y 9 [ 2 1 2 o ]
A S P l D I U M cristatum.
Lesser Crested Shield-fern.
CRYPTOGAMIA Filices.
G en. Char. Fructifications scattered, in roundish
dots, not marginal. Involucrum umbilicated,
bursting almost all round.
Spec. Char. Frond nearly bipinnate; leaflets ovate,
obtuse, crenate or pinnatifid, with sharp little terminal
teeth. Stalk scaly at the base. Involucrum
nearly circular.
Syn. Aspidium cristatum. Swartz. Fit. 52.
Polypodium cristatum. Linn. Sp. P L 1551.
P. Callipteris. Ehrh. Crypt. 53.
U a VING unfortunately been misled to figure a wrong plant
under this name in t. 1949, we find Iff necessary now to exhibit
the true one, gathered by the Rev, R. B. Francis in the
low boggy parts of the heath between Holt and Hempstead,
Norfolk, and to draw up our definition and description afresh.
Root tufted. Fronds pale green, 1 or 2 feet high, linear-
lanceolate, the fertile ones, as Mr. Francis observes, remarkably
erect, in which the leaves are more alternate than
in the barren ones. The leaves (or pinnce) are of moderate
length, very deeply pinnatifid, acute; their segments or
leaflets close, broad, obtuse, either crenate or slightly pinnatifid,
their ends and lobes bearing sharp, scarcely spinous,
little teeth. Ribs somewhat zigzag. Dots of capsules blackish
when fresh, with a white nearly circular involucrum, the
whole becoming taWny when dried. They are ranged equally
in single row's along each side of every fertile leaflet. Common
stalk scaly at its base chiefly.
The isle of Wight plant, t. 1949, is supposed to be only
a variety of A . Filix mas, t. 1458, and its sweet scent, which
still remains in the dried specimens, to be adventitious. Can
this be what Hudson mistook for Polypodium firagrans? See
the remark at the bottom of our p. 1019.