GYMNOGRAMME, AND SUB-ORDER III. OSMUNDA. 1 57 
Tribe 12. GRAM MITI DE/E. 
THE SLENDER-LEAVED GYMNOGRAM. 
Gymnogramme leptophylla. 
— Desvaux . 
The only British species of 
the very handsome hot-house 
Gold and Silver Ferns. Dimi- 
nutive. Length, 3 to 8 inches. 
Fronds fragile and few in num- 
ber. Only found in Jersey, 
where it is abundant in several 
places. It is an annual ; but 
if under suitable circumstances 
it will sow itself. Found on 
moist L banks with a sunny as- 
pect. A native of France, 
Switzerland, Germany, Spain, 
Portugal, Italy, Sicily, Sar- 
dinia, Dalmatia, Crete, and 
Greece ; India, Algiers, Moroc- 
co, Egypt, Abyssinia, and in 
the Atlantic Isles ; Mexico and 
Australasia. 
There are no varieties. 
Fig. 46. — Frond of Gymnogramme 
leptophylla. 
SUB-ORDER III. OSMUND ACEaE. 
THE ROYAL FERN. 
Osmunda regalis. — Linnceus . 
The Royal, or, as it is often called, the Flowering Fern, is a 
most interesting and majestic species, and grows in situations 
where it can supply itself with water ; flourishing on the margins of 
lakes and rivers, and in swampy fields. It varies considerably in 
size (from 1 foot to as much as 12 feet). It is abundant at 
Shapwick, in Somerset, but very dwarf. In i860 I noticed a num- 
ber of plants in the crevices of low rocks at Santander, in N. 
Spain, by the side of the sea, where they must be frequently 
splashed by the waves. They were all small, none more than 6 
inches in length. In the early part of the present century, before 
the land was effectually drained it was not uncommon at Buhvell 
