THE BUCKLER FERNS. 41 



orming along the side of the latter what is technically 

 called a wing. This is also a Somersetshire variety. 



The variety ciistatum is one of much beauty. The point 

 of the frond, and the points of all the pinnae, are expanded 

 into tassel-like tufts, as occurs in the tasselled or crested 

 varieties of the Male Fern and Lady Fern. 



There are many other variations. Sometimes the pinnules 

 are acute, sometimes blunt and rounded. In other forms 

 the pinnules are deeply serrated, and in some they are very 

 conspicuously spinulose. In some very elegant forms the 

 pinnae and the pinnules are exceedingly irregular in size 

 and form. The variations are, however, so numerous, that 

 we can only refer for an account of them to our Handbook, 

 previously mentioned. 



This normal form of this species is not an uncommon 

 Fern ; it grows in hedge-banks and in lowland woods, pre- 

 ferring, like most of the larger Ferns, the presence of plenty 

 of free (not stagnant) water. 



As a cultivated plant, either for pots or rockwork, the Soft 

 Prickly Shield Fern is a most desirable plant ; and acquiring, 

 as it does, considerable size, it maybe made to produce some 

 striking effects in ornamental scenery. 



CHAPTER VHL 



THE BUCKLER FERNS. 



WE have already mentioned that the old genus Aspidium, to 

 which the English name Shield Fern was applied, has been 

 in modern times broken up into two groups. One of these, 

 the genus Polystichum, to which the name Shield Fern is 

 retained, formed the subject of our last chapter. The other 

 group is called Lastred, and we distinguish them by the 

 popular name, Buckler Fern. 



The Buckler Ferns are known from the Shield Ferns by 

 having the indusium, or seed-cover, round in outline with a 

 notch at the hinder part, thus becoming kidney-shaped, and 

 by having these covers attached to the frond by the notched 

 part. This group includes some of the largest and most 

 common of our native species. They are nearly all of them 

 remarkable for their elegance, and several of them retain 

 their fronds through the winter in sheltered situations ; but 

 with one exception, they are not strictly evergreen, and in 

 exposed situations become bare during winter. 



