Pol y stic hum. 
*45 
P. angnlare. Hedge-bottoms, where water may stand in very wet seasons for a time, but 
is not of permanent occurrence, are good places for ferns ; the Hard Fern ( Blechnum Spicant) 
luxuriates in such localities, growing 
among large tufts of rushes, and forming 
large patches, the fertile fronds standing 
up with sufficient curve to be very grace- 
ful above the nearly prostrate barren 
ones. It is on the bank above the bottom 
that we shall find the Shield Ferns, for 
they do not affect much moisture. 
In England, P. angulare is about as generally 
distributed as P. aculeatum , but in Scotland it is much 
less common, being, indeed, but seldom met with, and 
recorded only from the counties of Ayr, Berwick, and 
Roxburgh, and the islands of the Clyde. In Ireland, on 
the other hand, it is much the more frequent plant of 
the two, especially in the province of Ulster, where it 
is very generally met with. Its European distribution 
is not very easily ascertainable, owing to the frequent 
union of this species with P. aculeatum , but it is 
apparently less frequent than that plant, especially in 
the more northern regions, although it is reported from 
Sweden and Norway, and also from Denmark. In the 
centre and south of Europe it is of frequent occurrence ; 
it is plentiful in Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the 
Azores, and also occurs in North and South Africa, 
and in Abyssinia. In Asia it is widely distributed, 
occurring in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, and 
in India, and the surrounding regions. In America it 
is met with both in the northern and central portions, 
although differing somewhat from the typical form. 
Unlike P. aculeatum, this is a very variable species. 
Mr. Moore describes and names as many as forty-four 
forms, some of which are very striking, although 
“ monstrous.” The variety Kitsonice is the prettiest of 
these : in this the rachis is several times branched, the 
pinnae forming the branches being crisped and curled 
at the tips. Less divided forms are cristatum and 
multifidum, which are similar in their mode of variation 
to the varieties of other ferns bearing the same name 
to which we have already alluded. The variety pro- 
lifcrum bears small bulbils at the point where the pinnae 
join the rachis, or sometimes in the axils of the pinnae. 
The variety plumosum has large, broad fronds of a thin delicate texture, with long-stalked, 
deeply-cut pinnules, the whole frond having a beautiful feathery appearance. For further 
information as to the varieties of P. angulare we must refer to Mr. Moore’s enumeration, 
24 
POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM. 
