202 THE FERN PARADISE. 



beyond description. The young fronds and their 

 stems are, when first starting from the root-stock, 

 ordinarily light green in colour. But as they 

 attain maturity they become the latter a dark 

 rich purple, and the former, in their leafly part, a 

 dark shining green. In luxuriant specimens the 

 stem of the frond is as long, often longer, than its 

 other part. But in small specimens found growing 

 on walls the stem is usually much shorter than 

 the rest of the frond. The latter, in its leafy part, 

 is triangular in shape ; and alternately placed on 

 opposite sides of its rachis or midrib are a num- 

 ber of triangular-shaped branches, gradually, 

 however, as they diminish in size and length 

 towards the point of the frond, becoming less and 

 less distinctly triangular, until the branches near 

 the extreme point of the top are mere leaflets, 

 bluntly club-shaped and indented, and finally 

 merging in the tip of the frond. The lowest 

 branches on each side of the frond, being distinctly 

 triangular, are again divided into triangular- 

 shaped leaflets, which follow the same arrange- 

 ment towards the point of the branch, as the 



