74 
HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS. 
slightly scaly stem, producing black fibrous roots. From 
these stems spring up, about May, the delicate hairy pale 
green fronds, which, when full grown, measure from six 
inches to a foot in height. The stipes, which is fleshy 
and very brittle, is generally twice as long as the leafy 
part of the frond ; near its base are a few small almost 
colourless scales. The fronds are triangular, extended 
into a long narrow point. In the lower part they are 
pinnate ; but this distinction of the parts is seldom carried 
beyond the two lowest pairs of branches, those of the 
upper portions of the frond being connected at the base, 
in what is technically called a pinnatifid manner : hence 
this Fern is said to be subpinnate, which, in this case, 
means partially pinnate, or pinnate at the very base only. 
The pinnae have a narrow and acutely lance-shaped out- 
line, and are deeply pinnatifid ; they usually stand oppo- 
site each other in pairs, the lowest pair being directed 
downwards, towards the root, and set on at a short distance 
from the rest. The united bases of the pairs of the other 
pinnae, when they happen to stand exactly opposite each 
other, exhibit a cruciform figure more or less obvious ; and 
by this mark, in conjunction with the triangular outline 
and subpinnate mode of division, this species may be 
