LASTREA. 
105 
The Male Fern is found abundantly all oyer the country 
in shady situations ; the larger varieties are met with here 
and there in similar places; the other varieties are rare. 
It is one of the most easy of all Ferns to cultivate, and is 
very suitable for cool, shady rockwork, or for shady walks 
in woody scenery. 
Like its allies, this species has been at different times 
called Polypodium, or Aspidium, or Polystichum; but 
the specific name Filix-mas seems to have been generally 
preserved to it. 
Lastrea rigida, Presl. 
The Rigid Buckler Fern. (Plate IX. fig. 1.) 
This very elegant Fern is of moderate size, growing 
upright or spreading, and from one to two feet in height. 
It is one of the most elegantly divided of the Lastreas, 
the pinnules being all doubly and very evenly toothed. 
The fronds issue from the crown of a comparatively thick 
stem, and are annual in their duration, greeting the 
approach of summer with the fresh green of youth, and 
shrinking dead and shrivelled from the icy touch of winter. 
The fronds are narrowly triangular, rarely somewhat lan¬ 
ceolate ; and they are bipinnate, with narrow tapering 
