430 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



to 2jft. in length and 6in. in width ; they are remarkable for their thick 

 texture as also for the large size of their pinnules (leafits), which are more 

 or less twin spiny-toothed : from this unusual character its varietal name 

 was derived. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, L, p. 77, fig. 46. 



A. a. brachiatum — brach-i-a'-tuni (brachiate, or having successive opposite 

 pairs of branches disposed at right angles to each other), Moore. 

 A remarkable variety, native of Devonshire. Its singular appearance is 

 produced by the lowest pair of pinna; (leaflets) being sometimes so large as 

 to appear like branches. This curious character gives the fronds, which are 



lft. to 2ft. in length, quite a pyramidal 

 form, being much the broadest at the 

 base ; they are also stiff-habited and 

 densely leafy, of a yellowish-green 

 colour above and rusty-coloured be- 

 neath. The narrow and sharp -pointed 

 piniiEe vary in length in different por- 

 tions of the frond, and are usually 

 shorter in the centre than at the 

 base. Their pinnules (leafits), much 

 overlapping at the base, broad and 

 cut into many small, shallow, stiff- 

 spined teeth, are distinctly stalked and 

 lobed ; each pinnule next the midrib 

 of the frond is so deeply cut that 

 at that point the frond becomes tri- 

 pinnate (thrice divided). — Lowe, Our 

 Native Ferns, i., p. 106, fig. 77. 



Gray's A. a. brachiato-cristatum 

 (Fig. 62) is only a form of A. a. 

 brachiatum, in which the ends of each branching part of the fronds terminate 

 in a tuft, giving the plant a most peculiar appearance. 



A. a. COncinnum — con-cm' -nuru (neat), Moore. 



This exceedingly pretty form of a more or less plumose nature, which 

 was originally found near Nettlecombe, is remarkable for the rich green colour 



Fig. 62. Frond of Aspidium annulare 

 brachiato-cristatum 

 (£ nat. size) 



