernando Po, is very closely 

 related to P. eonneicum, of which it is probably only a variety, with much- 

 divided fronds 4ft. or more in length and 2ft. broad, borne on stalks 

 ljft. to 2ft. long and furnished with narrow scales at their base. The 

 most distinctive characters, however, reside in the thicker texture of the 

 leafy portion, and in the larger sori (spore masses). — Hooker, Species 

 Filicum, iv., p. 271. 



P. YUlgare — vul-ga'-re (common), Linnaeus. 



Of the five species recognised as native of the British Islands — P. alpestre, 

 P. Dryopteris, P. Phegopteris, P. Robertianum, and P. vulgar e— the last, 

 popularly known as the " Common Polypody," is the only one of an evergreen 

 nature ; it is as highly ornamental in midwinter as at any other time of the 

 year. It is one of the oldest Ferns accepted as truly British, for Dr. William 

 Turner, in the Second Part of his " Herbal," published as far back as 1562, 

 gives,, besides its description, a very fair woodcut of P. vulgare, which he 

 designates the " Englishe Polypody, the Walle Feme, or Oke Feme." Its 

 habitat, however, is far from being limited to the British Islands, where, 

 according to Thomas Moore, in " The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland," 

 it is stated to occur from the coast-level in the West of England to an 

 elevation of about 2100ft. in the Highlands of Scotland. Moore says : " This 

 common English Fern appears to be also abundant over Europe, extending 

 from the Scandinavian Kingdoms throughout Central and Western Europe to 

 Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, and Corfu on the Mediterranean side, and to Spain 

 and Portugal on the Atlantic side ; whence it extends into Africa by the 

 Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Isles, occurring along the northern shore 

 of the Continent, as at Algiers, and again appearing in South Africa, in the 

 country of the Kafirs. In Asia, it is found in Siberia, and thence eastwards 

 to Kamtschatka, and westwards over the mountains of Western Asia to 

 Erzeroum, but appears wanting on the opposite side of the Continent, there 



