340 FERNS. 



which we call them Gold and Silver Ferns. G. chryso- 

 phyllum and G. sulpJiureum* both grow on these rocks 

 in profusion ; whose leaves on their inferior surfaces 

 are densely covered with the bright yellow dust, the 

 former rather of a richer, more golden hue, the latter 

 paler, as their specific names intimate. And scarcely 

 less abundant is that Silver Fern, perhaps still more 

 lovely than either, as it certainly is of nobler dimen- 

 sions, G. calomelanos, a most graceful and elegantly- 

 cut species, clad beneath with the purest white, to the 

 minutest divisions of the filagree fronds. Other spe- 

 cies, as G. trifoliatum and G. rufum, destitute of 

 powder, and though elegant, yet less so than these, 

 the latter, indeed, simply pinnate, mingle with them ; 

 and more rarely, examples of another genus, not less 

 celebrated for their gold and silver clothing, the 

 Nothochlcenas. Here are at least two species, N. nivea, 

 and N. trichomanoides ; the former one of the very 

 loveliest of the Silver Ferns, from the purity of the 

 whiteness, and from the circumstance that the dark 

 sori are collected into a marginal belt, thus setting off 

 the snowy area, instead of being scattered over the 

 surface, as in the Gymnogramma. The latter species 

 has long, pendulous fronds, simply pinnate, not unlike 

 our own Trichomanes Spleenwort in form, but well 

 silvered beneath ; the whole plant the more singular, 

 because clothed with a dense reddish down. 



* It is quite common, even in works of authority, to see names 

 ending in gramma treated as if they were feminine, as they appear 

 to be: this form, however, is neuter. 



