THE FERN PARADISE, 
1 . 
THE OBLONG WOODSIA. 
Woodsia ilvensis. 
Plate 5, Fig. 1. 
TUFTED caudex, or root-stock, from 
which grow up in thick clusters the 
delicate fronds. These have scaly 
stems, are narrowly oblong, and somewhat 
blunt-pointed, widest in the centre, and gra- 
dually shortening towards the base as well as 
towards the apex. On each side of the rachis is 
a row of leaflets, somewhat egg-shaped, attached 
to the rachis somewhat irregularly; at first in 
opposite pairs, but ultimately, towards the point 
of the frond, in alternation. These leaflets 
are deeply cleft or lobed in the lowest part 
of the frond, the divisions diminishing in depth 
as the leaflets, nearing the point of the frond, 
become smaller and smaller. Finally the leaflets 
merge in the frond-tip, which is simply notched. 
The backs of the fronds are clothed to a greater 
