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LASTREA FILIX-MAS. Male Fern. TAB. IX. 



Fronds tufted, lanceolate, bipinnate : pinnse linear-lanceolate ; 

 pinnules oblong obtuse, serrated. Sori in a line on each side of 

 the midvein. 



Lastrea Filix-mas, PresL Aspidium Filix-mas, Swartz. Smith. 

 Hooker. E. B. Polypodium, Linnceus. Dryopteris Filix-mas, 

 Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 183. 



The most common of our indigenous Ferns, with the exception 

 of Pteris aquilina, occurring in woods, thickets, and on banks and 

 hedge-bottoms in almost every kind of soil. The fronds spring in 

 a circular manner from the extremity of the large scaly rhizoma, 

 presenting vase-like tufts, hollow in the centre, a habit that renders 

 this species highly ornamental when occupying situations sheltered 

 from the wind ; they vary according to age or exposure, from two 

 to three or four feet in height, growing nearly erect, but with a 

 slight determination outwards : their development commences in 

 May, the circinate vernation, at first gradually uncoiling, being 

 soon obliterated by the liberation of the apex, which, hanging 

 downwards, gives the upper part of the frond a bend resembling 

 that of a shepherd's crook, a character, however, it should be ob- 

 served, not peculiar to this fern. The rachis, leafy through about 

 two-thirds or three-fourths of its length, is more or less densely 

 clothed with thin membranous pointed scales, of a pale, often 

 purplish hue, especially towards the base. The lower pinnse are 

 much shorter than those of the middle, but never approach the 

 diminutive size of those of L. Oreopteris, nor do they extend so 

 far downwards. The pinnules, generally distinct at the lower part 

 of the pinnse and thus justifying the specific character, bipinnate, 

 are confluent above ; they are likewise liable to vary from the ordi- 

 nary oblong and obtuse to the more lanceolate form, and the margin 

 from crenate to serrate, the serratures occasionally terminating in 

 slender spines. The sori are produced on the upper branch of the 

 forked lateral veins a little above the furcation, and hence form a 

 line on each side of the midvein, but seldom extending much more 

 than half the length of the pinnule ; they are covered by a very 

 conspicuous smooth reniform indusium, of a more permanent cha- 

 racter than that of most other British Ferns, and attached by its 

 sinus. The fructification is usually matured in August, but the 

 fronds retain their beauty to the close of the year, and often, in 

 mild seasons and sheltered situations, throughout the winter. 



Variations from the normal form of L. Filix-mas are not of 

 unfrequent occurrence, and in a few instances they are of so striking 

 and permanent a character as to claim a separate notice, viz. : 



1. incisa. Frond robust, broadly lanceolate: pinnse distant; 



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