Lastrea. 
159 
portion ; the lowest pinnae are also very broad, measuring as much as three inches across. This 
is one of the ferns which in its young stages causes much bewilderment to young pteriologists, 
on account of its being often taken for a fully developed species, although the absence of 
PINNA OF LASTREA SPINULOSA 
(NATURAL SIZE). 
SEEDLING OF LASTREA. 
fructification should guard against this error : the 
accompanying figure of a seedling of this or the 
next species (L. dilatata ) will give an idea of these 
young forms. 
Although so different in habit from L. cristata , 
Mr. Moore and other careful botanists consider L. 
spinulosa as a form of that species ; others, on the 
other hand, unite it with L. dilatata. The dif- 
ferent appearance of the wide-spreading fronds of 
L. spinulosa from the upright, narrow ones of L. cristata is striking enough ; but there are 
undoubtedly connecting links, although the two plants are not usually much alike. 
We have already referred to the general distribution of L. spinulosa in Britain ; it is not 
very common in Ireland. On the continent of Europe it is most abundant in the northern and 
central parts ; it seems, however, to be absent from Spain, Greece, and Central Italy. It 
occurs in Lapland, Manchuria, and Amur-land, and also in Arctic America, at Kotzebue 
Sound. 
Owing to the somewhat brittle nature of its fronds, L. spitiulosa can hardly rank as one 
of the best ferns for cultivation, especially as these are only annual, dying down in the 
autumn. But the botanical fern-lover may find some interest in cultivating this and allied 
