ASPIDIUM CRISTATÜM. LESSER CRESTED
SHIELD-FERN.
ASPIDIUM cristatum ; frondibus subbipinnatis, pinnis altérais cordato-oblongis pinnâtifidis, laciniis
ovatis obtusis serratis, stipite paleaceo.
ASPIDIUM cristatum. Swartz Synop. Filic.p. 52. Smith Engl. Bot. t. 2125. Willd. Sp. PI. vol. 5.
p. 252. Nuttall PL Amer. ml. 2. p. 250. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2. ml. 5. p . 509.
POLYSTICHUM cristatum. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. ml. 2. n. 1426. Fl. Gall. Syn. p . 1 1 5 .
POLYPODIUM Callipteris. Ehrh. PI. Crypt, p. 53. Hoffm. Germ. ed. 2. ml. 2. P. III. p. 6.
NEPHRODIUM cristatum. Michaux Fl. Bor. Amer. ml. 2. p. 269.
POLYPODIUM cristatum. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1551. Act. Holm. An. 1787. p . 248. t. 9.
Class a nd Ord e r . CRYPTOGAMIA FILICES.
[Natural Ord er . FILICES (D iv . I. GYRATÆ), Juts., Decand., Brown.]
G e n . Ch a r . Sori subrotundi, sparsi. Indusium umbilicatum vel uno latere dehiseens. Willd.
G e n . Ch a r. Sori roundish, scattered. Indusium umbilicate or opening on one side.
Radix e fibris tomentosis nigro-fuscis, densissime inter-
textis.
F rondes ex eadem radice plurimæ, flavo-virides, pédales
ad bipedalém, lineari-lanceolatæ, erectæ,
rigidiusculæ, subbipinnatæ.
Stipe s viridis, inferne fusco-purpurea, facie superne ca-
naliculata, glabra, ulrinque paleacea, paleis ovatis,
acutis, membranaceis, pallide fuscis.
PlNNÆ frondibus sterilibus magis approximatoe, fertili-
bus distantes, omnibus alterna?, cordato-oblon^æ, j
magis minusve attenuatæ, sed apice obtusæ, medium
versus très uncias longæ, inferiores paulu-
lum breviores, superiores sensim decrescentes, et
in apicem breviter acuminatum desinentes.
Rachis lævis.
PlNNULÆ, vel pinnarum laciniæ, alternas, oblongo-ovatæ,
obtusæ, basi cum nervo flexuoso confluentes, gla-
bræ; inferiores sublobatæ, marginibus irregula-
riter obtuseque serratis, reliquæ marginibus in-
cisorserratis.
Fructificatio dorsalis, pinnis superioribus duplici
sene mtra marginem e t laciniæ costam disposita.
Sori subrotundi.
I ndusium membranaceum, pallide fuscum,fere albidum,
rotundato-reniforme, sinu affixum, marginibus li-
beris.
Capsul® numerosæ, exiguæ, sphæricæ, fuscescentes,
longe pedunculatæ, reticulata?,. annulo elastico,
articulato, incompleto cinctæ, transversim rum-
. pentes.
Semina rotunda, intense-fusca, tuberculata.
c composed or downy, blackish-brown, thickly interwoven
fibres.
F ronds many from the same root, yellow green, a foot
to two feet in length, between linear and lanceolate,
erect, rather rigid, nearly bipinnate.
St ipe s green, beneath dark purple, on the upper side
channelled, smooth, everywhere chaffy, the scales
ovate, acute, membranaceous, pale brown.
P in n je upon the sterile fronds most approximate, upon
the fertile ones more distant, all alternate,, cor-
dato-oblong, more or less attenuated, but obtuse
a t the apex, towards the middle three inches
long, the inferior ones somewhat shorter, the superior
ones gradually decreasing, and finishing in
a short, acuminated point.
Rachis smooth.
P in n u l e s, or the segments o f the pinna?, alternate,
oblongo-ovate, obtuse, at the base confluent with
the flexuose nerve, smooth; the inferior ones
somewhat lobed, at the margins irregularly and
obtusely serrated, the rest have the margins in-
ciso-serrate.
Fru ct ifica t io n dorsal, on the superior pinna? disposed
in a double series between the margin and
the nerve of the Segments.
Sori roundish.
I ndusium membranaceous, pale brown, almost white,
between round and reniform, fixed at the sinus,
the margins free.
Capsules numerous, small, spherical, brown, upon long
footstalks, reticulated, surrounded by an elastic,
articulated,incomplete ring, bursting transversely.
Seeds round, deen-brown, tuberculated.
^ ?ar8eri pinnule. Fig. 2. Capsuliferous pinnules. Fig. 3. Sorus with its indusium. Fig. 4, 5. Capsules
wnich the indusium has been removed. Fig. 6. A capsule that has discharged its seed. Fig. 7. Seed__all
more or less magnified.
Almost every British author has described for the Aspidium cristatum either a remarkable variety of, or a di-
knnw T CkGS bn -n- T ly allied. t0.’ -dspidiuin dilatatum. Nor are we aware indeed that the true A. cristatum was
Hnirü j r f a , P^ant ^ was discovered many years ago in wet and boggy parts of the heath between
Holt and Hempstead, Norfolk, by the Rev. R. B. Francis. Nearly at the same Ume, if not anteriorly, it was
aetected among alder bushes in bogs at Westleton, Suffolk, by my valued friend D. E. Davy, Esq. F.L.S. of
nl'mfI10Ve,i • ° i , Ih each of these situations it grows in tolerable abundance among coarse grass and marsh
Tn ™ f readJ.ly distinguished by its yellow green hue and by its broad pinnæ from its affinity A. Filix Mas.
In no other place o f Britain do we hear of its ever having been found. .
possess specimens from North America, and it is also a native of Sweden and Germany.
I ldual pl,ants from whence the subjoined figure and description were taken, were sent by the Rev. R. B.
Francis in the month of August 18 19 . . J