22 ROMANCE OF LOW LIFE AMONGST PLANTS. 



Several of the larger ferns have the stipes clad 

 with shining brown hairs, and this substance, stripped 

 from the stipes, has entered into commerce under the 

 name of Penaivar jambie, being used, not only for 

 stuffing cushions, but also as a styptic. The brief 

 description of this substance is to the effect that " it 

 is the shining moniliform silky hairs of the rhizome 



Fig. 3.— Hairs of the rhizome of Cibotltun Baroiiictz (J. Smith), from a specimen 

 cultivated in the Royal Gardens, Kevv (magnified about 30 diameters). (From 

 Pharmaceutical Journal.) 



and stipes of Cibotium Barometr;, and is produced in 

 Sumatra. It is the ' Scythian Lamb ' of the old 

 writers." ^ The fern makes a little stem of about one 

 foot in height, and fronds of five feet in length. The 

 down appears on the young undeveloped leaves, and 



* Pharmaceutical Journal, April, i860. 



