86 
BRITISH FERNS. 
COMMON POLYPODY. 
POLYPODIUM VULGARE ., 
Linnaeus, Bentham, and Moore. 
(Plate XIII.) 
SYNONYM. 
Ctenopteris vulgaris , Newman. 
The generic name of this fern is formed from two 
Greek words, signifying Many-footed ,' on account of 
the many rootlets thrown out from the caudex. 
It is one of the commonest and best known of 
our British ferns. It has thick woody creeping roots. 
The fronds are about six inches to a foot in height: 
they are always pendent in maturity, broadly oblong, 
lanceolate in their general outline. The fructification 
is very conspicuous, and usually at the upper part of 
the frond, in large circular patches of a golden colour. 
It is somewhat parasitic in its habit, growing on old 
trees and on walls and moist rocks. 
It is a very generally common fern throughout 
Great Britain and Ireland, and in Europe, Russian 
Asia, and North America. Just as the Common 
Brakes seem to shun the habitation of man, so does 
the Polypody seem to flourish most in his vicinity, 
establishing itself on church towers, cottage roofs, and 
old walls. It especially delights in decaying trees, 
and may often be seen crowning some perishing trunk 
with a coronet of green waving leaves— 
“ A gilded halo hovering round decay.’* 
