ASPIDIUM FILIX MAS. MALE SHIELD-FERN.
A S P ID IUM Filix Mas, fronde bipinnata, pinnis lineari-lanceolatis, pinnulis oblongis obtuse serratis,
apice rotundatis, stipite rachibusque subtus paleaceis.
A S P ID IUM Filix Mas. Swartz Syn. Filic. p . 55. Smith Fl. B r it. p. 1121. Engl. Bot. t. 1458.
et t. 1949 (sub nom. Aspidii cristati). JVilld. Sp. PI. vol. 5. p. 259. Schkuhr Crypt,
p. 45. t. 44. Wahl. Lapp. p. 282. Alton Hort. Kew. ed. 2. vol. 5. p. 510.
PO LY PO D IUM Filix Mas. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1551. With. Bot. A r r . ed. 4. vol. 3. p. 759. Huds.
Angl. p. 458. Bolt. Fil. p. 44. t. 24. Hoffm. Germ. vol. 2. p. 6. Bull. Plantes
Fen. t. 183. Poriet in Encycl. M é t hod. vol. 5. p. 547.
POLY ST IÇH UM.Filix Mas. Roth Germ. vol. 3. p. 82. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. vol. 2. p. 559.
Fl. Gall. p. 114.
PO LY PO D IUM pinnis pinnatis obtusis déntatis. Hall. Helv. n. 1701.
F IL IX Mas vulgaris. Rail Syn. 120.
Bohem. Kapradj. Dan. Bregne. Hanbregne. Dut. Varen-mannctje. Fr. Fougère mâle. Germ.
Das männliche Farrenkraut. Der männliche TiipJelfäri'en. It. Felcemascolina. Norw. Molsoor-
blom. Gröut molfor. Pol. Paproc. Port .F e to macho. Russ. Osokor. Paparotnik. Span. Helecho
masculino. Swed. Träjon. Welsh. March-redynen w rryw. R hed yn y Cadno.
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Class and Order. CRYPTOGAMIA FILICES.
•[Natural Order. F IL ICE S (Div. 1. Gyrate). Brown, Decandolle, Jussiei
Gen . Char. Sori subrotundi sparsi. Indusium umbilicatum vel uno latere dehiscens.
##*# JVondibuS bipinnatis triplicato-pinnatisve, indusiis dimidiatis reniformibus.
Ge n . Char. Sori roundish, scattered. Indusium umbilicate or opening on one side.
**** Fronds bi-tripinnate, the indusia dimidiate, reniform.
Radix diffbrmis, crassa, carnosa, squamosa, fibras ra-
mosas fuscas emittens.
Frondes ex eadem radice plurim®, fasciculate, bi-tri-
pedales, lanceolate, rigid®, erectiuscul®, pau-
lulurh tamen reclinate.
Stipes luteo-viridis, semiteres, supra planus, utrinque
marginatus, medio canaliculatus, paleaceus, in-
feme pr®cipue, paleis fuscis membranaceis.
Pin n e altern®, inferne distantes, superne approximate,
confluentes, omnes sub-horizontaliter patentes,
sed apice sursum direct®, lineari-lanceolat®, supra
l®ves, subtus rachisque piloso-paleace®, pin-
nulat®; pinnulis numerosis, alternatim dispositis,
patentibus, oblongs, obtusis, nervosis, basi de-
currentibus atque subconfluentibus, margine api-
ceque obtuse serratis, serraturis muticis, sub-
ffiqualibus, pinnulis inferioribus solummodo, hinc
basi majoribus, sub-auriculatis.
Fructificatio dorsalis, pinnis superioribus, et parte
inferiori pr®cipue pinnularum, in duas tineas
costa media utrinque disposita, Jig. 1.5.
Sori quinque ad septem, subrotundi, fusci.
I ndusium pallide fuscum, membranaceum, sub lente
reticulatum, Jig. 6’. rotundato-reniforme, con-
vexurnj medio depresso, Jig. 3. sinu affixum,
marginibus liberis.
:Capsule exigu®, numeros®, sph®ric®, pedunculate,
juniores sub-pellucid®, olivace®, limbo pallidiore,
Jig. 4. adult® fuse®, reticulate, Jig. 7. annulo
elastico articulato incomplete instruct®, ettrans-
versim irregulariter rumpentes.
Root of an irregular form, thick, fleshy, squamosc,
throwing out branched brown fibres.
Fronds many from the same root, fasciculate, two or
three feet long, lanceolate, rigid, nearly erect, a
little, however, reclined.
Stipes yellow-green, semicylindrical, plane above, on
each side marginate, canaliculate in the middle,
chaffy, below principally, the scales brown, membranaceous.
PlNNE alternate, below distant, above approximate,
confluent, all somewhat horizontally patent, but
directed upwards at their apex, linear-lanceolate,
smooth above; beneath, as well as the rachis,
between pilose and chaffy, pinnulate; having the
pinn® numerous, alternately placed, patent, oblong,
obtuse, nerved, at the base decurrent and
somewhat confluent, the margin and apex obtusely
serrated, the serratures pointless, nearly
equal, the inferior pinnul® alone, on one side,
larger at the base, somewhat auriculate.
Fruct ificat ion dorsal, on the superior pinn®, and
principally on the lower part of the pinnul®, disposed
in two lines on each side the central nerve,
Jig. 4. 5.
Sori from five to seven, roundish, brown.
Indusium pale brown, membranaceous, reticulated
when seen under a microscope, Jig. 6. roundish-
reniform, convex, depressed in the middle, Jig. 3.
affixed at the sinus, the margins free.
Capsules small, numerous, spherical, pedunculated,
the younger ones somewhat pellucid, olivaceous,
with the border paler, fig . 4. the adult ones
brown, reticulated, Jig. 7. furnished with an
elastic, jointed, incomplete ring, and transversely
and irregularly bursting open.
Seeds minute, brown, nearly spherical, marginate, the
margin dentato-tuberculate.
Semina minuta, fusca, subspharica, marginata, margine
2. A single indusium. jig . 3. Under side of the indusium.
anced fructification, fig . 6. Indusium with ripe capsules,
fig . 8. Seeds.—All more or less magnified.
dentato-tuberculata.
Fig. 1. Pinnule of fructification with young indusia. fig.
fig . 4. Young capsule, fig. 5. Pinnules of more adv
some of which have burst, fig . 7. Empty capsules.
The genus Polypodium, in which this plant was by Linnaus and the older botanists arranged, was divided by
Dr. Roth into three; those species whose fructification is destitute of an involucrum {ov indusium as Swartz has
called it) being distinguished by the old name of Polypodium; those of which the indusia are fixed on one side,
opening at the opposite extremity, by that o f Athyrium ; and those which have a sub-orbicular or kidney-shaped
indusium, their margin nearly free all round, by that o f Polystichum. Michaux about the same time gave to the
plants whose characters were the same with the former of the two last mentioned, the appellation of Nephrodium,
and to the latter that-of Hypopettis: and our countryman Mr. Brown has adopted the same generic divisions,
calling the Hypopettis by the name of Aspidium, under which term Swartz had previously united the two genera.
In this arrangement he has been followed by Willdenow as well as by Mr. Brown himself, in the Hortus Kew-
ensis—the characters being now employed for the sections of the genus.
Among the British Ferns there are few that are of more common occurrence than the present one, growing in
abundance in woods and coppices, on almost every hedgebank, and on every variety of soil, fructifying in the autumn
and winter months. I t bears the nearest affinity, among our own individuals, with the Aspidium Oreopteris,
in which, however, the pinn® are nearly entire; and the fructification is marginal. I t is still further removed from
A . cristatum, (for which it was mistaken in one of the numbers of English Botany), and may be known from it at
first sight by its much larger size, more chaffy stipes, narrow and regularly pinnulated pinn®, instead of almost
cordate and scarcely at all pinnulate pinn®.
The taste of the root is nauseous, “ ex amaro dulcis,” says Haller.—We are told by Poiret in the Encyclopedic
Methodique that this plant has obtained a great celebrity for its supposed property of destroying intestinal worms,
and that the secret was bought at a great price by the French Government in the reign of Lewis the Fifteenth. In
the Feroe Isles the ashes made by burning this plant yield agood salt, which is used in the process of soap-boiling*.
* Landl's Feroe Islands, p. 192.
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