100 PLA.NTS OF BERMUDA. 



fourteen feet in circumference and five and a half feet in greatest 

 diameter at ten feet from the base. 



In March and April the male catkins appear and scatter dense 

 clouds of dust-like pollen in wasteful profusion ; soon afterwards 

 they fall off, forming brown heaps along the roads. The catkins of 

 the female tree are liable to be overlooked until the fruit has formed. 



Several species of Pine appear by former lists to have been in- 

 troduced into Bermuda, but they do not seem to have established 

 themselves. 



The only other plant of this class which claims notice is the Sago 

 Palm fCyeas revolutaj , which is frequently found in shrubberies ; the 

 rough naked trunk bears at its summit a cluster of graceful feather- 

 like leaves, tlie leaflets being slender, glossy and acute, in innumer- 

 able pairs ; the base of the petiole is spiny, and the cones are hidden 

 in the terminal, cushion-like bud, which continues its growth after 

 the scarlet seeds are matured. 



Class IV. — Ckyi'togamia. 



Flowerless plants, not reproduced by seeds, but by dust-like 

 spores. 



iS^at : Orel: 78. FlUcc^, 



Ferns ; stem or rhizome usually prostrate, creeping and scaly, 

 with fibrous roots ; leaves (fronds) rolled together with the point 

 inwards, before unfolding, veins forked ; spores microscopic, con- 

 tained in minute capsules v/hich are collected in variously formed 

 clusters (called sori) on the margin or under surface of the leaves, 

 sometimes on special fertile leaves. 



A. Polypodiacea3. — Capsules surroundtHl by an clastic ring, 



I. AUIANTUM. 



^ Sori distinct, ohhny, on the reflexcd apfx of the leaflets, which forms a 



covering memhrane. 



1. A. f7o«m/ wn (ilaidenhair) . Leaves spreading, ovate in outline, 

 about six inches long, twice or thrice pinnate ; petiole black, shin- 

 ing, alternately divided, and bearing the leaflets on the slender liair- 

 like divisions : segments memlji'anous, one-fourth to one-third of an 

 inch in diameter, oblicpiely wedge-shaped at the entire base, irregu- 

 larly lobed and serrate above, lobes reflexed and bearing the sori. 

 Habitat, banks, old walls aiid waysides througliout the Islands, 

 very common. 



The common Maidenliair fern (A. cajnllus- veneris), and a West 

 Indian species CA. trapcziforme) , the latter with very large trapezoid 

 leaflets borne on hair-like branchlots, are general in-door favourites. 



II. I'TERIS. 



Sori continuous along the margin of the leaflets, rvhich often forms a 

 membranous' covering . 



