The ferns of Britain, and their allies. Comprising Equisetaceae, Filicaceae, Lycopodiaceae, marsileaceae. Forming the fourth volume of Florigraphia Britannica / by Richard Deakin.

  • Deakin, Richard, 1808-1873.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ferns of Britain, and their allies. Comprising Equisetaceae, Filicaceae, Lycopodiaceae, marsileaceae. Forming the fourth volume of Florigraphia Britannica / by Richard Deakin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    • L. recurva.—Newman’s British Ferns, p. 225. Aspidium dilatatum var. recurvum.—Bree, Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. iv. p. 162. Roots fibrous, dark brown. Rhizoma tufted, scaly. Frond con- volute in vernation, becoming of an elongate triangular form, grace- fully curved; pinnate; the lower pinna mostly much larger than the rest, and with a rather long footstalk, the lower ones are lanceo- late deltoid, the middle ones lanceolate, and the upper linear; the upper surface of the frond is a beautiful green paler beneath, and the lobes are turned up, giving the frond a concave, crisped appearance, especially when young, and the whole plant is more or less thickly studded over with small sessile glandular bodies, which emit a pecu- liar odour by which the plant may be known. The stem is as long as the frond, a dark reddish purple colour, and of a hard almost woody texture; it is thickened at the base, and thickly clothed, especially in luxuriant plants, with thin, brown, uniform coloured membranous scales, of a lanceolate form, cut into two or more slender lobes, giving the stem almost a shaggy appearance. The pinnules are pinnate, and the first lower basal ones are much larger than any of the others, three times as long, or longer, than the opposite ones, this disproportion is very much less in the second pair of pinnae, and not at all in the rest; the pinnules are oblong, lanceolate, pinnated, all stalked, except a few, at the point; their lobes (secondary pinnules) are deeply cut, and the lower ones on a short footstalk, the rest are attached by their broad base, and one connected to the other by a narrow wing; all are deeply toothed with acute teeth, and all have a tendency to curve upwards, giving the plant a crisped appearance. The mid rib of the lobes is waved, and the lateral veins arise alternately, each going to a tooth but termi- nating before reaching the margin. The sori are numerous, large, arising from the lateral veins about the middle and from the superior branch, when the lateral vein is divided, and the whole frond is equally covered over with the sori; they are circular and often become confluent, of a yellowish-brown colour. The indusium at first is a leaden colour, becoming pale, reniform, smooth, or scattered over with sessile glands, and jagged in in a very irregular manner on the margin, soon becoming curled up into a shapeless form as the thecae are developed. Theca rather large, globose, numerous. Sporules minute. Habitat.—Warm, sheltered woods, and amongst grass, in exposed rocky situations; frequent in Ireland; probably not unfrequent in England ; banks of Loch Lomond, Scotland.