19 . 
THE SOFT PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. 
Po h/s ti c/mm a ngulare. 
Plate 8, Fig. 1 , Page 293 . 
The most familiar as well as the most gracefully beautiful 
of our P>ritisli Shield Ferns is Polystichum angular e. It 
excels, not only in a wealth of vivid green, sometimes 
blended with golden hues, but in mellower tints of richest 
brown. It excels, too, amongst British Ferns in the 
beautiful and perfect arrangement of the pinnae and pin- 
nules of the fronds. Indeed, it is probable that it ’is this 
species which has especially claimed for its genus the name 
of Polystichum — the derivation of which has been previously 
explained — for the order and regularity of its multitudinous 
pinnules are strikingly beautiful. Polystichum angulare — 
or, as it might be appropriately called the angular-lobed 
Poll / sti chum — is pre-eminently the Fern of the hedge-row. 
Its most favourite habitats are the sloping hedge-banks and 
the hedge-tops of moist and shady lanes. It often attains 
grand proportions on the steeply-sloping sides of the 
earthy or stony banks which border deep and sheltered 
ravines in moorland districts, in such a position throwing 
out its fronds in shuttlecock form around its central crown. 
We have often seen the whole of a hedge side densely 
clothed with the graceful fronds of Polystichum angulare. 
It is necessary to see in order to appreciate a sight so 
extremely beautiful. 
