146 
POLYPODIACEiE. 
Smith, who cite Bolton’s name as a synonyme, might perhaps be 
deemed sufficient to decide this branch of the enquiry. We 
then arrive at the question of date. Bolton’s work on the Bri- 
tish ferns, although paged continuously, was published in two 
parts, the first at Leeds in 1785, the second at Huddersfield in 
1790; Acrostichum alpinwm occurs in the second part.* The 
name of Acrostichum hyperhoreum was published by Liljeblad 
in the Stockholm Transactions for 1793, and is the authority 
quoted by Smith and others, Mr. Bennett has, however, shown 
me that the original description may be dated one year earlier : 
admitting this, we must still give Bolton a priority of two years, 
quite sufficient to decide a question of nomenclature, yet it is 
somewhat remarkable that Lamarck and Decandolle are the only 
authors who have adopted the specific name of olpinumA 
After so ample a description as that by Bolton, already quoted, 
it may perhaps be thought unnecessary to give one of my own, 
but I scarcely think myself justified in such a departure from 
my usual course as to omit it. The roots are black, wiry, and 
branched : the rhizoma is tufted, large in proportion to the en- 
tire plant, and apparently very enduring. The stems are slen- 
der and nearly smooth ; they have a few small, scattered, and 
pointed scales, and some very slender jointed hairs, amounting 
in a very young state to a fine pubescence, but both these appear 
to be easily removed, since in nearly all the mature dried speci- 
mens I have seen they were entirely wanting : the stem is arti- 
culated, like that of the preceding species, and 1 have a specimen 
which has two joints, a circumstance which I imagine of unu- 
sual occurrence. The shape of the frond is long, narrow, linear, 
and pinnate : the pinnae are perfectly separate, sometimes dis- 
tant, almost invariably alternate, and in shape somewhat trian- 
gular, the angles being rounded ; they are lobed, the lobes are 
five or seven in number and very obtuse ; the first superior lobe 
is sometimes considerably larger than the rest, and slightly 
notched ; the apex of the frond is pinnatifid and pointed : the 
margins and under surface of the pinnae are sparingly furnished 
with jointed hairs. The venation is rather anomalous ; no 
* Bolt. Fil. 76. 
f Flor. Franc, ii. 567. 
