ASPIDTUM. 



457 



A. (Polystichum) laserpitiifoliam — Pol-ys'-tich-um ; la-ser-pi'-ti- 

 if-oF-i-um (Laserpitium-leaved), Mettenius. 

 This very handsome, greenhouse Fern, much better known under the 

 popular name of Lastrea Standishii, is a native of Japan, and has proved 

 perfectly hardy in several favoured parts of England and Ireland. It is 

 a species of robust growth and very elegant habit, producing from a slowly- 

 creeping rootstock of a woody nature, roughly scaly, and remaining on the 

 surface of the ground, fronds which frequently measure 2jffc. in length by 

 ljft. in breadth at their widest part, and which are borne on stout, fleshy 

 stipes (stalks) quite 1ft. long and of a light green colour. The leafy part 

 of the frond, of a somewhat broad- spear- shaped form, is tripinnate (three 

 times divided to the midrib), being abundantly furnished with spear-shaped 

 pinna? (leaflets), which are in their turn subdivided into pinnules (leafits) 

 of the same shape and of leathery texture, so closely set as to be imbricated 

 (overlapping), and these being very numerous and bluntly lobed, give the 

 whole plant a very massive, though feathery and beautiful, appearance. 

 Although this is a strong-growing and a very easily -cultivated Fern, there 

 is nothing rigid or coarse about its foliage : on the contrary, the fronds, 

 especially those produced under cool greenhouse treatment, have a most 

 elegant habit, and being of a pleasing light green colour, it is not surprising 

 to find that, under the common name Lastrea Standishii, it is a general 

 favourite wherever an attempt is made at securing first-rate Ferns for the 

 decoration of the greenhouse, the cool rockery, or the conservatory. — Hooker, 

 Synopsis Filicum, p. 254. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 126. 



A. lentum — len'-tum (pliant). A variety of A. auriculatum. 



A. (Polystichum) lepidocaulon — Pol-ys'-tich-um ; lep-id-oc-au'-lon 

 (scaly-stemmed), Hooker. 

 A very interesting, greenhouse species, native of Japan and Tsus-Sima, 

 with fronds of a dark green and shiny nature and of a leathery texture, like 

 those of the popular A. (Cyrtomium) falcatum, but usually much longer, 

 drooping, and rooting at their extremity. These fronds, ljffc. to 2ffc. long 

 and 4in. to Gin. broad, borne on weak or flexible stipes (stalks) Gin. to 9in. 

 long and densely clothed with large, heart-shaped scales of a brown colour, 

 are simply pinnate (only once divided to their midrib). The pinna? (leaflets), 



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