156 FILICES. 



Forde bog. Bradley woods, etc. This Fern is more sparingly- 

 distributed than the last. (Aspidium, E. B. S. t. 2776, and 

 Hook, and Arnott. Moore, Nat. Print. Ferns, t. 12. Sowerby, 

 Ferns, t. 18.) P. vi.-vni. 



LASTREA. BUCKLEE-FERlSr. 



1. Ii. Pilix-mas (male Fern, or common Buckler- Fern.) 

 On hedgebanks, and in shady and wooded situations. " Fronds 

 bipinnate, pinnules oblong, obtuse, serrate, sori near the central 

 nerve, stipes and rachis chaffy " (Brit. Flora). (Aspidium, E.B. t. 

 1458, and t. 1949. Aspidium, Hook, and Arnott. Moore, Nat. 

 Print. Ferns, t. 14. Sowerby, Ferns, t. 9.) Caudex large and 

 tufted, when old much lengthened, scaly, and giving off coarse 

 and dark-coloured roots. Stipes about one-third of the whole 

 frond in length, covered with pale brown chaffy scales, the rachis 

 being sparingly sprinkled with smaller ones. Fronds from 2 or 

 3 to 6 feet in height, arranged in a beautiful circular form around 

 the crown, smooth and of a deep green colour, paler beneath, 

 broadly lanceolate, bipinnate ; the pinnae alternate or nearly op- 

 posite, the lower ones more distant than the upper, which narrow 

 by degrees into the acute apex. Pinnules distinct at the lower 

 part of the pinnse, the remaining pinnules attached by their whole 

 base, and running more or less into one another, oblong, crenated 

 or serrated at their margins ; the midvein is slightly tortuous 

 and alternately branched, the branches being again forkedly di- 

 vided, the ultimate divisions extending nearly to the margin, one 

 branch reaching the point of each marginal tooth. Sori numer- 

 ous, roundish kidney- shaped, covered by a firm, roundish, but 

 posteriorly notched indusium, attached by the notch. Spore- 

 cases reddish brown, the indusium being of a grey or leaden 

 colour. Very abundantly distributed, and found in most of the 

 habitats above given for Polystichum aculeatum. The var. palea- 

 cea, remarkable for its profuse golden-tinted scales and large 

 and spreading fronds, grows plentifully in Berry Pomeroy 

 woods, and in Sharpham woods, on the banks of the Dart. P. 

 VI.-VIII. 



2. L. cristata, var. spinulosa ; "Fronds narrow oblong- 

 lanceolate, bipinnate ; pinnules oblong-acute, inciso-serrate or 

 pinnatifid, with aristately-toothed lobes ; posterior basal pinnules 

 much larger than the anterior ones " (Moore's Handbook). In 

 wet and boggy situations. (Aspidium, Hook, and Arnott. L. 

 spinulosa, Bab. Moore, Nat. Print. Ferns, t. 21. Sowerby, 

 Ferns, t. 12.) Fronds growing upright from the stout, decum- 



