ASPIDIUM. 
133 
other, like the steps of a ladder. (We take our descrip- 
tion from the notes of Mr. Lowe.) 
Var. biserratum is very elegant in appearance, droop- 
ing much ; its fronds broad ; its pinnules large, deeply - 
serrated, and feathery. Jersey is its home. 
Yar. decompositum is in strong contrast, its leaflets 
remarkably small. 
Yar. aristatum is slender, the pinnse not crowded; it 
is named by Mr. Wollaston. Both it and the succeed- 
ing one are viviparous or bud-bearing, which buds put 
forth fronds while still upon the parent plant. 
Var . prolifer um. Narrow and graceful. 
Var. dissimile . The pinnae varying in size, and the 
rachis very scaly. 
Var. truncatum . The points both of the fronds and 
the pinnae blunted ; the pinnae short, with few pairs of 
leaflets, the terminating leaflet fan-shaped. 
Var. depauperatum . Dwarfed, the leaflets starved 
and deformed. 
Var. grandidens. Dwarfed, narrow, lance-shaped. 
Var. aculeatoides. Narrow, but very elegant. 
Var. imbricatum. Resembling lobatum , but more 
graceful. 
As the mountain woods favour lobatum , so do the 
southern groves angulare . Right gracefully does it 
flourish in many a Kentish park and hedgerow, grown 
in its normal form of a crown where the space is free 
around it, while in the deep shady lanes its plentiful 
fronds bend one over another in luxuriant abundance, 
like the feathers in an ostriches tail. No fern can lay a 
stronger claim to favour than this for its evergreen habit, 
its unsurpassed grace, and its readiness to accommodate 
itself to each new habitat. 
