1909. Praeger. — Lastrea Remota 171 Ireland. 151 



LASTREA REMOTA IN IRELAND. 

 BY R. LLOYD PRAEGER. 



lu June, 1898, beside the stream in the woods at Dalystown, 

 on the eastern slope of Slieve Aughty, in S. E- Galway, I 

 gathered a fern which puzzled me at the time. It was clearly 

 related to Last?'ea spinulosa and L. Filix-mas, but would not 

 fit in with either of these, nor with any abnormal form of 

 L. dilataia. Out of one small clump found, I took a root to 

 grow, and have had it under cultivation since. As it waxed 

 in size and strength, both its similarity and dissimilarity to 

 the species mentioned became more apparent, and for some 

 years past I have 1)een convinced that the plant was L. remota 

 Moore {^Aspidium remohun Braun). On more than one occasion 

 I sent fronds to English specialists, but the replies showed 

 that they had no special knowledge of this difficult group of 

 Lastrea, and the}' general!}' came back labelled as a variety of 

 Filix-7nas or of dilatata. Lately, on the suggestion of Mr. 

 Druce, I sent fronds to Dr. F. W. Stansfield of Reading, who 

 has no hesitation in confirming the naming of the plant as 

 L. 7-emcta. 



Lastrea 7'emota was first described as a variety of L. rigida 

 {Aspidiiwi rigidu77i fi re)notu77i) by its discoverer Professor A. 

 Braun^, who subsequently- raised it to specific rank ; and this 

 rank it has been allowed by most authorities, though put 

 down by others under L, Filix-77ias, L. spi7iulosa, or L. dilatata^ 

 as a sub-species or variety. But its hybrid origin has been 

 long suspected, and even its describer afterwards^ suggested 

 as its parentage a cross between Filix-7itas and spi7iulosa. 

 Its curiously restricted range is in accordance with the idea 

 of its hybrid origin. Braun discovered it in 1843 near 

 Geroldsau in Baden, growing with Filix-7}ias and spi7mlosa, 

 and subsequently between Aix-la-Chapelle and Altenberg. 

 Other stations have been since reported near Freiburg, and in 

 Alsace and Silesia."* 



In 1854, ^^^- Isaac Huddert found a fern growing m com- 

 pany with L. Filix-77ias^ L, spinulosa, and L. dilatata near 



1 Doell: Rheinische Flora, 1843. 



2 A. Braun : Betracht. lib. d. Ersch. d. Verjiiug. i. d. Natur. 1850. 

 •'' Doell : Flora des Grossherzogthums Baden, iii., 1862. 



* Koch : Synopsis der Deutschen und Schweizer Flora, iii. 2876-2877, 

 1907. 



