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TEBNT COMBES. 
PoLTPODiUM Pheoopteeis. The Beech Tern. 
(Plate VIL Pig. 2.) 
Fronds, a lengthened triangle; only the lower 
pair of pinnse stalked, and turning downwards; 
upper pinn 80 usually opposite, forming a row of 
Greek crosses, being joined to the stem the whole 
width of their base ; pinnae deeply cleft ; pinnules 
not stalked. Masses of sori near the edge of the 
pinnules. Whole plant hoary green ; stem pale co- 
loured, scaly, and brittle. Eoot creeping, the thick- 
ness of a quill, furnished with brown hairy fibres ; 
it seems hardly to root in the ground, but to attach 
itself to the moss and grass amid which it grows. 
We have noticed a variety in which the pinnules 
are regularly notched ; this is not attributable to 
luxuriant growth merely, as the smallest plants are 
similarly indented ; most, if not all the plants on 
Exmoor are of this variety. 
The fanciful might imagine this plant, with its 
drooping lower pinnsB, to be the figure of a mendi- 
cant imploring their charity with outstretched arms. 
This peculiarity is more noticeable when the plant 
is growing in its native wilds, than when under 
cultivation. 
P. Thegoj^teris is abundant in the valley of the 
Meavey, on Dartmoor. 
