21 
ATHYEIUM FILIX-F^MINA. Eoth. 
(Lady Fern.) 
Derivation op Name. From athyros opened ; in allusion 
to the turning back of the involucre. 
SYNONYMES. 
Polypodium Fiuix-PiEMiNA. Linnceus. 
Aspidium Filix-e^mina. ■ Swart%. 
Asplenium Filix-f^mina. Bernliardi^ Hooker and Arnott, 
Bentham. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Caudex large and erect, with black, fibrous, wiry rootlets. 
Fronds lanceolate, twice pinnate, with the pinnules 
pinnate or pinnatifid, and in some forms only toothed ; sur- 
face flat or reciuwed. From a few inches to four feet high, 
springing in May and withering early. 
Veins. Midvein waved, with forked lateral veins, bear- 
ing the long slightly curved mass of 
Spore Cases covered with an involucre, one edge of which 
is free and split into fine segments. 
When freely grown this is one of the most fragile and 
beautiful of our English ferns. On the other hand, some 
of the small rigid forms growing in exposed hilly districts 
