J * ' C 797 3
P O L Y P O D I U M Lonchitis.
Rough A lpine Polypody.
CRYPTOGAM IA Filices.
Gen. Char. Fructifications fcatt'ered, in ronndifh
dots, not marginal, lnvolucrum umbilicated, bur ft -
ing almoft all round.
S pec. Char. Frond limply pinnate ; leaflets crefcent-
fhaped, bent downwards, briftly-ferraled. Stalks
lcaly. 0
Syn. Polypodium Lonchitis. Linn. Sy. PI. i54^<
Hudf: 455. With. 773. Hull. 2,37. Lightf. 6 6 8 .
Lonchitis afpera major. Rail Syn. 1 18.
A N A T IV E of high rocky mountains, fent u s from Durham
by the Rev. Mr. Hârriman. It has alfo been found in
Wales and Scotland, but is confined to alpine fituations.
The fronds grow in tufts, upright, 8 or 10 inches high, of
a narrow lanceolate figure, rigid and harfli, compofed of numerous
alternate feffile fimple pinnoe or leaflets, which are bent a
little downwards, and are of a lanceolate fomewhat crefcent-
Ihaped figure, acute, fringed with bnftly ferratures, and having
a projecting angle at their bafe on the upper fide, while the
under is Hoped or cut away. About half the leaflets, and thofe
the uppermoft, are thickly fet with round fpots of fructification
in a Angle line on each fide of the rib, each fpot covered with
a round truly umbilicated involucrum. One or two fmaller
dots fometimes Hand on the projecting angle of the leaflet.
This has often been fuppofed a mere variety of P . aculeatum,
which, when tranfplanted from its native woods into an open
garden, often dwindles away to the fize of P . Lonchitis, fee Pluk.
Phyt. t. 180. ƒ . 3, as Mr. W . Brunton of Rippon has proved
by experiment. The Lonchitis however has the leaflets much
lefs inclined to be lobed, and never auricled ; its fpots of fructification
are thrice as large as in the other, and the plants arc
manifeftly different.