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A S P I D I U M cristatum.
Lesser Crested Shield-fern.
CR YP TOG AMI A Filices.
G en. Char. Fructifications scattered, in roundish
dots, not ‘ marginal. Involucrurw umbilicated,
bursting almost all round.
S pec. Char. Frond nearly bipinnate; leaflets ovate,
obtuse, with shallow lateral serratures and sharp
little terminal teeth. Common stalk scaly. In-
volucrum nearly circular.
Syn. Aspidium1 cristatum. Swartz. Fit. 52.
Polypodium cristatum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1551.
P. Callipteris. Ehrh. Crypt. 53.
G a t h e r e d in hedge rows, on Apse heath and near Ryde,
in the isle of Wight, by the Rev. G. R. Leathes. We have a
specimen gathered in 1806 by the Rev. R. B. Francis near
Holt, Norfolk, and have heard of others from Scotland, so
that this species can no longer be refused a place in the Flora
Britannica. Our specimens accord with original ones of Linnaeus
and Ehrhart, and are very distinct from A. dilatatum,
t. 1461, long mistaken for the P. cristatum- of Linnaeus.
Root tuberous, somewhat creeping. Fronds 1 or 2 feet
high,.ovato-lanceolate, acute, pinnate; the leaves either again
pinnate, or deeply pinnatifid ; leaflets rather alternate, ovate,
obtuse, veiny, with wide shallow serratures along their sides,
and several broad, sharp, scarcely spinous, little teeth at their
summits. The ribs are' somewhat zigzag. Dots of capsules
tawny, about the upper part of the frond, but on the lower
part of each leaflet or segment. Involucrum between kidneyshaped
and circular. The common stalk is very scaly in the
lower pari, and more or less so up to the summit. The fronds
when drying have a faint sweet scent, unlike the generality
of British ferns.