I p,
[ IOI9 ]
POLYPODIUM Oreopteris.
Heath Polypody.
CRYPTO G AMI A Filices.
G en. Char. Fru5tijications fcattered, in roundifli dots,
not marginal. Involucrum umbilicated, burfting
ahnoft all round.
Spec. Ch ar. Frond pinnate ; leaflets pinnatifid,
entire, fprinkled beneath with refinous glands.
D o ts marginal, confluent.
Syn. Polypodium Oreopteris. Dick/. Tr. o f Linn.
Soc. v. i . 18*. H. Sicc.fafc. i . 18. With. 775,
Hull. 238. Sibil. 270.
P . Thelypteris. Hudf. 4 5 7 . Bolt. Fil. 4 0 . t. 22.
ƒ . 1, 2. Hedw. Theor. 4 4 , t. 6,
Filicis maris vulgaris varietas. Raii Syn. 122.
Th E Polypody here reprefented, much more common than
the laft, for which it has often been taken, grows in mountainous,
heathy, or dry woody places, mod plentifully in Scotland,
Wales, and the north of England, though Mr. Lambert has
found it in Hampftrire. We received it from the Rev. Mr.
Harriman of Egglefton. ~ 7 • j
It is generally three times the fize of P . Thelypteris, and
agrees both in that particular as well as general habit with the
moft common P. Filix mas, having like that a fibrous ton?“
large fcaly root, from which many fronds arife in a circle. 1 e
pinnte likewife are continued almoft to the bottom, gradually
diminilhing towards the root; their lobes entire, very rarely
crenate at the tip. The dots of capfules run m one marginal
feries, (which has led fome to fuppofe this the P.marginale of
Linnaeus,) and become confluent as they ripen. But the.moft
peculiar charafteriftic of this fpecies, by which it may at allr
times be known from every other Britilh fern, are the yellowifli
refinous glands fprinkled over the back of the leaves. Theie
fometimes exhale a fweet fcent, remarked by Mr. Teefdale,
which probably caufed Mr. Hudfon to nnflake a plant ot this
fpecies for the P. fragrans of Linnaeus.