998 CRYPTOGAMIA. FILICES. Polypodium. 
Sometimes half a yard high. Leqfits irregularly rhomboidal, with a pro¬ 
jecting angle on the upper edge near to the mid-rib. The leafits imme¬ 
diately adjoining to the primary mid-rib are very unequal in size, the 
uppermost being the largest, and having its lower edge parallel to the 
primary mid-rib. In a young state, the leaf is only simply winged, as 
represented in Bolton's pi. 26, fig. 2. ( Primary wings one to two feet 
in length, of a true lance-shape, broadest in the middle, decreasing 
gradually towards the extremities : the rib channelled on the upper side. 
Second-leaves, one or two of the lowest pairs placed opposite, becoming 
gradually alternate upwards. Lobes from eight to twenty, the first pairs 
divided down to the nerve, thence gradually becoming confluent, losing 
themselves in the acute prickly termination of the second leaf. Seed- 
vessels near the top of the plant in two regular rows ; lower down less 
regularly placed on the lobes. Bolt. E.) 
(The most able Botanists are divided in opinion as to the identity of this 
species and P. lobatum ; and different characteristics have been assigned 
to each, without producing general conviction; a proof, at least, that 
the specific distinction, if any, must be very obscure. Vid. Smith in 
E.Bot. Hook. FI. Scot. 154. Grev. FI. Edin.221. Furt. Mid. FI. 509. 510. 
E-) 
Prickly Polypody. (Welsh: March-redynen wrychog. Aspidium aculea- 
turn. Sw. Willd. Sm. Hook. A. lobatum. E.Bot. 1563? E.) Woods 
and shady places. In a ditch in a meadow at the Valley, near Broms- 
grove. Miss Reid. In a ditch near Elmdon House, Warwickshire. 
(Shepscombe Wood, near Pains wick. Mr. Oade Roberts. Rocks near the 
bottom of Benroyd Clough Norland; and in a little wood called Toad- 
holes, in Sowerby Dean, both near Halifax. Mr. Bolton. Near Lleiniog 
castle, Anglesey. Welsh. Bot. E.) P. June—Oct. 
Var. 2. Leaves sprinkled with a moss-like down. Pluk. 
P. spinulo'sum. Primary wings spear-shaped: leafits strap-egg¬ 
shaped, wing-cleft, and serrated with sharp-pointed teeth. 
{E. Pot. 1460. E.)— FI. Dan. 707. 
This has been taken for P. cristatum, but it is very different from that; of 
a more delicate and transparent texture, the leaf-stallc but little, if at 
all, scaly, the opposite leafits on the wings not unequal in size, and the 
mid-rib of the leafits serpentine. It agrees with it in the disposition of 
the fructifications, and in the serratures ending in short awns. 
(Lesser Crested Polypody. Welsh: March-redynen eddiawg. P. spi- 
nulosum. FI. Dan. Retz. Aspidium spinulosum. Willd. Sm. In Causey 
Wood, Durham; near Chart Park, Surry. Mr. Winch. Danbury, 
Essex. Mr. W. Christy. On Bodafon mountain, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. 
E.) Bogs on Birmingham Heath. Holloways in Devonshire. 
P. July—Sept. 
P. Filix-FjE'mina. Leafits strap-spear-shaped, wing-cleft, acute: 
stems smooth upwards. 
Pluk. 180. 4— H. Ox. xiv. 3. 8 —Bolt. 25—Munt. 288. 84— J. B. iii. 738— 
{PI. Dan. 1346. P. Filix-mas. — E. Bot. 1459. E.) 
Fructifications egg-shaped, somewhat fringed, solitary. Linn. Leafits 
deeply cut with one or two divisions; the teeth often ending in a short 
awn. Woodw. The most elegant of all our Ferns. One cluster of cap - 
sides on each lobe of the leafit. Bolt. So that in a ripening state the 
