JUNE. 151 



REMxYRKS ON BRITISH FERNS. 



NO. IV. 



[Continued from p. 133.] 



7. LASTRiEA THELYPTERis. The present subject is an exception to 

 the other British species of Lastroea, inasmuch as it possesses truly 

 a creeping root, whereas in the other species no one can really 

 be said to do so ; although I have observed some of the forms of 

 L. spinosa approaching to that state, especially when growing in 

 naked and sterile situations ; but this 1 consider to be common to 

 many other plants searching for food. Notwithstanding that L. the- 

 lyj)teris is invariably an inhabitant of boggy places, still it bears 

 cultivation extremely well, as I have had it growing beautifully for 

 several years in light sandy loam, with a small portion of heath- 

 mould. To me this is rather a remarkable Fern, as some twenty- 

 live years ago I found it growing by the acre, but not one fructified 

 frond could I detect in the immense mass, although I visited the 

 station two seasons. I, however, have since found it within a mile 

 and a half of my own home with fronds two feet high, and in a fine 

 state of fructification. The long slender stipes and altogether deli- 

 cate texture of the barren fronds will always serve to distinguish 

 it from any other British Lastrsea. It requires a well-sheltered nook 

 in the fernery, as the wind is very apt to injure the tender fronds, — 

 more especially when in the state of development. The fronds are 

 pinnate, and the pinnae pinnatifid. 



8. L. OREOPTERis. Again we have another instance of a Fern 

 generally found in boggy and moist heathy places, difiicult to culti- 

 vate. I have repeatedly tried to cultivate it in both peat and heath- 

 mould, but with very little success, until I applied a large proportion 

 of light sandy loam, in which it did tolerably well. I, however, ulti- 

 mately found that it luxuriated best in nothing but loam, in fact in 

 any thing apart from its parent soil. It may be said that the habi- 

 tats of this beautiful Fern are not really boggy places ; but if not so, 

 they are, at all events, places that have been for the most part inun- 

 dated during the winter months. I never saw it fine on compara- 

 tively dry heaths ; but in bogs associated with Sphagnum obtusi- 

 folium and Athyrium filix foemina, I have seen splendid specimens, 

 producing fronds from two to three feet high ; and indeed wherever 

 Sphagnum of any kind grows, it is scarcely necessary to say that the 

 soil is generally very moist, if not altogether boggy. On heaths in 

 sub-alpine countries the fronds are usually very meagre compared 

 with those found in such stations as I have referred to above. The 

 under-sides of the fronds in this species present beautiful objects to 

 the eye when in a state of fructification, the whole being of a fine 

 orange colour, and the sori, or clusters of reproductive organs, which, 

 by the way, are very small indeed and thickly set on the segments, 

 will readily distinguish it. I have never yet met with any form of 



