NEPHRODIUM. 



547 



N. (Lastrea) montanum — Las'-tre-a ; mon-ta'-num (Mountain Buckler 

 Fern), Baker. 



This interesting, hardy species, also known under the name of Lastrea 

 Oreopteris, though not indigenous in any other part of the world, is found in 

 France, Switzerland, and in the centre of Europe in considerable quantities. 

 It is widely spread through the United Kingdom, being exceedingly common 

 in Scotland and the North of England, where it ranges from the sea-level to 

 an altitude of oOOOft. Ray, who first 

 mentions it as a native of this country, 

 referring to it in the Appendix to the 

 Second Edition of his " Synopsis Methodica 

 Stirpium Britannicarum," gives it as "a 

 variety of the common Male Fern, observed 

 by Petiver on Dunsmore Heath, near 

 Rugby, in the County of Warwick." It 

 was eventually found in many parts of 

 the British Islands, notably at Old Foot's 

 Well, Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire ; near 

 Chapel Weardale and Darlington, in Dur- 

 ham ; in the woods of Castle Howard, in 

 Yorkshire; at Conham and Leigh Woods, 

 near Bristol, in Somersetshire ; on Bailey's 

 Hill, between Brasted and Tunbridge, in 

 Kent ; near Southampton, &c. In the Lake 

 District of Westmoreland and Cumberland 



it is very abundant. It has been gathered °f Nephrodium 



° molle grandiceps 



111 Wales, near Wrexham, in Denbighshire, (i nat. size), 



and at Llanberis and ISTant Gwynedd, in 



Carnarvonshire, and has been reported from various parts of Scotland and 

 Ireland. As its name implies, the Mountain Buckler Fern is usually found 

 growing upon mountain heaths, but it is also an inhabitant of shady woods 

 where the soil is moist, without, however, being uniformly wet. 



The spear-shaped fronds of this species, produced from a dense, clustered 

 crown, and borne on short, tufted stalks fmmished at their base with chatiy 

 scales of a light brown colour, are IJft. to 2ft. long, 6in. to Sin. broad, and 



2x2 



