//b [ 1679 ]
PT ERI S aquilina.
Common Brakes.
CRYPTOGAMIA Filices.
Gen. Char. Fructif. in a marginal continued line.
Invol. formed of the reflexed margin of the leaf
itself, uninterrupted and bursting inwards.
Spec. Char. Frond thrice pinnate; its segments lanceolate,
bluntish ; the lowermost pinnatifid; the
uppermost smallest.
Syn. Pteris aquilina. Linn. Sp. P I. 1533. Sm. FI.
B rit. 1136. Buds. 451. With. 765. Hull. 242.
Relh. 407. Sibth. 267. Abbot. 224. B o lt. F il.
16. t. 10.
Filix foemina. R aii Syn. 124.
(3. F. saxatilis ramosa maritima nostras. R a ii Syn. 125.
Pluh. Phyt. t. 182.ƒ . 1.
T h e most common of European ferns, growing copiously
on heaths and open hilly places, as well as in thickets and
woods, in all parts of our island. The root is perennial, the
herb annual, springing up about April, when its unrolling-
scaly shoots are remarkable. It is sometimes killed down to
the root by frosts in the spring, as happened all over Thetford
heath this year, 1806.
The frond is erect, from 1 to 6 feet high, elegantly spread-
ing, repeatedly compound, pinnate, its greater subdivisions
more opposite than the smaller; the ultimate ones alternate,
sessile, close, lanceolate, entire, rather blunt; smooth and
striated above; broad at the base; their margin indexed,
jagged, hairy, covering the fructification. The barren leaflets
are pale and hairy beneath. Capsules pale brown, each bound
with a ring, and supported by a taper stalk. The main stem
is angular and sharp-edged, cutting the hands of tho’se who
gather it unwarily. A transverse section shows the pith of a
branched figure, compared by some to a spread-eagle, by
others to King Charles in the oak ; but rustic lovers fancy
they here see the initials of their future spouse, of which there
is no doubt, for the figures in question express any thing at
the pleasure of the imagination. The principal use of this
plant besides is for firing;
“ Neglectis urenda jilix innascitur agris.” Hor. Sat.
The delicate variety |3 grows on damp walls or rocks near
the sea, and has rounder more distant leaflets. By culture it
assumes the proper appearance of the species.