Handbook of the British flora : a description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalized in, the British Isles for the use of beginners and amateurs / by George Bentham.

  • Bentham, George, 1800-1884.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Handbook of the British flora : a description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalized in, the British Isles for the use of beginners and amateurs / by George Bentham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    655/698 (page 635)
    FILI0E3. Asia, extending northward to Holland. In Britain, common in many parts of England and Ireland, but rare in Scotland. Fr. simmer and autumn. XI. BIiECHNUM. BLECHNUM. Sori linear, one on each side of the midrib of each segment and parallel to it. Indusium attached along the outer edge of the sorus, opening outwards from the inner side. A small genus, spread over many parts of the world, but chiefly tropical. 1. Hard Blechnnm. Blechnum Spicant, Both. {B. boreale, Eng. Bot. t. 1159.) Fronds simply pinnate, tufted, of two kinds, the outer barren ones spread- ing, usually 6 inches to near a foot long; the segments lanceolate, curved, entire, attached by their broad base; those in the centre of the frond 1 to 1^ inches long, gradually decreasing towards each end. Fruiting fronds in the centre of the tuft erect, 1 to li feet high; the segments of the same length as in tlie barren ones, but all narrow-linear; the under side entirely occupied by the 2 linear sori. In woods, and rather moist stony places and heaths, generally distributed over Europe, extending from the Mediterranean far into Scandinavia, and occurs in several parts of Asia and Aii'ica without the tropics. Common in Britain. Fr. smnmer, rather late, and autumn. XII. PTCRXS. PTBEIS. Fronds usually stifi, often large, lobed or pinnately divided. Veins of the segments branching from a midrib. Sori linear, close along the margin of the frond, with an indusium attached along its outer edge to the margin of the frond, and opening on the imier side. A large genus, widely distributed over the globe, and if not vei-y natural, at any rate easily recognized. 1. Brake Pteris. Pteris aquilina, Linn. (Eng. Bot. t. 1679. Brakes or Bracken.) A taU, erect, stiff Fern, with a thick, hard, creeping rootstock. Fronds 1 to 2 feet high in poor soils, 8 to 10 feet high when luxuriant, twice or thrice pinnate; the primary pinnas in pairs at some distance from each other ; the lowest pair much larger, the others decreasing in size and succes- sively developed, giving the whole frond, especially when young or small, a broadly triangular outline. Secondary pinnas nmnerous, linear-lanceolate, deeply piimatifid or pinnate, always ending in an undivided, crenate, blunt point. Segments ovate or oblong, obtuse and entire, attached by their broad base, of a firm consistence, glabrous above, often haiiy underneath. Sori in continuous lines along the margins of the upper segments and sum- mits of the secondaiy pinnas. In woods and thickets, on heaths and waste places, dry or moist, but not swampy, m almost every part of the globe except the extreme north and south. Very abundant in Britain. Fr. autumn.