86 VI. rOLYSTICHUM. 
imitated. In removing plants of this, as of the other less 
easily managed ferns, from their natural habitats for the 
purposes of cultivation, it is proper not only to take all 
possible precaution not to injure the roots, but also to 
select the smaller plants in preference to the larger, as it is 
found that the former are much more easily established 
under artificial conditions than are the latter. 
2. Polystichum aculeatum, Roth. Common 
Prickly Shield Fern. Fronds linear-lanceolate or lanceo- 
late, rigid or leathery, bipinnate; pinnules obliquely de- 
current or attached by the point of then* wedge-shaped 
base, the anterior basal ones largest, all prickly serrate. 
POLTSTICHUM ACULEATUM, Ilnth.: Bab. Man. 411: Florigraph. 
Brit. iv. 91: Newm. 169 (in part.) ASPIDIUM ACULEATCM, 
Swartz: Sm. Eng. Fl. iv. 277: Hook and Arn. FL 568. POLV- 
PODIUM ACULEATUM, LilllUBUS. 
ft. obtusum : fronds lanceolate, thick not rigid ; pin- 
nules oblong-obtuse, aristate, aurlcled, crenate-serrate with 
spinulose teeth. 
POLTSTICHUM ACULEATUM, /3. OBTUSUM, Moore and Houlston 
in Gard. Mag. Hot. iii. 319. 
<y. lobatum : fronds narrow-lanceolate, very rigid; 
pinnules not auricled, nearly all confluent, prickly serrate. 
POLYSTICHUM LOBATUM, Presl. P. ACULEATUM, Ncwm. 169 (in 
part). P. ACULBATUM <y. Florig.Brit iv. 91. ASPIDIUM LOBATUM, 
Swartz: Sm. Eng. Fl. iv. 278: Hook and Arn. FL 568: Franc. 
33. POLTPODIUM LOBATUM, Hudson. POLTSTICHUM LONCHITI- 
DIOIDES of authors, the Fillx Ipnchitidi affinis of Ray, is a 
starved form of this variety, having the fronds pinnate with the 
pinnules more combined. (See lower figure in page 90.) 
. a la turn : pinnules crowded, auricled, all connected 
together by the wing of the rachis. 
