256 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



and at Glen Meay, in the Isle of Man j while in Ireland it is still more 

 profusely spread, for it is found in Galway, Kerry, the Arran Isles, and 

 Clare; it also grows on the banks of the Carron, in Scotland. Indeed, 

 Australia and New Zealand are, we believe, the only places where the existence 

 of A. Capillus- Veneris is not recorded. 



The fronds, Sin. to 18in. long, are generally of a lengthened triangular or 

 ovate (egg-shaped) form, occasionally lanceolate (spear-shaped) or oblong; 

 they are membranaceous and pellucid (of thin and more or less transparent 

 texture), sometimes bipinnate (twice divided to the midrib), but at other 

 times tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), and furnished with 

 numerous segments or pinnules of a bright green colour, perfectly smooth, Jin. 

 to lm. broad, with the base cuneate (wedge-shaped), the outer edge rounded, 

 deeply lobed from the circumference in the direction of the centre, and the 

 lobes again bluntly crenated (dented), and borne on very slender, thread-like, 

 short stalks. The lower sides of the leaflets are entire, and usually slightly 

 concave ; the upper, or outer, margin is more or less incised or lobed ; and 

 the lobes in the American form are usually denticulated (toothed), and some- 

 times very sharply so, especially in those from Utah and California. In fertile 

 fronds, the teeth either disappear or are seen only on the upper part of the 

 sides of the lobes, while the ends or summits of these lobes are occupied by 

 the lunate (crescent-shaped) or oblong sori (spore masses), which vary in 

 length according to the width of the lobe. The fronds are borne on stipes 

 (stalks) of a rather slender nature, 4in. to 9in. long, polished, of a purplish- 

 black colour, and furnished with a few scales near the base, whereas the rest 

 of them is quite naked and smooth. The roundish or reniform (kidney-shaped) 

 sori are placed in the roundish sinuses (depressions) of the crenations. 

 Whenever it grows luxuriantly, this Fern is more or less pendent in habit ; 

 but plants of moderate size commonly have their fronds erect (upright), or 

 but very slightly recurved (bent in a backward direction). Certain forms 

 which by some authors are considered as distinct species, though varying only 

 in their increased size, owe their more robust character no doubt to the 

 warmer atmosphere to which they are naturally subjected, and it is very 

 doubtful whether they are really distinct.— Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 36. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 25. Lowe, Native Ferns, ii., t. 62 ; 

 Ferns British and Exotic, iii., t. 15. Eaton, Ferns of North America, i., t. 37. 



