European Ferns. 
70 
are also evergreen) are much longer than the barren ones, attaining a height of from one 
to two feet, or sometimes more. They are upright or slightly inclining, and rise conspicuously 
above the last-named. They are pinnate,* the pinnae being very narrow, and more distant 
than the segments of the barren frond, especially the lower ones. The rachis in these is of a 
shining dark-brown or nearly black hue; in the barren fronds it is green— although by some 
accident this distinction between the two is hardly shown satisfactorily in our plate. 
We have said that the Hard Fern is a variable species ; this will at once become manifest 
when we state that Mr. Moore enumerates and describes at length no fewer than thirty-four 
varieties.f It would be impossible to do more than allude to these in the space at our disposal; 
but we may just glance at the six principal of them, which have been thought by Mr. Moo ,- e 
of sufficient importance to merit a botanical diagnosis. 
In the variety lancifolium, which is the least divided form of the species, and a very 
distinct-looking plant, the fronds (both fertile and barren) are very narrow (from a quarter 
to half an inch wide), and undivided for about a third or even more of their length, from 
the apex downwards. This has been found at Tunbridge Wells, near Todmorden in Lancashire, 
in North Wales, and in the Clova mountains ; it is permanent and fairly constant in cultivation. 
The frequent occurrence in Mr. Moore’s book of the Todmorden locality for varieties of ferns 
seems to suggest that if collectors in other places would take up the subject as energetically 
as Mr. Stansfield has done in the district named, their search would be rewarded with many 
new forms. 
The variety subserratum, a very elegant and permanent form, has small narrow elongated 
fronds, which are, to quote Mr. Moore’s description, “ usually curved in a lateral direction, and 
the acute segments remarkably curved forwards in a falcate manner, so much so as to overlie 
each other ; the anterior margin of these segments is entire, while the posterior margin is 
notched with conspicuous shallow rounded lobes or crenatures.” This has also been found in 
Yorkshire. 
The variety imbrication is notable on account of its short broad sterile fronds, the 
segments of which are densely crowded, and imbricated, that is, lying over one another in the 
manner of tiles upon a roof. The stipes is very thick. This variety is constant in cultivation, 
and seems to be not unfrequent in a wild state ; it is recorded from Devonshire, Somersetshire, 
Lancashire, Staffordshire, Pembrokeshire, and Perthshire. 
The variety strictum has long narrow fronds, the segments being more distant than in 
the normal form, and shorter, the margins being more or less irregularly toothed. Allied to 
this, which has been found in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and North Wales, there is another 
form, heterophyllum, which is remarkable for the irregular appearance of its barren fronds. 
Some of these are normal, but in others many of the segments are very much reduced, 
while a few of them extend to their normal size; this occurs quite irregularly, and the result 
is that the fronds present a singularly quaint and untidy appearance. 
The varieties hitherto considered have been those in which the fronds have retained their 
normal shape ; but there are others in which they are branched or much divided either below 
or at the apex. The most common of these is one in which the fronds, or some of them, are 
* The difference between the somewhat similar terms pinnate and pinnatifid should, perhaps, be explained, 
and the fertile and barren fronds of the Blechnum afford a good illustration of this. In the former the pinnae 
are distinct, arranged on opposite sides of the rachis ; in the latter the segments of the frond, although deeply 
divided, are not separated at the base. 
f “ Nature-printed Ferns” (8vo edition), vol. ii., pp. 217 — 228. 
