15 
LASTEEA EILIX-MAS. Peesl. 
(Male Fern or Common Buckler Fern.) 
SYNOKTTMES. 
PoLypoDiTJM PiLix-MAS. IinncBUSj Lightfootj Mndson, 
Withering. 
POLYSTICHTJM PiLIX-MAS. Eoth. 
Aspldium Filix-mas. Swartz, Smith, Mackay, Hooker and 
Arnott. 
Deyopteeis Filix-mas. Schott, Newman. 
Nepheodium Filix-mas. Hooker. 
DESCEIPTIOX. 
Caudex tufted with, strong dark brown rootlets; it length- 
ens every year, and I have seen it in old woods over four 
feet long. 
Feoxds lanceolate and pinnate ; the pinnse pinnatifid or 
j^innate wdth toothed pinnules, they vary in height from 
foirr inches to five feet, and are barren or fertile, the varieties 
being more frequently barren. They appear in April or 
May. 
Veins. Midvein waved, veinlets alternate and branched, 
bearing the nearly circular clusters of 
Spoee Cases which are completely covered with a kidney 
shaped involucre. 
