144 
European Ferns. 
this develope into the typical form of aculeatum, but is of opinion that it is a permanent 
variety of which various gradations exist in a natural state. The form known as lonchitioides — 
or lonchitidoides, for it is written in both these ways— is that which, as its name implies, most 
closely resembles the Holly Fern ; it seems to be an immature and undeveloped state of 
lobatum , but is as a rule a small plant, simply pinnate, the pinnae being more or less deeply 
toothed or lobed on the upper side at the base. 
Taken as a whole, however, P. aculeatum , regarded as distinct from P. angular e, is not 
a variable species ; Mr. Moore only describes five varieties, and these are not very marked. 
The author just referred to says that it is occasionally found with the apex of the frond 
multifid, and the pinnae dichotomous, and that it has been known to produce bulbils in the 
axils of the lower pinnae ; but these are merely accidental variations, and do not deserve to 
be regarded as permanent. P. angulare , however,' which we shall now proceed to describe, is a 
much more variable plant. 
P. aculeatum is very easily cultivated, and is very useful as a rockery fern on account 
of its evergreen character. It should be placed in a situation where the roots can be well 
drained, and is rather partial to shade. 
POLYSTICHUM ANGULARE, Presl. 
As will have been gathered from the incidental references made to this species while 
P. aculeatum was under consideration, there is much in common between the two, and such 
authorities as Sir W. J. Hooker place them together as forms of one and the same species. 
On the other hand, Mr. Moore keeps them distinct ; and although his acquaintance with the 
species of ferns is perhaps less extensive than that of the former director of Kew Gardens > 
we are inclined to prefer his estimate of the specific value of such forms as he has more 
particularly studied. 
The difference in habit between this fern and the preceding is very striking, and 
indeed is sufficient to separate them at a glance. P. aculeatum is a stout rigid plant, with 
stiff upright fronds, having a bristly, and, if we may so speak, an almost defiant appearance. 
In P. angulare , on the other hand, the fronds are soft and lax, with smaller pinnules, which 
are more or less distinctly stalked. Mr. Moore, to whose opinion as to the distinctness of the 
two species we have already referred, says that the chief differences between the two consist 
in the obtuse-angled base of the stalked pinnules of P. angulare , and the acute-angled or 
wedge-shaped base of the sessile pinnules of the more divided states of P. aculeatum. He 
says also: “ P. aculeatum has its sori medial, that is, attached at a point along the middle 
part of the venule, the apex of which is carried out to the margin of the pinnule, the sori 
thus being placed nearer the base of the venule than its apex, i.e., nearer the point of 
furcation ; while in P. angulare the fertile venule stops about midway across the pinnule, 
and the sorus is commonly placed at or almost close to its apex.” 
In habit and general appearance there is much in common between this species and 
P. aculeatum. Both have tough, strong roots, and large thick tufted rhizomes, covered with 
large brown chaffy scales. The fronds of both are of about the same length and size, 
and both plants frequent the same habitats — deep hedge-bottoms and shady banks, especially 
on the borders of woods. So far as our experience goes, they are not often found together, 
but they contrast very effectively with each other when planted on a rockery, the stiff, 
upright fronds of P. aculeatum towering above the softer and more drooping ones of 
