78 
EEBNY COMBES. 
Polypodium Pheooptebis. The Beech Fern. 
(Plate VII. Pig. 2.) 
Fronds, a lengthened triangle; only the lower 
pair of pinnae stalked, and turning downwards; 
upper pinnae 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. Boot 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 pinnae, 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. Fhegopteris is abundant in the valley of the 
Meavey, on Dartmoor. 
