Plate 2. 
POLYPODIUM (§ Eupolypodium) vulgame, L. 
Common Polypody. 
Gen. Char. Sori dorsal, subglobose or oval, destitute of involucre. Veins 
free (as in all the British species) or anastomosing. 
Our native species are conveniently divided into two groups 
1. Eupolypodium.— Veins bearing the sorus at the apex . Fronds pinnatijid. 
Stipes articulated upon the caudex. —P. vulgare. 
2. Phegopteris.— Veins usually bearing the sorus on the back of the vein, more 
or less distant from the apex. Fronds generally branched. Stipes not articulated 
on the caudex. —P. Phegopteris, P. Dryopteris, P. Kobertianum, and P. alpestre. 
Polypoditjm (Eupolypodium) vulgare; caudex long, stout, creeping, very scaly; 
fronds ovate or oblong, subcoriaceous, acuminate, deeply pinnatifid almost 
to the base; segments spreading, linear-oblong, obtuse, or more or less acu¬ 
minate, crenate-serrate; sori in two rows, subglobose. 
Polypodium vulgare. Linn. Sp. FI. p. 1544. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 34. Willd. Sp. 
PI. v. 5 . p. 172. Sm.Fng. Pot. t. 1149. Schk. Fil. t. 11. FLook. and Am. 
Frit. FI. ed. 8. p. 580. Moore, Frit. Ferns, Nat. Print, t. 1 , 2, 3 ( excluding, 
I apprehend, P. Karwinskianum, A. Fraun, and P. intermedium, Hook, and 
Am. Fot. of Feech. Voy.). 
Polypodium Virginianum. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1544. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 34. Willd. 
Sp. PI. v. 5. p. 474. Pursli, FI. N. Am. v. 2 .p. 658. 
Polypodium australe. Fee , Gen. Fil. p. 236. 
Ctnopteeis vulgaris. Newm. 
Yar. Cambricum; segments of the fronds more or lfcss deeply pinnatifid. 
P. Cambricum, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1546. P. vulgare, var. serratum and Cam¬ 
bricum, Willd. l.c. 
Hab. Common throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, on old banks, walls, 
rocks, mossy trunks of trees, etc. 
The well-known “ Polypody of the Oak,” as our sage fore¬ 
fathers used to call it,* is found in the cold and temperate parts 
of many regions of the globe : throughout Europe, to its extreme 
south; North Africa, Madeira, the Canaries, and Azores. In 
Siberia we possess specimens from the Amur, from Manchouria, 
* It was formerly supposed to possess medicinal properties; but Sir James 
Smith remarks that “ they are not enough to make it worth inquiring whether 
that of the Oak or that of any wall or cottage be most endowed with them.” 
