144 



BRITISH FERNS 



thrice-divided fronds (Fig. 148), very broad at the base, and 



sometimes four or five feet long. 

 They are of spreading habit, with 

 bright green stalks of some length, 

 and spring from a stout, erect 

 caudex, but less compact than that 

 of L. filix-mas and others, which 

 send up their fronds in erect 

 circlets. The round spore heaps 

 are fairly large, and very plentiful 

 and dark in colour, the kidney- 

 shaped indusium obvious, but only 

 partly covering them when ripe. 

 Our plate gives a good idea of the 

 form. It has " sported " fairly 

 freely, and is a very variable fern 

 in minor details, but a great many 

 of the forms recorded are too 

 erratic or indefinite to recommend 

 for culture, and for that reason 

 are probably not now in existence. 

 These we ignore. 



Fig 148. L. dilatala 

 (parts of pinna). 



Crist ata (Fig. 149). — Found near 

 Doncaster by Mr. Appleby ; prettily 

 crested at frond and pinna; tips ; a 

 better form was found in Devonshire 

 by Mr. C. Jackson, and another by 

 Mrs. Thompson, also in Devon. 



C. Druery. — Found by the writer at 

 Clovelly ; a very robust form with 

 bunch crests of medium size. 



C. Oscroft. — Found near Bristol ; 

 a very finely bunch - tasselled form, 

 somewhat crispy in make. 



C. gracile Roberts. — A very pretty 

 percristate form, the pinnules being 

 fanned. Unfortunately, though pro- 

 duced so freely from spores as to appear 

 abundantly as strays under glass, all 

 without exception have a tendency to 

 partial depauperation, short pinna; oc- 

 curring here and there. 



Folios a - crist ata, f. digit ata. — 

 Although found in the Azores by Mr. 

 Brown, and therefore best grown under 



Fig- !49- L. dil. cristata (pinna). 



