BROAD SHIELD FERN. 25 



lower pinnae not decreasing in size, and the sori, 

 which are circular, being covered by a kidney -shaped 

 indusium, having the margin entire. The plant in 

 the Royal Gardens, Kew, under the name of Lastrea 

 uliginosa, corresponds with this species. 



It is one of the most common and generally-dis- 

 tributed of our British ferns, growing in woods and 

 on sheltered banks throughout the kingdom. It is 

 common on the continent of Europe and Russian 

 Asia ; and is to be found in Epping Forest, near 

 London, in Cheshire, Norfolk, and Nottingham- 

 shire. 



This fern is by no means difficult to cultivate. It 

 will bear exposure, if well supplied with water ; but to 

 obtain it in its beauty it must be screened from the 

 direct heat of the sun. When potted, it requires 

 nothing but peat, and should be kept constantly 

 standing in water. It is often mistaken for Aspidium 

 dilatatum, especially when dried ; as, indeed, in this 

 state all plants are more difficult to recognize than 

 when freshly gathered. Useful as is the herbarium in 

 preserving the outlines of each plant, its style, tints, 

 character, and texture, must of course be lost in the 

 sameness of one now uniform body. It is 



" And yet it is not, no more than the shadow 

 Upon the hard, cold, flat, and polished mirror, 

 Is the warm, graceful, rounded, living substance 

 Which it presents in form and lineament." 



SIB WALTER SCOTT. 



ASPIDIUM SPINULOSUM RECURVUM is a variety figured 

 in our plate (Fig. 16) ; it differs from the original 



