ASPLENIUM. 



569 



A. F.-f. Willisonii— Will-is-on'-T-i (WillWs), Willison. 



Although not so elegant as Victoria and some of the other varieties, this 

 peculiar dwarf, distorted form, originally found wild near Whitby, is very 

 interesting as illustrating a most singular mode of formation. Its fronds, 

 about 10£in. long, are composed of stipes (stalks) 7m. long, covered with 

 large reddish-brown scales at the base, and of a leafy portion about Sin, 

 long by as much in width. Immediately below the basal leaflets the stalk 

 becomes flattened out and distorted to an extraordinary degree, and this 

 distortion continues to the extremity of the frond ; the pinna? (leaflets) and 

 even the pinnules (leafits) branch in various ways, no two being alike ; their 

 lobes are narrow and deeply toothed. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, ii., p. 95, 

 figs. 419 and 420. 



The varieties of the Lady Fern described in this book may appear 

 very numerous, although comparatively they are but a- few of the huge 

 number of forms and variations described and figured in works devoted 

 exclusively to the subject of British Ferns. They are, however, a selection 

 of the most important and most distinct kinds, and are quite sufficient to 

 give an idea of the extremely variable nature of such a species as A. Filix- 

 fcemina, which is not known to produce, either spontaneously or artificially, 

 such quantities of varieties in any of the other numerous countries where 

 it is equally indigenous. Even America, according to Eaton (" Ferns of 

 North America," ii., p. 76), only boasts of having the varieties angustum, 

 commune, cyclosorum, exile, and latifolium, the last two of which are 

 equally of British origin. 



A. (Athyrium) fimbriatum— Ath-yr'-i-um ; fim-bri-a'-tum (fringed), 

 Hooker. 



A strong-growing, deciduous, greenhouse species, native of the Himalayas, 

 where it is found at elevations of from 8000ft. to 9000ft. Its large fronds, 

 3ft. to 4ft. long and 1ft. to ljft. broad, are borne on firm, erect stipes 

 (stalks) 1ft. or more long and clothed at their base with scales of a dark 

 brown colour. The lower leaflets, of a soft, papery texture and about 9in. 

 long and 3in. broad, are furnished with lanceolate (spear-shaped) leafits which 

 in their turn are divided into distinctly -stalked, deeply- and sharply-cut 



