108 
POLYPODIACE.E. 
i\ ^ 
itself horizontally, and producing a 
constant succession of fronds from 
its crown. This procumbent or hori- 
zontal position appears to me rather 
the result of age, or want of power 
to maintain an erect position, than of 
a tendency to a creeping habit, as 
supposed by Sir J. E. Smith.^ The 
fronds rise in May and June, and 
disappear at the commencement of 
winter : as before stated, they are of 
two kinds, fertile and barren, both of 
which are nearly triangular in form, 
and,like the frond of AdiantumCapil- 
lus- Veneris^ composed of numerous, 
leaf-like, ultimate divisions : the pin- 
nae, pinnules, and ultimate divisions, 
are arranged alternately : the stem is 
slender, smooth, pale green, and ge- 
nerally much longer than the frond, 
which is of a bright and delicate 
green colour. The ultimate divisions 
of the fertile fronds are of a some- 
what oval form, and stand on distinct 
petioles, as shown at figure a ; their 
margins are indexed or convolute, 
attenuated and bleached : figure b is 
a magnified representation of one of 
these little leaves, with its margins 
rolled over as in a state of nature. 
The mid-vein is flexuous, and bears 
eight or ten lateral veins, placed al- 
ternately : these are divided shortly 
after leaving the mid-vein, and each 
branch bears a nearly circular cluster 
of capsules, at or very near its ex- 
tremity which does not quite reach 
^ “ Root moderately creeping.”— Eng. Flor. iv. 306. 
