. British ferns and their varieties. Ferns. TIIK roLYh^TlcnUMS 217 Wakelevanum (cruciatum).—Found in S. Devon by Mrs. Wakeley ; pinnse set on in pairs at right-angles, forming crosses with opposite pairs ; one of the parents of Mr. E. J. Lowe's hyhridiim aculeatiim. POLYSTICHUM LONCHITIS (ThE HoLLY FeRN) (Plate XXXII) This Fern has been named the Holly Fern, owing to the hard, leathery texture of its fronds, and the shape and prickly edges of the pinucc or subdivisions. It is purely a mountain Fern, and in Great Britain is never found wild at a lower elevation than iioo feet, most of its habit
. British ferns and their varieties. Ferns. TIIK roLYh^TlcnUMS 217 Wakelevanum (cruciatum).—Found in S. Devon by Mrs. Wakeley ; pinnse set on in pairs at right-angles, forming crosses with opposite pairs ; one of the parents of Mr. E. J. Lowe's hyhridiim aculeatiim. POLYSTICHUM LONCHITIS (ThE HoLLY FeRN) (Plate XXXII) This Fern has been named the Holly Fern, owing to the hard, leathery texture of its fronds, and the shape and prickly edges of the pinucc or subdivisions. It is purely a mountain Fern, and in Great Britain is never found wild at a lower elevation than iioo feet, most of its habitats being far above that limit, 2000 to] 3000 feet. It grows in the chinks of the weathered rocks, or in the short grass or other growths under their lee. At the iioo level, near Aberfeldy, we found numerous large plants in rocky soil among the heather, where, at a distance, the projecting, erect fronds were at first taken for the fertile fronds of the Hard Fern {Blechnum spicant), and, but for the guidance of the Rev. Mr. Maclean, of Aberfeldy, who had previously discovered the station, we should certainly have overlooked it, since it occurred on level ground, close to the road. It has been found in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where mountains of sufficient elevation have encouraged the search. It is distinguished from the other two species by being persistently only pinnate, that is the pinnse are never divided to the midrib, see Fig. 253. Reported finds of the Holly Fern at lower levels are not infrequent, but are in^'ariably found to be young forms of P. aciileaium, by the fact that apart from their less rigidity, the lower- most pinnae are invariably divided. The separation of the species from P. aculea- tum is entirely justified; it is not merely a mountain form of that, compressed and dwarfed by exposure to hardening influences, and when the spores are sown, the parent form is truly reproduced. Furthermore, plants collected and brought down to lower levels do
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectferns, bookyear1912
