ASPIDIUM. 
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short and narrow, the pinnae much developed in compa- 
rison with the size of the frond, the lowest pair having 
an ear-shaped lobe upon a footstalk. 
Aspidium aculeatum, var. acrocladon , is of large size, 
tall, and crested ; it grows in Devon. 
Aspidium aculeatum , var. furcatum , has the points of 
the frond forked and narrowed ; it attains a good height, 
and is found in Devon. Yar. interruptum is charac- 
terized by its pinnae narrowing to the base ; they are 
placed alternately on the rachis, and towards the middle 
of the frond the leaflets are absent or much dwarfed in 
size. 
Mr. Lowe gives six other varieties, but their difference 
from those already described is not material. 
An early habit in the growth of the young fronds 
renders this plant very elegant. The curved apex of the 
frond bends backward as soon as it attains a few inches 
in height, so as to resemble a shepherd’s crook. The 
fronds are evergreen in a sheltered situation, so in the 
early summer we find a stout guard of firm full-coloured 
old fronds, with a slender circle of young ones growing 
up in their midst, bending in every graceful variety of 
the line of beauty, and wearing spring’s own hue of 
tender green. The fronds attain perfection in J uly, and 
ripen their seed in September. This fern often fixes 
itself in a perpendicular bank, from whence its woody 
caudex projects in a horizontal position. Thus its ver- 
dant fronds spring forth at every possible angle, and 
show in strong contrast against the grey or iron-tinged 
rock, or the dark-coloured stump. The distinction of 
aculeatum from angulare depends mainly on the larger 
size of the leaflets, and on the presence of ears on more 
than one of the inferior pinnules. 
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