440 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



are distinctly tripinnate (thrice divided to the midrib), having rather distant, 

 tapering leaflets (Fig. 65), with narrowed, contracted, but not distorted 

 pinnules (leaiits), distantly lobed, deeply cut, and conspicuously stalked. The 

 fronds are of a particularly dark green colour and very proliferous (bud- 

 bearing) on the lower half of the stalk of their leafy portion. — Lowe, Our 

 Native Ferns, i., p. 128, fig. 104. 



A. a. pumilum — pu'-rnil-um (small), Moore. 



A very pretty, constant form, of dwarf habit, originally found near 

 Nettlecombe. Its fronds, which have the same bitten-off character as those 

 of A. a. pramwrsum, are smaller in all their parts, as they seldom attain 

 9in. in length and 2in. in breadth; they are bipinnate (twice divided), of 

 a deep green colour, and rather wavy or crispy. The fructification is limited 

 to the extremity of the fronds, where only two or three pairs of sori 

 (spore masses) are found at the tips of the leaflets. — Lowe, Our Native 

 Ferns, i., p. 115, fig. 87. 



A. a. ramosissimum — ra-mo-sis'-sini-um (much branched), Loive. 



A singularly crested and branched form, originally found wild near 

 Exeter. Its fronds, lift, to ljft. long and Sin. to 12in. broad across the 

 ramose (branched) portion; are very variable ; yet they usually branch 

 about 4in. above the base, these branches dividing again about Sin. higher 

 and having a third division from 2in. to Sin. beyond that ; further, they 

 are frequently more or less branched again near the summit of the frond. 

 — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, i., p. 144, fig. 122. 



A. a. rotundatum — rot-un-da'-tuni (rounded), Moore. 



This most distinct, comparatively small- fronded, and remarkable Fern, 

 different in general aspect from all other known kinds, was originally found 

 in a wild state near Nettlecombe, in Somersetshire. Its remarkably pretty 

 fronds, 1ft. to l^ft. long and 3in. to 4in. broad, are narrow spear-shaped, 

 rather spreading, and terminate in a blunt, rounded lobe ; they are strictly 

 bipinnate (twice divided to the midrib) and of a deep green colour. The 

 pinnae (leaflets), closely set and ljin. to 2in. long, are of nearly even 

 breadth throughout, gradually diminishing in size to less than Jin. long 



