GENERA AND SPECIES. 95 
PLATE XXXIV. 
ASPIDIUM GOLDIANUM. Hook. 
GOLDIE’S SHIELD FERN. 
This is the largest and handsomest of all the Shield Ferns 
in this country, being frequently more than three feet in 
height, with broadly ovate pinnate fronds; the pinne alter- 
nate, stalked, oblong-lanceolate, with lobes deeply cut, 
wavy, crenate. The pinnz at the broadest part of the 
frond are about six and a half inches long and one and 
a half inches wide. The somewhat scythe-shaped lobes 
bear about eight pairs of fruit-dots, which are very distinct 
and well defined, and furnish beautiful examples of the 
characteristic fruit-dots of the genus. 
Although it may be considered a somewhat rare fern in 
the less elevated portions of the State, it is not uncommon 
among the mountains, where altitude makes amends for the 
lack of a higher latitude, more suitable to its growth. I 
have found it in great abundance near the Little Rockcastle 
River, in Laurel County. 
The illustration gives a few of the pinne, natural size; 
it conveys, however, at best but a very imperfect idea of 
this splendid fern. 

