MARSH FERN. 91 
its habit is weak, flexile, graceful and drooping; a 
number of fronds issue from the crown of the 
caudex, and, when uninterrupted, spread from a com- 
mon centre, presenting a very beautiful appearance: 
the texture of the frond is soft and delicate; its form 
~ lanceolate and pinnate; the pinne are very numerous, 
elongate, linear, distinct, often distant, drooping and 
pinnate; the pinnules are blunt at the tip, auricled 
at the base, distinctly stalked and serrated at the 
_ edges, and each serrature is armed with a spine; 
every part of the under surface of the fronds, more 
especially the primary and secondary stalks, abound 
__ in reddish chaffy scales. 
18. MARSH FERN. Tuetyprenis. 
_ Polypodium Thelypteris, Linneus. B. F. 128. 
‘The caudex of the Marsh Fern is slender, black and 
and fertile; the barren appear in May, the fertile in 
+ the pinne of the young frond stand out at right 
les with the main stalk. The stalk of the barren 
is = ing, smooth and erect; the frond lanceolate 
? innate: the lowermost pinne are rather shorter 
than the second, third or fourth pairs, still not mate- 
‘rially shorter, and always situated along distance from _ 
base of the stalk: the pinne are generally nearly 
