r :
damp with percolating moisture. Hence the necessity of a careful
mechanical adjustment of the materials employed as compost, of
which mellow loam, gritty sand, and small masses of some porons
body, such as soft sandstone, should be the main ingredients.
We have succeeded tolerably wcU by potting tho plants very firmly
in a compost formod of materials such as those just Indicated, with
a small proportion of peat added, tho plants being kept under
glass in a close-shaded cold frame; hut found on removal for the
winter to a cold greenhouse 'where tho atmosphere was drier and
less confined, that the fronds were considerably injured by the
exposure. The samo plants however on being enclosed within-
a handglass, where oonsoquontly the atmospheric moisture was
more abundant and regular, grew vigorously. Wc have therefore
no doubt that the requirements of this species are, a well moistened
but freely-drained soil, and a damp atmosphere—pure if possible ;
and these conditions can only be secured, iu many oases, hy keeping
the plants close under glass in a north aspect. Propagation is
rarely to be efieoted by division, lateral crowns boing seldom produced
; consequently, plants have generally to be obtained from
their nativo habitats.
I t is of some importance to bear in mind, in attempting to remove
shy-growing species like tho present from thoir natural habitats to
the garden, that the older and larger plants are generally less
successfully removed than the younger and smaller ones. One of
the first conditions of success undoubtedly is to remove them with
the least .possible injury to their roots, and this is more Kkely
to bo effected in the case of small plants, than with those which are
more thoroughly established, especially if the situation in which
they are growing is rooky.
THE COMMON PEICKLY SHIELD PERN.
POLYSTICHUM ACULEATUM.
P. fronds bipinnate, lanceolate or broad linear-lanceolate, rigid ,
pinnules ovate-suhfaloato, auricled, acute, distmot and attached by
thoir wedge-shaped base, or obliquely decurrent, or confluent, the
anterior basal ones larger, aU priokly-serrate; son mfra-modial.
[Plate XVI.]
P o lystichum a cu l ea tum , Both, PI. Germ. iii. 79. Deakvn, Flongr. B r i . iv.
91, fig. 1603. BaUmgtou, Man. Brii. Bot. 4 ed. 423. Sowerby, Pe rm o f
Gt Brit. 32, t. 17 (iiicori-eot as to venation). Newman, Hist. Brii. Perns,
3 ed. 169, in p art. Moore, Handb. BrU. Ferns, 3 ed. 81 ; Id .,
Gt. Brit. Nature Printed, t. 10. Schott, Gen. Fit. (t. 9.) Presl, Pent.
Pterid. 83. Fie, Gen. Fil. 278. ,
P oly sticiium lobatum, Presl, Tent. Pterid. 83. L in k , Fil. Sp. 111. (exc . vai.
syu.) Hooker, Gen. Fil. t. 48 C. Fée, Gen. Fil. 278.
P olystichum a f f in e , Presl, Tent. Pterid. 83.
P olypodium acu lea tum, Linnæus, Sp. Plant. 1552.
A s p id ium acu l ea tum, Swartz, Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1800, ii. 37 ; Id ., Syn. Fil.
63. Smith, FI. Brit. 1122 ; Id ., Bng. Bot. xxii. t. 1562 ; Id ., Eng. FI. 2 ed
iY. 277. Hooker <t AnwU, Brit. FI. 7 ed. 683. Bentham, Handb. Brzt FI.
628. Willdemw, Sp. Plant, v. 258. Sprengel, Syst. Veg. iv. 105. Leâæhour,
FI Boss. iv. 512 (excl. syn. vestUum and setigertim). Koeh, Synops. 2 ed.
976. Sturm, Deutschl. FI. {Farm.) t. 3. Tenore, Att. Acead. B. Inst. ke
Nat. Nap. y . (reprint 22, t. 2, fig. 5). Spenner, FI. Fnburg. i. 9, t, 1.
N yma n , Syll. FI. Exirox?. 431.
A s p id ium lobatum, Schkuhr, Krypt. Gew. 42, t. 40. Kunze, Flora, 1848, 356.
A s p id ium d isc r e tum , Don, Prod. FI. Ne;p. 4.
A s p id ium a f e in e , Wallicli, 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, pnokly-serrate.
[Plate X V II A.]
P o l y s t i c h u m a c u l e a t u m v . lo b a tu m , Deakin, Florigr. B n t. iv. 91. Moore,
Handb. BHt. Perns, 2 ed. 8 6 ; 3 ed. 81 ; ¡'’‘■’/ Z T
Printed, t. 11. BaUngton, Man. Brit. Bot. 4 ed. 423. Fee, 0&n. F il. 21S.
P olystichum acu lea tum v. lo n c h it id o id e s , DcaUn, Florigr. B n t. iv. 91.
P olystichum acu l ea tum , U n k , Fil. Sp. 111. (excl, v a r. syn,). Neuman, Hist.
Brit. Ferns, 3 ed, 169, in p a rt.
P olystichum lobatum, J . Smith, Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. 195. Sowerbg, Ferns
o f Gt. Brit. 33 t. 16.
P olystichum P l u k b n e t ii , Do CamlolU, FI. Franç. v. 241.
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