Mr. T. Moore on Lastrea uliginosa. 301 



XXIX.— Om Lastrea uliginosa, Newvi. By Thomas Moore, 

 Esq., F.L.S., Chelsea Botanic Garden*. 



Some discussion lias recently taken place respecting a fern be- 

 longing to the "spinulose" group oi Lastrea, said to be new to 

 England, which was found not long since by Mr. Lloyd, and 

 which Mr. Newman has described under the name of X. uliginosa 

 (Phytol. iii. 679). Having had ample opportunities of observing 

 the plant both in a living and dried state, I venture to state to 

 the Botanical Society the conclusions at which I have arrived 

 respecting it. 



It is curious enough that six botanists " who had paid atten- 

 tion to ferns," and who were consulted as to the name of this 

 plant (which for the sake of distinction I will here call Lloyd's 

 fern), should have recorded theii- opinions as follows: " 1. a form of 

 Filix-mas ; 2. L. rigida ; 3. L. cristata ; 4. L. spinosa, strong var. ; 

 5. L. dilatata, rigid var. ; 6. no way different from L. spinosa." 

 It does not at all closely resemble Lastrea Filix-mas and L. rigida ; 

 nor can it well be confounded with L. dilatata. The other opi- 

 nions approach nearer the truth. 



Those botanists whose organs of concentrativeness hardly allow 

 them to suffer the plants known as L. spinulosa, dilatata, and 

 fcenisecii, to take rank as varieties, will of course at once bury 

 L. uliginosa in some part of this accumulation of vegetable mat- 

 ter ; but I would submit that at least with cultivators and fern- 

 fanciers, a form recognisably distinct possesses sufficient interest 

 to claim and ensure attention ; and Lloyd's fern is at least suffi- 

 ciently distinct in the growing state to be selected by the eye 

 without hesitation from among the allied species. 



Two questions however suggest themselves with respect to it : 

 (1.) Is it really new to England, and (2.) specifically distinct? 

 My own observations lead me to answer both questions nega- 

 tively. We have however in this plant an apparent justification 

 of those older botanists (Linuseus and others) who are charged 

 with having confounded L. cristata and L. spinulosa, and even of 

 including both in their idea of one species. The existence of a 

 fern exactly intermediate between them, as Lloyd's is, and differing 

 from both in no character whatever, seems to explain all the 

 doubts and difficulties, the " great confusion " as Newman has 

 it, respecting the crested fern. There are evident traces of the 

 record of such a fern — intermediate between L. cristata and L. spi- 

 nulosa— having been found formerly in this country ; and pro- 

 bably like other doubtful questions, the determination of the 

 plant has been postponed, until turning up again in a more con- 



* Read before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, March 13, 1851. 



