992 GRYPTOGAMIA. FILICES. Polypodxum. 
(4) Leaves doubly winged. 
P. aculea'ium. Primary wings crescent-shaped, acute: leafits serrated 
with prickles: stem chaffy. 
P. spinulo'sum. Primary wings spear-shaped: leafits strap-egg-shaped: 
wing-cleft, and serrated with fine prickles. 
P. fce'mina. Primary wings strap-spear-shaped: leafits slender, acute, 
wing-cleft or serrated: stems smooth upwards. 
(P. dilalaJtum. Frond bipinnate: leaflets pinnatifid, deeply serrated, 
tipped with small spines: stalk scaly : involucrum circular. E.) 
P. fra'gile. Primary wings spear-shaped : leafits wedge, egg, or strap¬ 
shaped : segments bluntly or sharply lobed: stem very slender. 
P. trifidum. Primary wings spear-shaped, blunt: leafits of the lower 
wings mostly three-cleft: stem bordered. 
P. rhadticum. Primary wings spear-shaped: leafits egg-spear-shaped, 
sharply serrated: lower pairs unequal. 
(5) Leaf triply winged. 
P. Dryop'teris. Leaves three on a stem, doubly winged. 
(P. calcaWeum. Frond three-branched: branches doubly pinnate, 
erect, rather rigid: segments obtuse, somewhat crenate: masses 
of capsules crowded, finally confluent. E.) 
(1) Leaves wing-cleft; lobes united at the base. 
P. VULGA^RE. Lobes oblong, somewhat serrated, blunt: root scaly. 
Ludw. 18 — Curt.—(E. Bot. 1149. E.) — FI. Dan. 1060 — Kniph. 6 — Bolt. 18 
— Bull. 191 — Blackw. 215 — Tourn. 316 — Wale. — Woodw. 271 —Gars. 466 
—Fuchs. 588 — Trag. 540 — JDod. 464. 2 — Ger.Fm . 1132. 2— Tourn. 316 
—Ger. 972 — Matth. 1293— Bod. 464. 1— Lob. Obs. 475. 1, Ic. i. 814. 2— 
Ger. Em. 1132. 1 — Park. 1039. 1 —H . Ox. xiv. 2 , row 1. 1 — Ger. 974. 1 
— Cam. Epit. 993— Lon. i. 244. 1. 
Lobes slightly serrated at the edge. Fructifications yellowish brown, in 
rows, parallel to the rib of the lobes. 
Common Polypody. (Welsh: Llawredynen y derw. On old walls, shady 
places, and at the roots of trees, very common. P. June—Oct.* 
Var. 2. Lobes doubly serrated. 
Barr . 38. 
Walls of Windsor Castle. Ray. Worcestershire. Dr. Stokes. 
* The root is sweetish: by long boiling it becomes bitter. When fresh, it is gently 
aperient. An infusion of six drachms in half a pint of boiling water may be taken at 
twice. (Thus far may be matter of fact, though the medicine has long been neglected; 
but on the wonderful efficacy of several plants of this tribe in removing obstructions of 
the spleen, liver, and other viscera, it were no longer prudent to insist; for such reports, 
however sanctioned by the ancients, were, more than two centuries ago, very properly 
designated by honest Gerard as “ old wives’ fables, fit only for writers who fill up their 
pages with lies and frivolous toies.” E.) 
