38 
FERNS. 
[ Aspidium . . 
6. — ASPIDIUM FILIX-MAS. 
MALE FERN. 
(Plate III, fig. 3.) 
Cha. — Frond pinnate, broadly lanceolate. Pinnae alternate, 
deeply pinnatifid. Segments obtuse, crenate. Racliis scaly. 
Syn. — Aspidium Filix-mas, Swz., Willd., Smith, Hook., Galp., Mack. — Polv- 
podium Filix-mas, Linn., Huds., Bolt., Woodv., Dicks „ Ehrh., Ger., With., 
Light f. — Polvstichum Filix-mas, Roth., Decan. — Polystichum callipteris, 
Bemh. — Lastraea Filix-mas, Presl, Newm. 
Fig. — E. B. 1458. — Bolt. 24. — Woodv. 49. — Flo. Lon. 40. — Newm., page 51. 
Des. — Root large, tufted, black, and scaly. Fronds growing 
centrally from a crown, broadly lanceolate, pinnate. Pinnae lanceo- 
late, pointed, alternate, smooth, except on the under side of the 
midrib, of a bright green, regularly tapering, curved upwards, and 
very deeply cleft. Segments oblong, obtuse, slightly crenate at the 
sides, copiously at the end, very close together, but not overlapping 
each other. Sori confined to the upper half of the frond, and to the 
lower half of each segment of the pinnae, round, large, and very 
prominent. Cover large, orbicular, with a notch on one side, at 
first white and transparent, afterwards opaque, and of a fine reddish- 
brown, covering the thecae even till they are fully ripe. 
The large size, robust appearance, and decided character of this plant, obtained 
for it very early and very aptly the name of Male Fern. Medicinal properties of 
some importance have been ascribed to it, and apparently with justice. It is 
retained in most of the pharmacopoeias of Europe as a specific for the larger 
kinds of intestinal worms, and used very extensively for that purpose by the 
faculty on many parts of the Continent, and if the employment of it has been 
discontinued here, it is not because of its inutility, but from the discovery of 
other remedies equally potent and better understood. The stem and roots are 
bitter and astringent, and have been used instead of hops. 
/3 (variegatum). White, tipped and edged with green (same habit), 
y [recurvum). Pinna; crisped, turned down. Frond small, ltacbis smooth. 
8 ( spinosum ). Pinnules serrate, smaller blended together, larger auricled. 
The above states of the plant appear constant, besides which it is sometimes 
found with a cormus, some inches above the ground ; Mr. W. Wilson has seen 
it thus in Caernarvonshire, and Mr. Mackay in Wicklow. A singular variety, 
with the upper pinnm remarkably compound or branched, has been observed in 
Bore-bill Lane, below Dorking, Surrey, by Mr. W. Pamplin. Also Mr. T. 
Clarke, jun., of Bridgewater, has been so kind as to send inc from King's Cliff 
Valley, four miles from that town, several fronds of a very large variety, which is 
found there in considerable abundance. It is of a very dark colour, has sori along 
the whole pinnule, and the pinnules themselves are all deeply serrated along their 
margin. Mr. Clarke also writes me, that Sir W. J. Hooker confirms bis, and I 
