Flora Medica

green ; revolute at the margin, which is brownish, and slightly crispedor wavy, sheltering the dense linear masses of tawny ihecae. Barrenleaflets pale and hairy at the back. The main stalk is angular andsharp-edged, wounding the hands severely if plucked incautiously.When cut across, the rhizoma has a branched appearance, resembling aspread-eagle, whence the Latin name. Smith. Rhizoma astringentand said to be anthelmintic. It has been used, and with some success,as a substitute for hops. In the Canaries a miserable sort of breadmade by mixing the flour obtained by grinding the rhizoma, withisbarley meal.NEPHRODIUM.Thecae placed in the middle of a vein, forming roundish soriplaced in rows. Indusium reniform.1318. N. Filix mas Presl. Aspidium Filix mas Swartz.syn. 55. E. Bot. t. 1558. Smith Eng. Fl. iv. 288. Polypodiumfilix mas Linn. sp. pi. 1551. All over the North ofEurope.Rhizoma tufted, large, scaly. Leaves several, 3 feet high, erect,disposed in a circle, lanceolate, and leafy nearly to the bottom ; theirstalks and midribs scaly, or chaffy, throughout; divisions alternate,taper-pointed, pinnate; leaflets numerous, crowded, sessile, for themost part distinct, occasionally somewhat combined at the base, oblong,obtuse, crenate throughout, the lateral notches broadest and mostshallow, the terminal ones more crowded and acute, without any terminalbristles; both sides smooth, and destitute of glandular globules, butthere is a depression on the upper one, over the insertion of each sorus.Sori circular, tawny, ranged in simple, close, short rows, near thepartial midrib, and scarcely occupying more than the lower half of eachleaflet. Indusium circular, durable, crenate, tumid, with a cleft terminatingin the central depression. Thecae numerous, shining-brown,prominent all round for a little beyond the indusium. Smith.Rhizoma used as an anthelmintic. The oil of Fern, extracted by ether,is the most efficacious form in which it is administered.OSMUNDA.Thecae collected into a panicle,or along the edge of the alteredfrond, opening vertically, bound by a broad dorsal wing.1319. O.regalis Linn, sp.pl. 1521. Eng. Sot. t. 209. SmithEng. Fl. iv. 327. Bogs, woods and wet meadows in Europe.(Osmund Royal.)Rhizoma tuberous, hard, scaly, beset with numerous fibres, andhaving in the centre a whitish core. Leaves several, erect, 2 or 3 feethigh, doubly pinnate, smooth, bright-green the primary divisions from;6 to 10, nearly opposite, hardly a span long; leaflets more numerous,often decidedly alternate, sessile, or nearly so, oblong, bluntish, entire,or obscurely crenate with 1 rib, and numerous transverse veins ; thebase dilated, heart-shaped, or somewhat lobed. Some of the upper619