(2) The Male Fern
Aspídium Fìlix-mas. THELÝPTERIS FÌLIX-MAS
Dryópteris Fìlix-mas. Nephròdium Fìlix-mas
Fronds lanceolate, pinnate, one to three feet high growing in a crown from a shaggy rootstock. Pinnæ lanceolate, tapering from base to apex. Pinnules oblong, obtuse, serrate at the apex, obscurely so at the sides, the basal incisely lobed, distant, the upper confluent. Fruit-dots large, nearer the mid vein than the margin, mostly on the lower half of each fertile segment.
The male fern resembles the marginal shield fern in outline, but the fronds are thinner, are not evergreen, and the sori are near the midvein. Its use in medicine is of long standing. Its rootstock produces the well-known fìlix-mas of the pharmacist. This has tonic and astringent properties, but is mainly prescribed as a vermifuge, which is one of the names given to it. In Europe it is regarded as the typical fern, being oftener mentioned and figured than any other. In rocky woods, Canada, Northfield, Vt., and northwest to the great lakes, also in many parts of the world.
[Illustration: FIG. 33G. Aspidium filix mas 1, Illustration exhibiting general habit; a, young leaves: 2, transverse section of rhizome showing the conducting bundles; a: 3, portion of the leaf bearing sori; a indusium b, sporangia; 4, longitudinal; 5, transverse section of a soris; a, leaf; b, indusium; c, sporangia: 6, a single sporangium; a, stalk; c, annulus; d, spores. (After WOSSIDLO OFFICINAL) From a German print, giving details]