BRITISH FERNS 
XXV 
LASTREA PSEUDO-MAS, var. CRISTATA (Moore) 
Cornwall. Before 1850. 
Ay tits 
Perhaps the grandest and most useful of British Ferns, and it is 
scarcely to the credit of Pteridologists that its history should still 
remain obscure ;—all that is known is that it was found in the 
parish of St. Austell in Cornwall, in the grounds of Caercleugh, 
and that the plant was at Kew in 1850. 
Dadds, of Ilfracombe, found in N. Devon a crested form of this 
species, differing however in character from this—and В. Moule of 
the same place, and whose statements are to be relied on, says 
that he found near Ilfracombe four plants apparently identical with 
the original. 
More seedlings have probably been raised from this variety 
than from any other British Fern, yet it is remarkable how rarely 
has there been any marked divergence :—angustata-cristata is the 
most remarkable, and was reared by Mr. Sim from a batch of 
small fry given to him by Mr. Wollaston—cristata elegans of Mr. 
Wollaston, cristata crispata of Mr. Ivery, and cristata intermedia 
were, until lately, the only other sports from it worthy of note,— 
but a new form of crispata cristata has lately been raised by Mr. 
Gott, of. Kendal, which promises to be a distinct and handsome 
variety. 

