THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
1 1 6 
were reduced to one species under the name Asp. aculeatum 
Sw., var. pungens Klf. 
Much investigation since then has led me to alter this 
view, and to regard P. pungens as specifically distinct from 
P. aculeatum , at least to the extent of each retaining its 
character under given conditions, but even then I am doubtful 
as to what any previous S. African writer regarded as the 
one or the other. I look upon the fern with loose open habit 
and softly herbaceous drooping or spreading tripinnatifid 
fronds which usually grows as scattered single plants in the 
forest as P. aculeatum , and the much more rigid plant with 
erect narrow two-pinnate fronds which grows in masses among 
stones on open hillsides as P . pungens. Knowing how variable 
this group is in Europe and elsewhere, and how many chance 
sports from P. aculeatum have arisen in horticulture, it is 
quite likely that P. pungens comes within that category, but 
for the present it seems fixed. 
Christensen enumerates 41 named varieties of P. acu- 
leatum , our plant being var. ammifolium (= P oly podium ammi- 
folium , Poir. Enc. 5, 554. 1804). 
Polystichum aculeatum (Linn.). Schott, Gen. Fil. 1834; Baker, Syn. 
Fil. 252 ; C. Chr. Index , 576. 
P. angtilare. Pappe and Rawson, 1 5 (not Willd.). 
West. ^ 
East. I — Abundant in bush everywhere over 2000 ft alt., and 
Kaffraria. f occasionally to the coast. 
Natal. J 
Orange Free State. — Ficksburg (Quail); near Van Reenen (Prof. 
Bews). 
Transvaal. — Pilgrim’s Rest (L. Collins) ; Barberton (J. Thorncroft). 
Rhodesia. — Umtali (Holland, Mrs Bennett) ; Victoria Falls (J. Sim) ; 
Mt Pene Forest, 7000 ft (Swynnerton, 6031, 6032). 
37. Polystichum pungens (Klf.) Presl. 
Plate 27. Nat. size. 
Plants growing in dense masses, fully exposed on steep 
banks near the top of the mountains, and often just above 
the forest. Rhizome long, usually undergound, procumbent. 
