1908- 1909.] Notes on Lastrea remota (Moore). 91 



half-way down from the margin, and the apices of the seg- 

 ments are all acute, and in the two Loch Lomond fronds 

 almost provided with a true spinulosa spine; the others are 

 possibly a little less sharp. If these Westmorland fronds are 

 really remota, I would be inclined on the evidence to regard 

 the Loch Lomond plant as nearer dilatata, owing to the scale 

 characters, but certainly not far removed from spinulosa. As 

 regards ordinary tissue characters, there is no reliable difference 

 between any of the fronds you left me, and, for that matter, 

 between them and Filix-mas." 



I also sent a plant of the Loch Lomond fern to Mr Stansfield 

 of Sale, a nurseryman who devotes himself to the culture of 

 British fern varieties, for comparison with the "Windermere 

 plant ■ which he has grown for many years, and asking him 

 to give me his opinion on the matter, and this is what he 

 says : "I should call your Loch Lomond plant Lastrea remota, 

 but I should think the original has a trifle more Filix-mas in 

 its composition than has your plant. My plant has a true 

 Filix-mas crown, and little or no suggestion of the dark scales 

 of dilatata at the bases of the fronds. My plant has been 

 in the open air for twenty years, and yours appears to have 

 been under glass. There is a preponderance of the Filix-mas 

 parentage in my plant. I fancy remota occurs much more 

 frequently in nature than is generally supposed. I had a 

 remota frond from America among a lot of other miscel- 

 laneous plants. I sowed the spores, which germinated freely, 

 but have so far produced nothing. They have gradually 

 dwindled away. There is one peculiarity about remota from 

 Windermere, and that is its reluctance to produce offsets. My 

 plant has only produced one offset in twenty-five years." 



In reference to L. remota hybrida, I should here mention 

 that this plant was an accidental seedling which came up on 

 the flower-pot in which remota was growing in Mr Stansfield's 

 nursery, but is quite a different looking plant from remota; 

 this seems to have crossed again with either dilatata or semula. 

 I am unable to get it from spores, but it produces offsets more 

 freely than remota does. I have never got remota or hybrida 

 from spores, although I have sown them often. 



In summing up all the information on the subject that I 

 can lay my hands on, I think there seems to be no doubt 



