Plate 9. 
ASPIDIUM (§ P olysticotjm) Lonchitis, Sw. 
Alpine Sliield-Fern, or Holly-Fern. 
Gen. Char.* Sori dorsal, subglobose. Involucre orbicular, peltate 
(fixed by the centre). Veins simple or forked, in all the British species. 
Obs. Of the genus Aspidium, as here defined, we have, in Britain, only one 
subgenus or division, which corresponds with the genus PolysticJmm , Presl; a 
very natural group upon the whole, distinguished by the free venation and a pe¬ 
culiarly firm and rigid habit, generally having spinulose teeth to the margins of the 
pinnules of the pinnate or more compound fronds. I fear we cannot reckon on 
more than two species, natives of Great Britain. 
Aspidium (Polystichum) Lonchitis , Sw.; caudex stout, oblique, densely palea¬ 
ceous, as are the usually short stipites and base of the rachis, with very large, 
ovato-lanceolate, ferruginous scales; fronds 6-18 inches long, densely 
tufted, erect, rigid, lanceolate, pinnated; pinnae numerous, approximate, 
from a broad, nearly sessile, obliquely cuneated base, ovate or lanceolate, 
falcate, very acute, spinuloso-serrate, the superior base truncated and auricu- 
late ; sori confined to the upper half of the frond, in two or more series upon 
the. pinnae. 
Aspidium Lonchitis. Sw. Syn. Ml. p. 43. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 5 . p. 224. Sm. FI. 
Brit.p. 1L18. Fngl. FI. v. 4.^. 284. Schk. Fil.p. 29./. 29. Hook, and 
Am. Brit. FI. ed. 8. p. 582. 
Polypodium Lonchitis. Linn. Sp. Pl.p. 1548. Engl. Bot. t. 796. Bolt. Brit. 
Ferns , p. 34. t. 19. 
Polystichum Lonchitis. Roth , Germ. v. 3 .p. 71. Bab. Man. of Brit. Bot. p. 
411. Presl, Tent. Pterid. p. 82. Asa Gray , Man. of Bot. of the U. States , 
p. 632. Moore’s Brit. Ferns , Nat. Print, t. 9. 
Hab. Patterdale, Ulleswater (Rev. TV. H. Hawker). Lofty mountains, clefts, 
* The subject of the limits of the genera of Ferns is notoriously one of great 
difficulty; and while one party is disposed to consider every diversity of structure, 
whether in the fructification, or venation, or the composition of the frond, singly 
or in combination, as constituting generic distinctions, others, seeing the mani¬ 
fest inconvenience arising from such a course, in the immense multiplication of 
the genera (186, according to Mr. Moore’s ‘ Index Filicum ’), are disposed to go 
to the opposite extreme, and to return as much as possible to the Linnaean and 
Swartzian system of deriving the generic characters mainly from the fructification. 
This appears to me a good rule, if exercised with judgment, and with certain 
modifications. Thus the extensive Swartzian genus Aspidium is conveniently 
divided into Aspidium , Br. (verum), “involucres orbicular and peltate and Ne- 
phrodium , Mich., Br., “involucres reniform, attached by the sinus, and these again 
divided and subdivided, according to venation, etc., into subgenera.” It is true 
these characters are sometimes difficult to be distinguished, but where are unex¬ 
ceptionable characters among Ferns to be found P 
