ASPIDIUM. 



437 



A. a. plumosum — plu-mo'-sum (feathery), Wollaston. 



This rare, very handsome, and remarkably graceful variety was found 

 wild at Nettlecombe, in Somersetshire ; near Barnstaple, and near Ottery 

 St. Mary, in Devonshire, about the same time by as many different collectors. 

 It is a most lovely Fern, of strong dimensions, yet very elegant in habit 

 on account of its spreading fronds, 2ft. to oft. long and Gin. to 9in. 

 broad, being of a very feathery nature. They are of a pale green colour 

 and thin texture, bipinnate (twice divided to the midrib), and almost three 

 times divided in the most developed parts. Their general outline is 

 broadly spear-shaped, and their pinna) (leaflets), more than lin. wide, 

 slightly decrease in width towards the point. The pinnules (leafits), with 

 which they are abundantly furnished, are conspicuously stalked, curving 

 outward, deeply and symmetrically cut into narrow, spiny-toothed lobes, 

 the larger of which are also often slightly cut. This gives an elegant 

 feathery appearance to the graceful arching fronds, which are produced in 

 great abundance from a short, upright stem. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, 

 L, p. 113, fig. 85. 



A. a. polydactylum— pol-yd-ac'-tyl-um (many-fingered), Moore. 



A constant, distinct, and exceedingly elegant variety, originally found 

 wild in Tipperary. Its slender, narrow, lanceolate (spear-shaped) fronds, 

 9 in. to 12in. long and 2in. to oin. broad, are furnished with somewhat 

 irregular, stiff pinnaB (leaflets), usually ending in two or three spreading 

 forkings or short branches, from about half their length. Their pinnules 

 (leafits), which show a very distinct stalk and lobe, are proportionately small, 

 and here and there are only rudimentary. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, i., 

 p. 114, fig. 86. 



A. a. praemorsum — prse-mor'-sum (bitten off), Allchin. 



A distinct and very curious variety, found wild in Ireland, also in 

 Hampshire and in Devonshire. It is of dwarf and compact habit, its 

 rather tapering fronds, often irregular in outline, seldom exceeding lift, 

 in length by Sin. in breadth ; they are furnished with shortened or 

 abruptly-terminating leaflets, which, like the pinnules (leafits), appear as if 

 bitten off. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, i., p. 88, figs. 55 and 56. 



