5 
[V] 
* ®00kra Jttak 
EAY’S WOOD SI A. 
»®HIS is the rarest Welsh fern, being fennel only in one county, and there only m a very few 
|||| places. It is equally rare as a British species, being found only in two English and three 
Scotch counties. The young fronds appear in the spring, and die down before winter. 
The roots are black and wiry; the rhizome is thick and tufted. 
The stem is very distinctly jointed at a short distance from its junction with the rhizome; it is 
of a yellowish colour when mature, and is covered with scales and hairs, as is also the whole of the 
frond, especially the under surface, the sori being nearly concealed by them. 
The fronds, including the stem, are rarely found more than six inches in length: they are 
pinnate, and the pinnae are pinnatilid. 
The seed is produced on the under edge of the lobes. 
f ftMfai In the fissures of rocks—in the most bleak and exposed situations. It has been 
found on Snowdon and Glyder-Vawr, in Caernarvonshire,—but in very small quantities. 
Buritfe. There is a very distinct variety of this species, called Hyperborea, which some authors 
consider a species, but it so much resembles Ilvensis in general characteristics, that others have 
placed it among the varieties. If is equally, if not more, rare than Ilvensis, and has been found 
in the same localities; the fronds are much narrower than those of Ilvensis, and the pinnae are 
more distant from each other, and are nearly triangular. 
(Mtah The Woodsia may be easily cultivated either with or without heat: if without, it 
should have a free circulation of air. The soil should be light and mixed with small pieces of 
granite or sandstone; the rhizomes should be wedged between two pieces of stone. The plant 
should be well supplied with moisture, which should be carefully drained off. 
[YI] 
SCALE EEEE. 
species peculiar for being rarely found in its native habitats, but on old walls and ruins. 
The young fronds appear in the spring, and remain evergreen for several years. 
The roots are very short, and are remarkable for their power of penetrating mortar; the 
rhizome is tufted. 
The stem is short, thick, and covered with narrow pointed scales. 
The fronds vary in length from four to eight inches: they are deeply pinnatifid, the divisions 
being alternate. 
The whole of the under surface of the frond is covered with dense scales, beneath which are the 
capsules in oblong clusters. The colour of the scales at first is nearly white, changing to brown 
when the frond is mature. 
fjaMtllt Abundant in the limestone districts of South Wales, but not so common in North Wales. 
fiaritfe. This species never seems to vary. 
fyl to. It is not easily cultivated, which probably arises from the roots having been injured 
in removing. It should be planted in a shady place, and be well supplied with moisture,—which 
should be given to the roots only and not to the fronds. The soil should have old mortar and small 
stones intermixed. 
The specimens given of Woodsia Ilvensis are Norwegian, but are precisely similar to those of Wales, of which it would 
have been impossible to get sufficient for this work. 
