[ 1563 ]
2 C
ASPIDIUM lobatum.
Close-leaved Prickly Shield-fern.
CRYPTOGAMIA Filices.
Gen. Char. Fructifications scattered, in roundish
dots, not marginal. Involucrum umbilicated,
bursting almost all round.
Spec. Char. Frond bipinnate; leaflets elliptical, somewhat
crescent-shaped, fringed with spines, hairy
beneath: the foremost of the lowest pair very large.
Common stalk scaly.
Syn. Aspidium lobatum. Sm. FI. Brit. 1123.
Polypodium lobatum. Huds. 459.
Filix aculeata major, pinnulis auriculatis crebrioribus,
foliis integris angustioribus, Ilavi Syn. 121.
F. aculeata, Lonchitidis ssmula nostras. Pluk. Phyt,
t. 180.ƒ. 3.
S in c e Ray, whose description is excellent, we believe no
one has well understood this fern except Mr. Edward Forster,
to whom we are obliged for directing our attention particularly
to the subject, It has not been observed out of-Essex, where it
is not uncommon in shady places under hedges. It varies in
size, but often equals A. aculeatum in the height of its fronds,
though their breadth is always less in proportion. The whole
frond is more firm and rigid, of a paler and. more shining
green. The leaflets are rather elliptical than ovate, crowded,
less cut or lobed, but more remarkable for the great size of
the foremost or uppermost one at the base of each subdivision
of the frond, which often extends its point beyond the stalk
above it,