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268 THE BRITISH FERNS. 
and distinct, ovate bluntish or sometimes acute pinnules, of which 
the larger are often nearly or quite again pinnate, the lobes blunt, 
and bluntly or sometimes acutely toothed. The spores are irregularly 
roundish oblong, muricate. There are some doubts as to the English 
origin of this plant, but of its distinctness either as a variety, or 
as a species,* none. Bolton figures (Fi. Brit. t. 45), under the 
name of Polypodium rhœticum, a facsimile of moderate sized speci- 
mens, and he describes two of its prominent characteristics ; namely, 
the tough stipites, and the larger anterior pinnules. If, therefore, 
his statement is conclusive, (which may be open to doubt, as his 
figure is generally taken to represent the larger growth of the var. 
angustata, it is a native of Scotland. It is certainly a native of 
Madeira. The reputed British plant has been found at Tunbridge 
Wells, and is in cultivation from this source, but there are rumours of 
its having been planted there; it is further stated to have been found 
in Devonshire, but this also is open to suspicion, the garden whence 
it has been distributed having been enriched by importations from 
Madeira. Whether the C. canariensis of Presl be the plant here 
indieated, there appears no means of determining, without access to 
the Berlin herbaria, as there is no published definition or character 
of the plant; and the same may be said of the C. azorica of Fée. 
In the mean time we direct attention to its existence, and point out 
that it is quite permanent as to its characters. 
* ]f regarded as a species, it might well bear the name of C. sempervirens. 

