LASTREA. 
109 
bipinnate fronds, rather more deeply divided than the fore¬ 
going ; it has whole-coloured blunt scales to the stipes, 
and a creeping caudex. 
Lastrea dilatata grows more spreading; has still broader 
or ovate lance-shaped fronds; the stipes is clothed with 
lance-shaped scales, which are darker-coloured in the 
centre than at the margins ; and the caudex is erect. This 
is a very variable plant. 
Lastrea cemula grows spreading, is evergreen, and has 
fronds smaller than the last; they are triangular, bipin¬ 
nate, and the segments have their edges curved back, so 
as to present a hollow upper surface; the scales of the 
stem are narrow, pointed, and jagged ; and the caudex is 
erect. 
The true Crested Buckler Fern, L. cristata, though not a 
very elegant plant, is of considerable interest on account 
of its rarity. It forms a thick creeping stem or root- 
stock, from which a limited number of narrow, very upright 
fronds arise early in May, and attain the average height of 
a couple of feet. The fronds are destroyed in autumn by 
the frosts. Their outline is linear-oblong; that is, from 
a narrow width at the base of the leafy portion—say two 
and a half or three inches in the case of fronds of the 
