VII. LASTREA. 'Ill 
the fresh caudex, and of the portions of leaf-stalk attached 
to it, which are fleshy and of a light greenish colour, 
should only be employed, and this should be renewed 
annually, and kept close from the air. This species is 
supposed to have been the pteris of Dioscorides, according 
to Dr. Royle, who states that several ferns were no doubt 
employed medicinally by the ancients. 
This very common Fern is ornamental when in vigorous 
health ; it may be planted about shady walks, in woods 
and wilderness scenery, and on the shady sides of rockwork. 
As a pot plant it requires abundance of space for its roots, 
a sandy loamy soil, and, beyond these, nothing more than 
ordinary attention in affording it a supply of water in 
summer, and plunging the pots in any loose dryish mate- 
rial in a sheltered situation out- doors for the winter. 
4. Lastrea rigid a, Presl Rigid Buckler Fern. 
Fronds lanceolate, broad at the base, bipinnate, glandular ; 
pinnules oblong, blunt, slightly pinnatifid, the segments 
broad rounded two to five toothed, the teeth not spinu- 
lose ; indusium persistent, fringed with glands. 
LASTREA BIGIDA, Presl : Bab. Man. 411 : Newm. 191. ASPIDIUM 
RIQIDUM, Swartz: Eng. Bot Supp. 2724: Hook, and Arn. Fl. 569: 
Franc. 40. ASPEDHJM FRAGRANS, Gray. POLTPODIUM FRAGBANS. 
Liniui'iis in part. POLYPOPIUM RIGIDOM, Hoffman. POLTSTICHUM 
8TKIGOSCH, Roth. 
The Rigid Buckler Fern has a decumbent caudex, pro- 
ducing long wiry roots, and numerous fronds, which 
are nearly or quite erect, from one to two feet high, their 
surface sprinkled with numerous minute spherical nearly 
sessile glands, which are much more conspicuous in the fresh 
than in the dried plant, and give it a slight but peculiar 
fragrance. The stipes is short, usually about a third of 
the height of the frond, but sometimes longer, densely 
clothed especially at the base where it is much thickened, 
