NEPHRODIUM. 
143 
posed as to get sadly beaten by the winds. The moun- 
tain sheep seem well content to browse upon it. It is 
rare in Britain, the only authentic localities for it being 
Westmoreland, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire. 
Its foreign homes are more abundant, extending 
through Asia Minor, the Morea, Sicily, and to California 
and the United States. 
In the fernery it requires the usual attention to drain- 
age, compost, and shade. 
17. Nephrodium cristatum. Crested Buckler- 
fern. 
Caudex short, stout, erect, scaly. Stem tufted, stout, chaffy. 
Fronds erect, oblong-lanceolate, glossy. Pinnae stalked, oblong, 
tapering. Sori abundant, in two rows on the leaflets. 
The caudex of the Crested Buckler-fern is thick and 
densely scaly, it grows in a branching manner, each 
branch producing a few fronds ; 
the stem is clothed with broad 
scattered brown scales, it oc- 
cupies nearly half the length 
of the frond ; the frond attains 
a height of from 1 to 1 ^ foot, 
is narrow, oblong, lanceolate 
in form, of a yellowish-green 
colour, and very erect. The 
pinnae are alternate, and 
closely placed on the upper 
part of the frond, distant and 
opposite on the lower part; 
the leaflets are ovate, and sharply serrated, attached to 
their stem by the whole width of their base. 
