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THE ALPIN E POLYPODY.
POLYPODIUM ALPESTRE.
P. fronds lanceolate, lierbaoeous, g-labrous, sub-erect, bipinnate ;
pinnæ narrow lanceolate from a broad base, spreading or ascending ;
pinnules ovate-oblong, or subfalcately ovate-lanceolate, pinnatifid ;
segments oblong, bluntisb, serrate ; stipes short ; secondary raohis
narrowly winged; (sori rarely spuriously indusiate). [Plate IX.]
PoLYPOiiiUM ALPESTRE, Jloppe, PI. Exs. Spirengd, Syst. Veg. iv. p a r t 2, 320.
Kaulfioss, Flora, 1829, 328. Koch, Synops. ed. 2, 974. Moore, Handb.
B rit. Ferns, 3 ed. 59 ; Id ., Ferns o f Gt. Brit, and Ireland, Nature PrinUd,
t. 7 A—C. Henfrcy, Franc. A n a l. BHt. Ferns, 5 ed. 28, supp. plate, fig.
2 A. HooTcer Arnott, Brit. FI. 7 ed. 582. Sowerby, P e rm o f Gt. Brit.
84, t . 49. Bentham, Handb. B rit. FI. 626. Lowe, Na t. Hist. Ferns, i.
t . 39.
P o l y p o d i u m r h æ t i c u m , Pallas, ^Htin. ii. 2 8 .” Ledebour, FI. Boss. iv. 510.
Fries, Sam. Veg. 82. Woods, Tour. FI. 423. Nyma n , Syll. FI. Europ. 430 ;
n o t of Linnæus.
A s p id iu m a l p e s t r e , Hoppe, Taschenb. 1805, 216. Sivartz, Syn. Fil. 421.
Schkuhr, Krypt. Gew. 58, t . 60 ( e x d . syn. Liu.).
A s p id iu m r u æ t i c u m , Swartz, Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1800, ii. 41 ; Id ., Syn. Fil.
59 (excl. syu. Liu.). Tenore, AU. Acead. del R. Inst. Sc. Nat. Napol. v.
(rep rin t 29, t. 4, fig. 8).
A s p i d i u m d i s t e n t i f o l i u m . Tausch ; according to Steudol.
A t h y r i u m a l p e s t r e , Nylandcr ; according to Ledebour.
P s e u d a t h y r i u m a l p e s t r e , Newman, Phytol. iv. 370, 974 ; Id ., Appendix,
1851, xiv . ; Id ., Hist. Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 199. Babington, Man. B rit. Bot.
4 e d ’ 424.
P h eg opt er is a l p e s t r is , Mettenius, Fil. Hort. Bot. Lips, 83. / . Smith, Cat.
Cult. Ferns, 16.
Var. flexUe; fronds slender, flaooid, narrow lanceolate, hipmnate;
pinnæ short, qvate-lanooolate, spreading or defiexed ; pinnules oblong,
obtuse or aoutish, narrowed below, sessile or adnate, distantly lohed
or toothed ; stipes very short. [Plate X.]
F o l y p o d i u m a l p e s t r e , var. f l e x i l e , Moore, Ferns o f Ot. Bril, and Ireland,
Nature Printed, t. 7 D—E ; Id ., Handb. B r it Ferns, 3 ed. 69, 61.
F o ly p o d i u m f l e x i l e , Moore, Handb. Brit. Ferns, Ì ed. 225. Ilenfrey, Frane.
Anal. 'Brit Ferns, 5 ed. 29, supp. plate, fig. 2 E.
F s e u d a t u y r i u m e l e x i l e , Newman, Phytol. iv. 9 7 4 ; Id ., Hist. B rit. Ferns,
3 ed. 203. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. 4 ed. 424.
A t h y r i u m ? f l e x i l e , Moore M S ., in Hb.
the alpine polypody. 77.
Caudex short, erect or decumbent, consisting of the persistent
crowded bases of the fronds attached around a central axis, the
whole forming a stout roundish mass, frequently tufted, scaly above.
Scales numerous, broadly or narrowly ovato-lanoeolate, of a pale-
hrown colour. Fibres stout, branched, dark-coloured.
Vernation circinate.
Stipes short, from about ono-sixth to one-fourth of the entire
length of the frond, stontish, swollen near the base, clothed sparingly
with ovate-lanceolate pale-brown scales; terminal and adherent to
the caudex. RacUs stout, rounded behind, channelled in iront ;
the raohis of the pinnæ furnished with a very narrow leafy wing on
both sides, connecting the pinnules.
Frond from one to three feet and upwards m height, erect or
asoeudiug, herbaceous, dark dull green, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate
tbe base narrowed in about the same degree as tbe point;
bipinnate or subtripinnate. In fronds, of which the leafy portion
measures about twenty inches in length, the greatest breadth is
about six and a half inches. Pimuu broadly linoar or lanceolate
from a broad base, tapering to a narrow point, numerous, crowded
above, more distant below, spreading or somewhat ascending.
Pinnules ovate-oblong, sometimes ovato-lanoeolate, or oblong-ovate*
acute, with a narrow attachment at the base, hut connected by a
narrow membranous wing which borders the rachis ; they are deeply
pinnatifid, and in the most vigorous fronds so much so, and the
segments so far distant from each other, as to appear again pinnate
Segments oblong obtuse, sharply serrate, especially at the apex and
on tbe anterior margin. The subtripinnate fronds have the segments
doubly toothed. ^ .
Venation of the pinnules consisting of a slightly flexuose midvem
from which branch a series of alternate pinnate veins. Veins ot the
seo-ments flexuose, with simple alternate venules, one of which is
directed to the point of each marginal tooth; tho lowest anterior
vennlo which is directed towards tho lowest anterior tooth, is usually
soriferous, and when this only is so, the sori form a series on each
side the midVeiii, at a short distance from it, and just above the
sinus of the segments on their anterior margin ; sometimes, however,
some of the other venules are also fertile, and the son are then