OBLONG WOODS/A. 
103 
Dottom always open. A subdued light, coming 
through tinted glass or coloured muslin, is desirable. 
In a case suited to Trichomanes it is unlikely that 
any other fern will thrive, unless it be Asplenium 
mar inwm. 
OBLONG, OR RAY’S WOODSIA 
WOODSIA IL VENSIS, 
R. Brown and Bentham. 
(Plate XVI. Fig. 1.) 
SYNONYMS. 
Acrostichum ilvense , Linnaeus. } Poly podium aroonicum , Withering. 
Polypodium ilvense, Swartz. 
A DECIDUOUS species of fern, dying down to the 
ground in the winter and appearing again in the 
spring. The root-stalk is densely tufted; the fronds 
spreading two to four, or rarely six inches long. 
Their form is lanceolate, more or less broad, and in 
their mode of dursion they are pinnate; the pinnai 
opposite, in pairs, of an obtusely oblong shape, with a 
deeply lobed or pinnatifid margin. They are of a 
thick dull-looking texture, hairy above, and clothed 
underneath with brownish bristle-like scales, among 
which the sori are almost concealed. 
This is one of our rarest ferns. It grows on ele¬ 
vated and bleak places, in the fissures of rocks, in 
Wales and Scotland, and in some places in the north 
of England. It is spoken of by John Ray as being 
