114 
BRITISH FERNS. 
them had been interrupted in their growth; a rare variety. 
16. Poly podium vulgare lobatum . Fronds large ; pin- 
nse eared on the upper edge. 
17. Poly podium vulgare marginatum. Pinnse jagged, 
sometimes doubly, on the margin, and sometimes eared ; 
fronds large. 
18. Polypodium vulgare obtusum. A dwarf variety, 
with entire and blunted pinnae. 
19. Polypodium vulgare pulcherrimum. A Milnthorp 
variety, justly called “ most beautiful.” Nearly a foot 
high, and broad in proportion, bipinnatifid in the lower 
part, and deeply jagged above; the lobes rounded and 
their texture thick. 
The Common Polypody, both in its simple form and 
in its varieties, is a good inmate of the fernery. It is 
easy to bring a mat of its twisted caudices, and the moss 
cleaving thereto, from the woods to the artificial rockery, 
where a thick layer of leaf-mould and cow-manure, mixed 
with water and applied to the surface of the stone, like 
mortar, at once secures the adherence of the new immi- 
grant and its ample nourishment ; while careful watering 
will prevent the fainting of the plant before its delicate 
rootlets get hold of the crevices of its new home. The 
varieties are less calculated for growing on stone or wood 
than our familiar friend of the wall; it is better to plant 
them in leaf-mould, and take no liberties with them. 
3. Polypodmm Piiegopteris, Linn. Pale Mountain 
Polypody. 
Sori round, placed on the margin of the leaflets. Stem tall 
and scaly. Frond triangular. Caudex long and creeping, send- 
ing out thread-like roots. 
The name of this fern is derived from two Greek 
