Plate 15. 
NEPHRODIUM (Lastbea) Filix-mas, Rich . 
Male Buckler-Fern. 
Nephrodium (Lastrea) Filix-mas; caudex short, stout, erect, densely paleace¬ 
ous with ovato-lanceolate, finely acuminated, generally tawny scales; sti- 
pites tufted, scaly; fronds 1^ to two and three feet or more long, broadly 
oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, firm-membranaceous, subbipinnate, approxi¬ 
mate, from a broad sessile base oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, deeply 
(nearly to the rachis) pinnatifid, or more or less, especially the inferior ones, 
again pinnate; segments or pinnules oblong-obtuse, sometimes forming a 
parallelogram, crenato-serrate towards the apex, or sometimes inciso-serrate; 
veins simple or forked; sori few on each segment, arranged in two series 
between the costa and the margin; involucres convex, firm, orbiculari-reni- 
form, with a deep sinus, quite smooth; rachises more or less setaceo-palea- 
ceous. 
Nephrodium Filix-mas. Rich. JDesv. Mem. Soc. Linn. v. 6. p. 260. Hook. 
Fit. Exot. t. 98. 
Aspidium Filix-mas. Sw. Syn. Fit, p. 55. Schk. Fil. p. 45. t. 44. Willd. Sp. 
PI. 5. p. 259. Sm. Engl. Hot. t. 1458 and t. 1949 {Asp. cristatum.) 
Engl. Flora , v. 4 . p. 275. Hook. and. Am. Brit. FI. ed. v. 8 .p. 584. 
Lastrea Filix-mas. Pr. Tent. Pterid. p. 76. Moore , Brit. Ferns , Nat. Print, 
t. 14, 15, 16, 17. 
Polypodium Filix-mas. Linn. Sp. Pl.p. 1551. Bolton , Brit. Ferns, p. 44. t. 24. 
Polystichum. Roth. Be Cand. —Dryopteris, Schott , Newman.— Lophodium, 
Newm. 
Yar. incisum. Moore, Metten. ; nearly bipinnate; segments or pinnules inciso- 
serrate (see our Plate 15, f. 3). Moore , l.c. t. 15. 
Aspidium depastum. Schk. Fil. p. 50. t. 51. 
Var. paleaceum. Moore, Metten.; caudex and base of the stipes copiously pa¬ 
leaceous, with very large scales, and generally of rich tawny or almost golden 
colour. Moore , l.c. t. 17. 
Aspidium paleaceum. Bon , Prodr. Nep. p. 4. 
Hab. One of the most common of Ferns, and at the same time one of the most 
beautiful, not only in the shape of the fronds, but in their mode of growth, 
forming a circle or crown at the summit of the stout, scaly caudex, thus 
adorning our woods, copses, and hedge-banks in almost every part of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland; ascending to a great height upon our 
mountains, and then become very dwarfish. 
It is no wonder that a plant of such very common occurrence 
as this is throughout Europe, growing at such different elevations, 
in such different soils and exposures, should present variations: 
