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WOODSIA. 179
they split from above into narrow scale-like segments not
easily distinguished, at least without optical assistance, from
the hairs which occur with them on the fronds. In the full-
grown state, the sori are consequently seated in the centre
of a spreading tuft of hair-like scales, which are formed of
the lacerated margins of the indusium—the latter being
attached to the frond at the point beneath the capsules.
No other native Eerns possess a structure at all approaching
to this.
These Eerns were formerly ranked with the Polypodies and
Acrostichums, but when the structure of this race of plants
became better understood, they'were very properly separated,
and they now, in conjunction with some few foreign kinds,
form a distinct family circle. The name Woodsia wns given
in compliment to a clever veteran English botanist, Joseph
Woods, Esq., whose name has been recently before the
pubhc as the author of a very useful ' Tourist’s Elora.’
W o o dsia h y pb r bo k e a , R. Brown.— The Elunt-leaved or
Alpine Woodsia. (Plate IV. fig. 1.)
This is a diminutive species, never exceeding a few inches
in stature, and renewing its fronds annually in the spring,
the older ones being destroyed by the frosts and cold of
winter: when this influence is felt by the plants, the fronds
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