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44
early in the spring, arrive in perfection in August and September,
and remain in perfect vigour throughout the winter. The fronds
are always fertile. The form of
the frond is linear, lanceolate, and
pinnate ; the pinnæ are crowded,
and extend quite to the base of
the rachis, which is clothed with
chaffy scales ; the pinnæ are somewhat
crescent-shaped, auricled
on the upper side next the rachis,
and serrated, the serratures being
acutely spiny ; each pinna is
somewhat twisted, the auricled
portion projecting behind the
frond, which is altogether extremely
rigid, and grows in an
erect position ; it is of a deep
shining green colour, and almost
as stiff and prickly as a spike of
little holly leaves; so much so,
indeed, that the fronds are not
flattened for drying without considerable
difficulty.
In the Irish specimens the masses
of thecæ are most abundant towards
the apex of the frond, but
are scattered throughout the other
parts, even to its base; whereas,
in the specimens usually named
Lonchitis, from Scotland and
Wales, the masses are confined
to the upper part of the frond. The Irish plant is very scaly at
the back, a character scarcely observable in those from Scotland
and Wales.
I have already said that I believe the Linnean Lonchitis to he
identical with my lonchitiform variety of aculeatum ; it may then
he inquired how I can presume to give the Linnean name to a new
plant ; in reply, I observe, that the name of Lonchitis will never
he abandoned while there is a single botanist who believes that
Lonchitis and aculeatum are distinct ; if, therefore, Lonchitis, as
a name, is to be retained, let us apply it to that plant which is
iinvarying.
L a s t r a ;a T h e l y p t e r i s .—Presl.
Thelypteris palustris.—S chott.
Aspidium palustre.-—Gray.
Aspidium Thelypteris.—Swartz, Smith, Hooker, Galpine, Mackay,
Prancis.
Acrostichum Thelypteris.—Linneus, Bolton.
Polypodium Thelypteris.—Withering, Berkenhout, Lightfoot,
Hudson, (his specimen in the Smithian Herbarium is undoubtedly
correctly named Thelypteris.)
LOCALITIES.
E n g l a n d . . . Northumberland, Learmoitth Bogs, near Cornhill; Cheshire, from various
localities, without further particulars; Cambridgeshire, Whittlesea Mere;
Norfolk, Filsby, Ormsby, Bolton Bay, Horning Marshes; Kent, Ham Pond, near
Sandwich, in the marshy meadows, and fllling the wood to the exclusion of other
fe rn s ; Isle of Wight, marsh near Freshwater gate.
W a l e s .
Sco tland. j- Unknown.
I r e l a n d . . . . County Antrim, near the north-east coast ot Lough Neagh.
L a s t r .e a T h e l y p t e r i s , the Marsh Fern, is one of our rarest
or, rather, our most local species : it is so commonly confounded
with Oreopteris, that the localities usually given for either
are of hut little value; each of those recorded above may be
strictly depended on. In England it appears widely distributed,
and in Wales I think it has occurred in several unrecorded spots.
In Ireland I believe it has only been found in the hanks of
Lough Neagh, by Mr. Moore, of the Glasnevin Botanic Garden;
and in Scotland, to the best of my belief, it is at present totally
unknown. I t is only found in wet and marshy ground, where its
black, slender, and wiry rhizoma, can creep to any extent without
impediment from the substance of the so il; its roots are black,
fibrous, and, in some instances, very lo n g ; they appear to
. . . .