i6o 
European Ferns. 
forms with a view to forming some opinion as to their specific distinctness. It is not difficult 
to cultivate, growing best in peat or in a peaty compost, care being taken to supply it 
with an unstinted amount of 
moisture. 
LASTREA DILATATA, 
Presl. 
This species has been much 
confounded with the preceding, 
nor is it always easy clearly to 
distinguish them. Mr. Moore 
gives as its distinguishing marks 
the colouring of the scales upon 
the stipes, which is dark in the 
centre and pale at the margins, 
and the indusia being fringed 
with glands ; in L. spinulosa the 
scales are pale throughout, and 
the indusia are devoid of glands. 
The last-named has also a creep- 
ing caudex, while in L. dilatata 
the caudex is erect or somewhat 
decumbent, but not creeping. It 
is a large, handsome plant, the 
fronds being in very luxuriant 
examples five feet in length, their 
average length being one or two 
feet, and from half a foot to a 
foot in breadth. The general 
outline of the fronds is ovate- 
lanceolate or somewhat deltoid ; 
they are more deeply cut, and 
of a brighter and darker green 
(lighter below) than those of 
L. spinulosa, and the pinnae are 
placed more closely together. 
Lastrea dilatata is a plant 
of wide European distribution, 
extending to Madeira, and ap- 
pearing in Canada and in the 
United States. It is found also 
in the Azores, and occurs in 
Kamtschatka. In Britain it is more common than L. spinulosa, being found in most 
counties, affecting shady situations, such as moist woods and hedge-banks; while in Ireland 
it is much more abundant, being widely spread throughout the country, while L. spinulosa 
FROND OF LASTREA dilatata (Vnr. Dumetorum.—Maculata, Deakin). 
(a) PINNA ; (/)) PINNULE. 
