A S P I D I UM dilatatum.
Great Crested Shield-fern.
CRYPTOGAMIA Filices.
Gen. Char. Fructifications scattered, in roundish
dots, not marginal. Involucrum umibilicated,
bursting almost all round.
Spec. Char. Frond bipinnate; leaflets deeply pinnatifid,
sharply cut, segments tipped with little spines. Common
stalks scaly. Involucrum circular.
S yn. Aspidium dilatatum. Sm. FI. Brit. 1125.
Polypodium dilatatum. Hoffin. Germ. v. 2. 7-
P. cristatum. Huds. 457. With. 778. Hull. 239.
Relh. 410. Sibth. 270. Abbot. 226. Bolt. Fil. 42,
t. 23.
P. n. 845. Muller. FI. Fridr. 193. t. 2. f . 4.
Filix mas ramosa, pinnulis dentatis. Rcdi Syn. 124,
Pluh. Phyt. t. 181. ƒ 2.
I n shady moist sandy places, or moist rocky woods, not very
unfrequent, producing seeds in July, and varying much in size.
The root is tuberous, scarcely creeping. Fronds from 1 to
3 feet high, broad and spreading, twice or alipost thrice pinnate,
their common and partial stalks all more or less scaly.
Their secondary leaflets are nearly opposite, pinnate, at their
base, pinnatifid upwards; the lobes small, oblong, deeply
and sharply serrated or cut, their incisions spinous, their ribs
less frequently zigzag than in the last. Dots of capsules numerous,
distinct, with a circular covering.