CRYPTOGAMIA. FILICES. Polvpodium. 995 
(Three times the size of P. Thelypferis. The peculiar characteristic of this 
species is the yellowish resinous glands sprinkled over the back of the 
leaves. These sometimes exhale a sweet smell, as remarked by Mr. Tees- 
dale. E. Bot. E.) Stem smooth, with two furrows; ten to fifteen inches 
high or more. Wings, the upper and lower ones alternate; segments 
strap-spear-shaped, blunt, either entire, or finely serrated. The two or 
three lower pairs of wings gradually shorter, and the lowest pair often 
pointing downwards. Fructifications always at the edge of the lobes, 
both in the young and more advanced state, never becoming confluent. 
Heath Polypody. (Welsh : March-redynen y mynydd. Rhedyn Mair. E.) 
Polypodium montanum. Vogl. P. Thelypteris. Huds. Lightf. Bolt. ( As - 
pidium Oreopteris. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. E.) Woods at Castle 
Howard. Mr. Teesdale. Moist woods near Darlington; never on dry 
hills in that neighbourhood. Mr. Robson. In a wood at Old Foot’s Well, 
near Bromsgrove; and in a lane near the Bell Inn at Erdington. Miss 
Reid. More frequent in mountainous situations than any other species. 
Mr. Griffith. (Common in Scotland, but always in somewhat marshy 
ground, never on dry hills, as Mr. Dickson alleges. Mr. Brown. Cotes- 
hill Heath, and Corley, Warwickshire. Bree, in Purt. E.) 
P. July-—Oct. 
(The fragrant scent of this species is supposed to have induced Hudson to 
imagine it the P.fragrans of Linnaeus. E.) 
(3) Leaves winged; wings deeply wing-cleft. 
P. FFlix-mas. Leaves almost doubly winged: leafits strap-spear¬ 
shaped : lobes blunt, finely serrated : stem and mid-ribs chaffy. 
Dicks. H. S. — Kniph. 6— (Rook. FI. Lond. E.)— E. Bot. 1458 and 1949, 
the latter by mistake named Aspidium cristatum. E.)— Woodv. 49— Bull. 
183— Tourn. 310 to 312—Bolt. 24>—Ger. 969. 1—Fuchs. 595— J. B. iii. 
738— Dod. 462. 1—Blackw. 323- — Gars. 271 — H. Ox. xiv. 3. 6 — Matth . 
1290— Cam. Epit. 991— Park. 1036—Lob. Obs. 473. 1. Repr. in. 1c. 1. 
812. 1, and Ger. Em. 1128. 
From one foot and a half to four feet high. Lobes of the wings strap¬ 
shaped, the ends rounded. Fructifications from three to eight on each 
lobe, placed in two rows near to its base and distant from its edges; 
none at the end. 
Male Polypody. Male Fern. (Welsh: March-redynen wrryw. 
Gaelic: Rairteach. Aspidium Filix-mas. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. E.) 
Woods, heaths, stony places, and shady banks. P. June—Get.*' 
* The Siberians boil this Fern in ale, and are fond of the flavour which it imparts. 
The powder of the root (not unknown to the ancients as an anthelmintic, E.) is the 
celebrated Swiss remedy to expel the tapeworm. See Dr. Simmons’s account of the 
Ttenia; (also Linn. Tr. vol. ii. p. 247. E.) I have frequently used it, and seldom; 
without the desired effect. (An essential oil extracted from the same plant is used oil 
the Continent, and proves equally efficacious, in doses of ten or more drops. In the- 
reign of Henry the Sixth, so great a famine prevailed, that Fern roots were usstfi 
for the purpose of making bread. It would be difficult now to ascertain the exact specks*, 
but probably the largest and most common kind. This Fern, and the Pteris aquilina % mw 
burnt together for the sake of their ashes, which are purchased by soap and glass makers.; 
the island of Jura alone yields one hundred and fifty pounds worth of these ashes annually. 
Gunner relates that in Norway the young curled leaves are boiled and eaten like aspara¬ 
gus ; and that the larger leaves, dried and infused in hot water, afford an acceptable fbcfder 
and litter for cattle, in hard winters. It is used for tough thatching and beds, as the 
Highland Heather. The larger Ferns, either dug in, or burnt on, the ground* eoricW 
