110 WHERE TO FIND FERNS. 



XXXV. THE PRICKLY-TOOTHED BUCKLER FERN. 



Lastrea spinulosa. 

 (Plate VII., Fig. 2, page 6r.) 



LENGTH OF FROND. One foot to three feet. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. Roots abundant, fibrous. 

 Rootstock, a tufted caudex, which extends into numerous 

 crowns that are noticeable by the absence of scales. 

 Fronds numerous, triangular, deciduous, bipinnate, some- 

 times, in the lower part of the frond, nearly tripinnate ; 

 pinnae more or less triangular, opposite or alternate on 

 the rachis, and divided into oblong, sharply-incised pin- 

 nules, furnished with spinous, bristle-like points which 

 are turned towards the apices of the pinnules. As in 

 the case of Lastrea dilatata and Lastrea rccurva, the lower 

 pairs of pinnae are more developed than the upper ones, 

 the basal pinnules of these being elongated, and again 

 divided into spiny lobes. The pinnae especially the 

 lower pairs are usually pointed upwards in a direction 

 diagonal to that of the rachis. The stipes is generally 

 about the same length as the leafy part of the frond, 

 though sometimes longer, and is brittle, and furnished 

 near the base with a few light-brown scales. Fructifica- 

 tion produced in rows of small sori, covered by kidney- 

 shaped indusia, and scattered equally over the under 

 sides of the fronds a row of sori on each side of the 

 midvein of each pinnule or lobe according to its size 

 and position. 



HABITATS. Similar in all respects to those of Lastrea 

 cristata namely, boggy places of low-lying heaths and 

 moorlands, especially in places where, under the shelter 

 of shrub or tree, little grassy or mossy knolls have been 



