FERNS. 
[Aspidium. 
:ii 
8.— ASPIDIUM SPINULOSUM. 
PRICKLY SHIELD-FERN. 
(Plate 2, fig. 11.) 
Cha. — Frond bipinnate. Pinnae oblong. Lobes finely cut, 
spinulose. Racliis nearly smooth, white. 
Syn. — Aspidium spinulosum, Willd., Hook, in Br.Fl. (not /3 , ) Gulp., Smith. 
Polypodium spinulosum, Swz., Betz. — Polypodium cristatum, Ilqff'm., 
Schreb. — Polypodium spinosum, Schr. — Polyp, dentatum, Moench. 
Fig. — E. B. 1460. — Flo. Dan. 707 — Pluk. Phyt. 181, /. 2, (a young plant,) 
Schk. jil. 48. 
Des. — Frond ovate or oblong, always erect and flat. Pinnae very 
nearly opposite, smooth, and distinct, as are also the lobes, which 
are rarely convex. Segments oblong, pointed, doubly serrate, and 
spinulose. Rachis nearly smooth, swelled at its ramifications, of 
a whitish color, and generally covered with black dots. Sori 
scattered, small. Indusium small, brown, soon shrivelling up. 
This plant goes by various names among British Botanists. It is repeatedly 
considered and sent as Aspidium cristatum (which see, page 32), and is such 
of some authors, but not of Smith, Hooker, or Mackay. It is also confounded 
with the much rarer Aspid. rigidum, the diagnostics of which are very distinct, 
and with the next species, Aspid. dilatatum, it is often considered identical, 
though sufficiently distinct both wild and cultivated, in habit, texture, and 
color. Our present plant is narrower, less compound, fiat, erect, rigid in habit, 
of a very light green color, the mibrib of the lobes more zigzag and promi- 
nent, the lower pinna; rarely twice pinnate, the indusium glandulous, and the 
whole plant much more delicate than the dilatatum. 
In a variety of Spinulosum given me by Mr. J. Merrick, of Manchester, the 
lobes on the upper side of each pinna are much larger than those on the lower ; 
also, it may be remarked, that in dry situations the lobes will become convex, 
but this is by no means common. 
Sit. — O n wet moors, sides of pools and ponds, wet hedge-rows, &c. 
IIab. — T itterstone Clee Hills, Shrops., Mr. J. S. Bayly. Wood near 
Dunsford Bridge, Devon, Mr. Jacob. Near Torquay, Dr. Greville. Pottery 
Car, near Doncaster, Mr. S. Appleby. Sussex and S. Kent, Rev. G. E. Smith. 
Norfolk, Miss Bell. Warwicksh., Rev. W. S. Bree. Near Richmond, Yorks., 
Mr. J. Ward. Dallington Heath, near Northampton, Mr. Anderson. Derbys., 
Dr. Howitt. Bomere Pool, Salop, Mr. C. Babington. Tonbridge, Kent, Mr. 
W. C. Trevelyan. Isle of Man, Mr. Forbes. Barnes Common, Surrey (near 
the Water-house), Mr. Castles. Somere, Salop, Mr. Leighton. Common in 
Kent, Mr. W. Pamplin. Abundant in Essex, Mr. J. Beevis. Ncarthe Spring- 
well, Wimbledon Common, G. F. In a small state at Woolston Moss, Lane., 
and Newchurch Bog, near Over, Cheshire, Mr. W. Wilson. Ingleborough, 
Yorkshire, Rev. W. Bree. Near the Windmill on Wimbledon Common, Mr. 
W. Pamplin. — Wal. : Aber, Cacrn., Mr Leighton. Near Wrexham, Denb., 
Mr. J. E. Bowman. — Sco. : Moray and Rosshire, Rev. G. Gordon. Aberdeen- 
shire, Dr. Murray. Dumbartonshire, Mr. J. Hooker. Auchindenny Woods, 
Edinburgh, Mr. Watson. 
Geo. — Switzerland, Dauphiny, Saltzburg, Darmstad, and throughout North 
America. 
