CRYPTOGAMIA-FILICES. Aspidium. 289 



flavour of this root was detected by a good botanist, who had 

 taken it in Switzerland, in a quack 'medicine recommended for 

 worms in England, the cunning dealer in which would be glad 

 to bring it ^nto general use as a purge. But there are many- 

 drugs more safe, and better known in their operation. 

 This species was certainly never mistaken for A. cristatum by the 

 writer o( Engl. BoL p. 1949 j but Mr. Sowerby was deceived by 

 a wrong specimen, sent him from the Isle of Wight, which he 

 supposed, of course, to be correct, and from which he drew the 

 iigure. The blunder was ^et right in v, 30. p. 2 1 25 of the -same 

 work. 



5. A. cnsfainm. Crested Shield- fem. 



Frond linear^oblon cr, almost doubly pinnate ; leaflets de- 

 current, ovate, obtuse, crenate or pinnatifid, with little 

 sharp terminal teeth. Stalk scaly at the base. Masses 

 ecjuidistant fi'om the midrib and margin. Cover orbi- 

 cular, 



A. criytatura. Sw. S^n. Fil 52. Willd. Sp. PL v. 5. 252. Comp, 

 ed. 4. 173. Engl. Bot. v. 30. ^2125. Hook. Scot. p. 2. 154. 

 Land. t. 1 13, excellent. 



Polypodiura cristatum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1551. Afzd.inStockh.Trans, 

 for 1787.2.-)(i./. 9, 



P. n. "esi"^. Linn. Fl. Suec. ed. 1. 308 ; omitting the synonyms, 



P. Callipteris. Ehrh. Bcitr. v. 3. 77. Crypt. 53. Hoffm, Gtrin. 

 V. 2. 0. 



Polystichum cristatum. Roth. Germ. '' i\ 3. 84." 



On boggy heaths among coarse grass and other plants. Hooker, 

 Sent from the Lows on Holt heath, Norfolk, in 1805, by the 

 liev. H. U. Francis. On bogs, amongst Alder bushes, at \Ves- 

 tleton, Suffolk. Mr. Dar.ij. 



IVrennial. August, 



Hoot tufted. Fronds se/eral, quite erect, readily distinguished 

 from the last, as Dr. Hooker observes, by their pale vellowish 

 green hue. Hut the present species is well characterized by 

 sevenil other indisputable marks. Kach/ro;/rf, at most two feet 

 high, is in its outline remarkably linear, not lanceolate ; nor is 

 it leafy throughout, but the sKilk, beset towards the bottom with 

 large, roundeil. brown, membranous scales, is destitute o^leuvts, 

 or tt- if/;^v, for about one-third of its height from the root. Leaves 

 tapering upwards from a broad base, (piite smooth, truly pin- 

 nate, though their broad, ovate, blunt Uajiets are decurrent, 

 and therefore .somewhat confluent ; their margins are sharply 

 toothed, most copiously about the extremity, and the teeth end 

 in very short brislK's. Masses large, in simj)le rows, at an equal 

 ilistance between the midrib of each leaflet and its margin. 

 Cover tumid, white when fresh, permanent, soon becoming or- 



VOL. IV. U 



