HEATH’S FERN PORTFOLIO. 
EUROPEAN BRISTLE Y'^'^'^—Trichomanes radicmis. Fig. i. 
LIMESTONE YO\NYOT>Y— Polypodium calcareum. Fig. 2. 
THREE-BRANCHED ?OLY?ODY~Polypodium dryopteris. Fig. 3. 
MOUNTAIN VOYXYOJyY—Polypodmm phegopteris. Fig. 4, 
F rom a black scaly rhisoma, or creeping root, THE EUROPEAN BRISTLE FERN— 
Trichomanes radicans — throws up evergreen fronds six inches to a foot and a half in length. 
They are triangular, with narrowly triangular pinnce arranged mostly in pairs, and divided into 
oblong, alternately-placed pinnules, which are again parted into deeply-cleft lobes. The pinncB 
and pinnules overlap each other, and the whole aspect of the frond is remarkable by the 
elaborateness and beauty of its crisped and curled arrangement, and by the semi-pellucid character 
of its leafy parts — leafy wings bordering, on each side, stipes, rachis^ and the branches and 
ramifications of the latter. The spores are contained in urn-shaped receptacles on the frond 
margins. Habitats. — Dripping rocks in deep shade. In positions where the atmosphere Is 
always charged with moisture. Distribution. — Azores, Brazil, Canary Islands, England, 
Galapagos, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, New Granada, Panama, Sandwich and 
Society Islands, Spain, Teneriffe, Venezuela, and Wales. 
THE LIMESTONE POLYPODY — Pblypodmm calcareum — varies from eight to eighteen 
inches in length. It has a stout, long, brittle stipes, and a triangular leafy part, with pinnce in 
opposite pairs, the lowest pair larger and more divided than the others, and having opposite or 
alternated pinnules deeply cleft Into blunt, oblong lobes, around the edges of which, in lines, are the 
son, uncovered, as in the Polypodies in general, by indtisia or shields. In the next pair of pinnce 
the division Is Into indented pinnules only, and the pinnce upwards gradually dwindle in size and 
In division. Habitats. — Moist, rocky crevices in limestone districts. Distribution. — Canada, 
France, Germany, Great Britain, Himalayas, Hungary, Norway, Switzerland, and United States. 
DISTINCTLY triangular, with long stipes, the fronds of THE THREE-BRANCHED 
POLYPODY — P oly podium dry opter is — spring from a creeping rhizoma, and vary from six inches to 
afoot in length. This fern is deciduous, its lowermost — a right-angled pair— much larger than 
the succeeding ones, and divided into opposite pairs of blunt, oblong pinnules, cleft into blunt, oblong 
lobes. The lower pinnules (near the main rachis) of the basal pinnce are longer than the upper 
ones, and the higher pairs of pinnce are divided Into short, blunt lobes, which become smaller 
and smaller towards the frond apex. The spores are thinly scattered along the mid-veins of the 
lobes, pinnules, or pinnce. Habitats. — Mountainous woods and stream margins, in moist, sheltered, 
and more or less rocky positions. Distribution.— Africa, America (North), Asia, British Islands, 
and European countries, except Greece and Turkey. 
TRIANGULAR also and deciduous, THE MOUNTAIN — Poly podium 
phegopteris — differs from other Polypodies In the form of Its pinnce. These are long and tapering, 
longest at the base, and, in the basal pairs, tapering at both ends, the lowermost often drooping. 
pinnce are more or less, according to size, deeply cleft into blunted pinnules, and the sori are 
abundantly scattered and in lines, one on each side of the mid-vein of each pinnule or pinna 
according to size and development. Habitats. — Damp woods and streamsides in hilly country, 
especially near waterfalls. Distribution. — Altai Mountains, America (North), Asia (in certain 
parts), British Islands, Europe generally, and Kamtschatka. 
