li t ;
THE BRITISII FERNS.
Var. acutum: fronds deltoid, tripinnate throughout, and as well
as the pinnæ (the lower pair especially) caudate ; ultimate pinnules
narrow-lanceolate, inciso-pinnatifid, the ultimate lohes linear, erect,
very acute, entire. [Plate LXXII.]
A s p l e n i u m A d i a n t u m - n i g r u m , v . a c u t u m . Pollini, FI. Ter. i ii. 2 8 8 , t . 2, fig . 2a.
Neioman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 2 e d . 2 6 9 . Moore, Ila n d i. Brit. Ferns, 3 e d .
1 7 0 ; Id ., Ferns o f Gt. Brit. Nature Printed, t . 37 ; Id ., In d . Fil. 1 1 0 .
A s p l e n iu m a c u t u m , Boi'y MS. Willdenow, Sp. P lant, v . 3 4 7 , a c c o r d in g t o a n
a n t l i e n t i c s p e c im e n , i n H e r b . H ow a rd , c o m m u n i c a te d b y M . B o r y . Newman,
Hist. B rit. Ferns, 3 e d . 2 3 0 {excl. s y n . S m i th ) . BaUngton, Maxi.
Brit. Bot. 4 e d . 4 2 5 . Poiret, Ene. Supp. ii. 5 1 5 . Sprengel, Sijst. Veg. iv .
9 0 . Sadler, Fil. Hung. 31 . Presl, Tent. Pterid. 1 0 7 . Fée, Gen. Fil. 19 0 .
L in k , Fil. Sp. 9 6 . Mettenius, Fil. Hort. Bot. Lips. 77 .
A s p l e n iu m A d ia n t u m -n ig e u m , Borxj, Ess. Isles Fortunées, 3 1 3 .
A s p l e n iu m A d ia n t u m -n ig e u m , ®. a n g u s t a t u m , Hesvaux, A n n . Soe. L in n , de
Paris, v i. 2 7 8 .
A s p l e n iu m V i e g i l i i , Borxj, Expêd. de la Morée, 2 8 9 . Qussone, FI. Sic. Sxjn. 6 6 2 .
A s p l e n iu m p e o d u c t u m , Loxve, Trans. Caxnb. Ph il. Soc. v i. 5 2 4 .
A s p l e n iu m A d ia n t u m -n ig e u m O n o p t e e is , Ileuflcr, Aspi. Europ. 76 .
A s p l e n iu m d a v a l l io id e s , Tauseh, Flora, x x i i . 4 7 9 .
A s p l e n iu m p a t e n s , Gaxidichaud, Prexj. Voxj. 3 2 0 .
T a e a c h ia a c u t a , Presl, Epim. Bot. 82 .
Var. obtusatum : fronds ovate, smaller and less divided, hipin-
nato, or subbipinnate ; pinnæ blunt or bluntish, not acuminate ;
pinnnles ovate, their rounded apices toothed ; raohis winged. [Plate
LXXI A.]
A s p l e n i u m A d i a n t u m - n i g e u m , v . o b t u s a t u m , Moore, Handh. B rit. Ferns,
3 e d . 1 7 0 .
A s p l e n iu m A d ia n t u m -n ig e u m , ®. o e t u s u m , Newman, Hist. Bril. Perns, 2 ed.
2 5 8 . Moore, Handb. Brit. Ferns, 2 ed. 166 ; Id ., Ferns o f Gt. B rit. Nature
Printed, t. 36, fig. C, D (excl. var. syn.)
Var. microdon : fronds pyramidal, or elongate-deltoid, pinnate
below ; the pinnæ pyramidal, spreading, minutely sharp toothed ;
lower pair of pinnæ shortly stalked, cordately hastate and lobate at
the base ; the rest more or less adnate, subhastately auriculate, those
of the upper half confluent into an irregularly pinnatifid apex ; sori
linear elongate, near the costa, often scolopendrioid.
Caiiiex short, stoutish, tufted, often decumbent, scaly. Scales
lanceolate below, extended into a long hair-like point, dark purplebrown,
shining, striately venose. Fibres numerous, branched, dark
brown, tomentose.
Vernation wdnabi.
Stipes elongated, usuaUy about as long as, sometimes longer than
the leafy portion of the frond, dark purpbsb brown, bearing about
the base a few scales like those of the crown smooth flat
and slightly grooved iu front, rounded behind; terminal and adherent
to the c L e x . Baéds channeUed in front, from the presenc
of an elevated line on each margin doourrent from the stalk of the
pinna, round, and with the brown colour of the base more or less
extending upwards behind.
Fronds including the stipes from three or four to e^S^^teen or
twenty inches long, sometimes even more, and from one and a half
to seven inches across the base of the leafy portion ; nsuaUy ooria-
oeons and shining dark green above, paler beneath sometimes of
tHnner texture; deltoid or ovate, or sometimes with the sides neai y
parallel below, always with a tapered or acuimnated apex, usual y
bipinnate or tripinnate, but occasionaUy almost quadripinnate wbon
of large size. Pinnae obHqnely triangular, usually elongate and
attenuated at the apex, the lower nearly opposite, and always as
long as, usually longer than the rest, the upper becoming alternate
and graduaUy diminishing in size; all usually pointmg upwards
Pinxlus alternate ; the basal one situated on the anterior side of the
racHs, and considerably larger than the rest, broadly oblique ovate
with In attenuated apex, pinnate or pinnatifid at its base, its lowest
(secondary) pinnules or segments being ovate obtuse and either
pinnatifid with sharply serrated lohes below and sharply serrated at
L e apex, or merely toothed thronghont. Towards the apex of the
pinnæ, wHch are there more or less attenuated and elongated, he
pinnnles gradually become oblong and deourrent at tbeir base ; the
same occurs on a smaller scale towards the apices of the larger lower
pinnnles themselves; while the upper pinnæ are hke the lower
L « a h e i r larger pinnules. In the smaller forms the pinnæ are
less attenuated at the points, and the pinnules are shorter and
blunter, and either barely divided to the midvein or merely lobod.
The ultimate divisions are aU notched with distinct acute serratures.
Venation of the secondary basal pinnules iu tho tripinnato fronds.
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