53 
Plate II, fig. 11. 
“ Where the copse-wood is the greenest, 
Where the fountain glistens sheenest, 
Where the morning dew lies longest, 
There the Lady Fern is strongest.” — Scott. 
Lady Pern. Athyrium Wilix T'emina,- Though the Male 
Pern is to be highly valued for the medicinal properties of 
its ’roots, the Lady Pern far surpasses it in elegance, and 
indeed, seems to claim precedence in beauty over every 
other Pern. Its lovely colour, symmetrical form, and the 
elegant division of its frond, make it an object of general 
attraction. As its name seems to imply, it is very delicate, 
and requires to be treated tenderly. The Pern collector finds 
that a warm hand, and a heated room, make it fade, droop, 
and die. Herein it slightly resembles the Sensitive Pern* 
of North America. This is said to wither immediately 
on being touched by man, but to endure the touch of other 
bodies without injury. Sprengel, a German botanist, 
asserts, that he repeated the experiment several times 
with the same effect. The Lady Pern makes its appearance 
in May. At first it is curled together, but when the head 
(apex) of it is free, it hangs down and assumes the appear- 
ance of a shepherd’s crook. There is one cluster of spores 
on each lobe of the leaflets. The pair of leaflets on each 
branch nearest the main stem, stand close and parallel to 
it, pointing upwards and dowmwards. The leaflets vary 
considerably in breadth, sometimes being linear, sometimes 
lance-shaped, and at other times elliptical. They are either 
notched or cut, pinnatifid, or pinnate. Often there are two 
or three teeth (not spikes or bristles) at the extremity of 
each lobe of the leaflets. The leafy part is of a thin texture, 
so that the veins are easily seen. The veins run alternate, 
whether on the mid-vein, or on the side-veins ; their branches 
never reach the margin, and the higher branch bears fruit. 
If the cover resembles the circumference of a semi-circle, 
and has a slit in it, like the Shield Pern (Lastrea), it is not 
fixed at the slit only, but longitudinally. The stalks are 
sometimes semi-transparent. They are also very frequently 
* Onoclea sensibilis, ■which Babington says is rjaturalized near Warrington. 
