LASTKEA. 123 



Sometimes after the growth of the first set of fertile fronds 

 others will spring up which are also fertile, but have the 

 appearance described above as peculiar to the barren ones. 

 These fronds are undistinguishable from cultivated fronds 

 of L. cristata, and furnish another reason for considering 

 uliginosa as a state of that species. 



LASTREA DILATATA, Presl. The Broad Prickly-toothed, 

 or Crested Pern. (Plate IX. fig. 2.) 



This is one of the most compound of our native species. 

 It forms a large tufted stock or stem, and has broad arched 

 fronds, which average about a couple of feet in height, 

 though it is sometimes met with smaller, and often, when 

 luxuriant, reaches a height of five feet. They are always 

 more or less drooping or curved, and never grow erect as 

 those of cristata, uliginosa, and spimdosa do. The general 

 outline is ovate-lanceolate, though in this, one of the most 

 variable of Perns, the form varies considerably, becoming 

 sometimes narrow elongate lanceolate on the one hand, and 

 short broad almost triangular on the other. It is not im- 

 probable that among these various forms, the most distinct 

 of which are sometimes regarded as varieties, two or three 

 distinct species may be associated under the name of 

 tata. We shall describe the more usual form. 



