THE OBLONG WOODSIA. 
Woodsia ilvensis* — R. Brown. 
The genus Woodsia (so called from Mr. Joseph 
Woods) is the British representive of the group 
Peranemeae. Of the two British species, the Oblong 
Woodsia aud the Blunt-leaved or alpina , only the first 
is found in the Lake Country. Even that is very rare. 
It was first discovered in 1846, in a small quantity, 
on one of the Westmorlond mountains, by Mr. Hud- 
dart, who afterwards found some hundred plants near 
Scafell in Cumberland. The next year other stations 
were found in Westmorland by Mr. Huddart, both 
alone and in company with Mr. Clowes. In some of 
these places were only a few plants, but in one a great 
many and very fine. 
The Oblong Woodsia is especially a mountain Fern, 
fronds annual, dying down to the ground in winter 
and coming up again in spring. Its caudex is short, 
erect or decumbent, furnished with a few scales on 
the crown, forming tufts, which in favourable circum¬ 
stances grow into massses rather large in comparison 
with the diminutive nature of the plant. The stipes 
* Acrostichum ilvense (Linnceus•), Polypodium ilvense, 
Aspiclium rufidulum, Lastrea rufidula, &c. 
