POLYPODIES. 



47 



PLUME POLYPODY/-^ 



In general habit resembling the Lady Fern, with fronds 

 of between 2 and 3 feet in length, branched on each side, 

 the branches again divided into branchlets, which bear 

 the narrow, deeply notched leaflets. As the above name 

 indicates, the habit of the plant is very like a large tufir 

 of green feathers, handsome and attractive, but with the 

 fructification of a Polypody. 



Our authority for introducing this as a new species of 

 British Polypodies is Mr. John Smith, of Kew. Three 

 plants were found wild in Yorkshire a few years ago, and 

 then regarded as varieties of the Lady Pern. To this Mr. 

 Smith objects that the tufts of spore-cases are naked, as 

 in other Polypodies, and he adds : " This leaves me no 

 other alternative than to consider it a species of that 

 genus, and consequently a new British species. In doing 

 so, the question arises as to whether it represents an 

 ancient species not before noticed, or the modern result 

 arising from the power of Nature to generate new forms, 

 in accordance with the Darwinian theory of creation of 

 species." 



Of this plant we have no knowledge whatever, and 

 insert it here solely on authority. "Whether the variety 

 called plwnosum of the Lady Pern, which may be had at 

 some nurseries, is the same plant, we have had no oppor- 

 tunity to determine. It is singular that two Polypodies 

 should have been confounded with the Lady Pern, and 

 regarded as varieties in this country. 



ALPINE POLYPODY.t 



The Alpine Polypody was long confounded with the 

 Lady Fern, to which it has, at first sight, great resem- 

 blance. The root-stock is short, producing from its crown 

 tufts of fronds. These fronds are borne on short scaly 



*P7iegopteris plmnosa, Sm. f Polypodium alpestre, HOPPE. 



