THE COMMON PRICKLY SHIELD FERN. 
THE COMMON PRICKLY SHIELD FERN, 
POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM. 
P. fronds bipinnate, lanceolate or broad linear-lanceolate, rigid ; 
pinnules ovate-subfaleate, auricled, acute, distinct and attached by 
their wedge-shaped base, or obliquely decurrent, or confluent, the 
anterior basal ones larger, all prickly-serrate; sori infra-medial. 
[Plate XVI.] 
POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM, Roth, Fl. Germ. iii. 79. Deakin, Florigr. Brit. iv. 
91, fig. 1603. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. 4 ed. 423. Sowerby, Ferns of 
Gt. Brit, 32, t. 17 (incorrect as to venation). Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 
3 ed. 169, in part. Moore, Handb. Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 81; Id., Ferns of 
Gt. Brit. Nature Printed, t. 10. Schott, Gem. Fü. (t. 9.) Presl, Tent. 
Pierid. 83. Fee, Gen. Fil. 278. 
POLYSTICHUM LOBATUM, Presl, Tent. Pterid. 83.: Link, Fü. Sp. 111. (excl. var. 
syn.) Hooker, Gen. Fil. t. 48 C. Fee, Gen. Fil. 278. 
POLYSTICHUM AFFINE, Presl, Tent. Pterid. 83. 
PoLYPODIUM ACULEATUM, Linneus, Sp. Plant. 1552. 
ASPIDIUM ACULEATUM, Swartz, Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1800, ii. 37 ; Id., Syn. Fil. 
53. Smith, Fl. Brit. 1192 ; Id., Eng. Bot. xxii. t. 1562; Id., Eng. Fl. 2 ed. 
iv. 277. Hooker & Arnott, Brit. Fl. 7 ed. 583. Bentham, Handb. Brit. Fl. 
628. Willdenow, Sp. Plant. v. 258. Sprengel, Syst. Veg. iv. 105. Ledebour, 
Fl. Ross. iv. 512 (excl. syn. vestitum. and setigerwm). Koch, Synops. 2 ed. 
976. Sturm, Deutschl. Fl. (Farrn.) t. 3. Tenore, Att. Accad. R. Inst. Sc. 
Nat. Nap. v. (reprint 22, t. 2, fig. 5). Spenner, Fl. Friburg. i. 9, t. 1. 
Nyman, Syll. Fl. Europ. 431. 
ASPIDIUM LOBATUM, Schkuhr, Krypt. Gew. 42, t. 40. Kunze, Flora, 1848, 356. 
ASPIDIUM DISCRETUM, Don, Prod. Fl. Nep. 4. 
ASPIDIUM AFFINE, Wallich, Cat. 370. 
Var. lobatum: fronds narrow-lanceolate, very rigid; pinnules 
(the larger basal ones only, distinct and auricled) elliptic, convex, 
not auricled, nearly all decurrent or confluent, prickly-serrate. 
[Plate XVII A.] 
POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM v. LOBATUM, Deakin, Florigr. Brit. iv. 91.- Moore, 
Handb. Brit. Ferns, 2 ed. 86; 3 ed. 81; Id., Ferns of Gt. Brit. Nature 
Printed, V. 11. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. 4 ed. 423. Fee, Gen. Fil. 278. 
POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM V. LONCHITIDOIDES, Deakin, Florigr. Brit. iv. 91. 
POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM, Link, Fil. Sp. 111. (excl. var. syn.). Newman, Hist. 
Brit. Ferns, 3 ed, 169, in part. 
POLYSTICHUM LOBATUM, J. Smith, Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. 195. Sowerby, Ferns 
of Gt. Brit. 33 t. 16. 
POLYSTICHUM PLUKENETU, De Candolle, Fl. Franç. v. 241. 

