Polystichum Angulare, Presl , Newman. 
Aspidium Angulare, Willdenow, Smith. 
WILLDENOW’S FEEN. 
Koot — Eadicles long, wiry, and penetrating ; caudex stout 
and tufted, profusely covered with brown scales. 
Frond — -More or less drooping, lanceolate, bipinnate ; 
curved as a feather. 
Stipes — Short, about one-fourth the length of the frond, 
thick at the base, densely covered with reddish scales ; the 
scales are continued the whole length of the frond, both on 
the main and secondary rachis. 
Pinnae — Alternate, distant, linear-lanceolate, pinnate ; 
curving towards the apex. 
Pinnules — Stalked, ovate-lanceolate, forming a curved 
angle with the stalk, margin serrated, each serrature termi- 
nating in a spine ; the upper basal lobes are auricled, some- 
times so deeply as to make the pinnules pinnate. 
Venation — Costa sinuous, lateral veins alternate, forked, 
terminating at the point of the serratures. 
Fructification — Clusters with a jagged involucre, the 
ripe capsules of a beautiful chestnut colour. 
. . 
Habitat — Frequent in woods and hedges, and varying 
greatly in the breadth, outline, and division of its pinnae. 
Mr. Lowe describes 162 forms, many of which he figures in 
“ Our Native Ferns,” Vol. I. In the Edinburgh List of 
British Ferns and their Varieties, 1868, the names of no less 
than 400 distinct varieties of this species are given ! 
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