LASTEEA. 187 



have been fully exposed in pots unplunged during a very 

 hard winter, and the fronds are now quite fresh and green. 

 Fronds triangular, tripinnate, a foot high, and of a lively 

 green. Examined with a good magnifier, the under side will 

 be seen covered with glands. Pinnules oblong, curved upwards, 

 with spiny divisions. Spore-masses medial. Stalks and ribs 

 of the fronds covered with narrow scales. Eootstock tufted : 

 hence it is slow of increase ; but old large plants have many 

 heads or tufts, and by dividing these a plant may be made into 

 several. 



L. SIEBOLDI (Dr. Siebold's). This is now quite as com- 

 monly known under the name which Mr. J. Smith gave the 

 plant, L. podopJiylla. It was introduced from Japan. The 

 fronds are about a foot long, leathery, of a dull green colour, 

 once-divided, the divisions being broad and having entire 

 margins. It is so unlike any other Fern that no hardy 

 collection should be without it. 



L. spiNULosrM (Crested -prickly). A common British 

 species, ornamenting many a woodland lane with its yellow- 

 green fronds, growing in favourable situations 3 feet high. 

 Fronds bipinnate, narrow, lance-shaped, growing erect ; pinnse 

 oblong, deeply-cut, and spiny. Spore -masses medial, with 

 entire covers. Stalks covered with light-coloured broad scales. 

 Eootstock tufted, slow to increase ; but that is of little con- 

 sequence, for it is plentiful enough in almost every part of 

 Britain. 



L. THELYPTEEIS (Lady -Fern). Another Fern common in 

 Britain, and in the four quarters of the world. The only Fern 

 in this genus that has barren and fertile fronds. Fertile fronds 

 erect, contracted, growing a foot or more high, pinnate. 

 Barren fronds pinnate, shorter than the other. Spore-masses 

 medial. Eootstock creeping : hence the species is easily in- 

 creased by division. It grows generally in wet boggy places. 



L. ULIGINOSUM (Moor-Fern). A strong-growing Fern, 

 native of Britain, said to be only a variety of L. cristata. 



