206 
ASPIDIACE.E. 
SO great is the confusion respecting ‘^the crested fern” that 1 
have determined to omit the name altogether. 
The roots of Lastrcea cristata are 
dark brown, numerous, and often matted 
together : the rhi^oma is very stout, and 
gradually increases in length, as the 
plant increases in age, occasionally emit- 
ting a lateral branch, which in due time 
also becomes branched, so that an old 
plant is sometimes possessed of a very 
I Tom ^ ^ JlW extensive and complicated rhizoma, 
^ which throws up fronds from all its ex- 
tremities. The base of the stem of each 
frond, instead of decaying with the 
frond, retains its sap and vigour for 
many years, and in time assumes so 
nearly the appearance of the rhizoma 
that it is difficult to distinguish between 
the two. The figure in the margin, al- 
though perhaps not very ornamental, 
gives a correct idea of a longitudinal 
section of a portion of rhizoma. It is 
drawn of the natural size, and consti- 
( ^ tutes but a small portion of the plant 
from which it was taken : the median 
wdiite space represents the rhizoma it- 
self, and the shorter ascending white 
spaces on either side represent the still 
vigorous bases of old stems, with the 
exception of a small branch of rhizoma 
^ bottom of the figure on the 
right hand side. In the specimen I se- 
lected for illustration the interstices be- 
tween the bases of the stems, represented 
by the darker portion of the figure, were 
filled with matted roots and turfy soil ; 
on removing which I found every part of the surface of the rhi- 
zoma, and also the bases of the fmnd-stems, covered with 
