Lastrea Spinulosa, Moore. 
Aspidium Spinulosum, Hooker and Arnott. 
Lophodium Spinosum, Newman. 
WITHERING’S FERN. 
Root — Radicles black and wiry : caudex stout. 
Frond — Narrow, oblong-lanceolate, pinnate; from one to 
two feet in length. 
Stipes — Nearly as long as the frond, slender and fragile, 
slightly covered with pale thin membranous scales, which 
are composed of cells of one size and substance. 
Pinnae — Pinnate, nearly opposite, triangular-lanceolate ; 
the inferior pinnules in the basal pinnae, especially the first 
pair, being much longer than the superior. 
Pinnules — Detached : in the first six pairs of pinnae the 
lower pinnules are longer than the upper ; the lobes dentate, 
and the serratures terminating in soft spines, the spinous 
serrature curving towards the apex of the pinnule. 
Venation — “ The veins of the pinnules, which in adult 
specimens are sunken on the upper side of the frond , are 
alternately branched, each system of branches entering a 
division of the pinnule, and the anterior branch bearing a 
circular cluster of capsules just within the sinus, which occurs 
between each two divisions.” . . . “ Owing to the con- 
stant position of the clusters on each pinnule, they form 
a regular double line, the midvein of the pinnule passing 
up the centre.” — Newman , p. 161, Third Edition. 
Fructification — The clusters are generally confined to 
the upper portion of the frond. Involucre with an entire 
margin. 
Habitat — Damp moist woods and boggy places, near 
Matlock and Ashbourne. 
The careful study of this plant will confirm the character by which it is 
distinguished from L. Dilatata in all its forms. L. Spinulosa inhabits more 
wet and boggy places in general, although not seldom gathered with L. Dila- 
tata : its habit is slender and light, yielding to the early frosts; its stature, 
when mature, far below that species; its scales always of a thin membrane, 
consisting of very minute, uniform elongated cells. The species preserves 
these characters under cultivation, and has been studied in Kent, Sussex, 
Hampshire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Cumberland, and North Wales. Varieties 
of L. Dilatata may resemble it : hut the scale and habit do not agree. 
4 
