364 FERN FAMILY. 



4. GYMNO GRAMME. (Name meaning in Greek a naked line, from 

 the elongated fruit-clots.) The following- cult, species all have free veins, and 

 the under surface of the fronds covered with a yellow or whitish waxy powder. 

 G. triangularis, CALIFORNIA^ GOLD-FERX. Deserves more general cul- 

 tivation ; frond 4' -6' long, on slender and polished stalks, broadly 3- or rather 

 5-angled in outline, twice pinnate below* pinnate above; pinnre oblong-lanceo- 

 late, deeply pinnatifid into obtuse lobes. Smooth and green above, beneath 

 of a rich golden yellow, sometimes paler ; the fertile fronds at length nearly 

 covered with brownish lines of spore-cases. 



G. Slllphurea, of West Indies : fronds narrowly lanceolate in outline, 

 l-lhigh, 2' -3' wide, pinnate; pinna; ovate or ovate-oblong, lower ones 

 gradually smaller and very remote, pinnatifid into ovate obtuse toothed or rag- 

 ged lobes, the lower surface covered with sulphur-yellow powder. 



G. calomelanos, from Tropical America, the commonest Gold and Silver 

 ferns of the conservatories ; much like the last, but broader and larger, the lower 

 pinnae largest, and lobes mostly acute. The powder white, or in var. CH HY SO- 

 PH YLLA golden yellow. 



5. NOTHOL^NA. (Name from the Greek, signifying spurious ivod, the 

 woolly pubescence of some species concealing the marginal fruit-dots.) The 

 following cult, species arc small, 4' -8' high, ovate in outline, mostly tri- 



- pinnate; their ultimate divisions roundish-ovate or oblong, distinct, stalked, 

 and covered beneath with a waxy powder : stalk and branches dark brown 

 and polished. 



N. flavens, from Central America : powder bright yellow ; fruit-dots ex- 

 tending from the edge almost to the midrib, so that it might equally well be 

 considered a Gymnogramme. 



N. nivea. Also Central American, and very like the other; but the powder 

 snowy white, and the fruit-dots closer to the margin. 



6. ADIANTUM, MAIDEN-HAIR. (Name from the Greek, meaning 

 vnwtfrrl, the rain-drops not adhering to the fronds.) A large genus, most 

 abundant in warm climates. 



# Frond simply pinnate : exotic. 



A. macrophy-llum. Cult, in hot-houses from West Indies; pinnae 2-5 

 pairs and a terminal one, nearly sessile, deltoid-ovate, 2' -3' long, nearly half 

 as wide; fructification in long marginal rarely interrupted lines. Pinnae of 

 sterile fronds wider and somewhat crenately incised and toothed. 



* * Frond 2-4 times pinnate, ovate-lanceolate in general outline. 



A. Capillus-Veneris, VENUS-HAIR, so named from the shining capillary 

 branches of the rkachia ; native S., often in conservatories N. : twice pinnate or 

 thrice pinnate at the base, the long upper part simply pinna;e ; pinnules about 

 ' broad, on very slender stalks, sharply wedge-shaped at the base, rounded at 

 the top, or rhomboidal, commonly deeply lobed from the upper margin ; fruit- 

 dots one to each lobe; involucres kidney-shaped or transversely oblong. Plant 

 6' -12' high, often pendent from damp shaded rocks in the mouths of wells, 

 &c., in S. of Europe. 



A. -ffithiopieum, as commonly seen in hot-houses, is much like the last ; 

 but has smaller pinnules not so sharply wedge-shaped, often broader than long, 

 and less deeply lobed ; fruit-dots in deep sinuses of the upper margin ; involucres 

 kidney-shaped or crescent-shaped. 



A. CUneatum, from S. America, is a much larger plant, broadly triangu< 

 lar in outline, 3 4 times pinnate; pinnules smaller and very numerous, wedge- 

 shaped at the base, the upper edge deeply lobed ; fruit-dots as in the last. 



* * * Frond two-forked, ivith elongated simply pinnate divisions springing from 

 the upper side of the two recurved branches: midrib of the pinnules none: 

 veins forked from the base. 



A. pedatum, MAIDEN-HA i R. Native in shady woods ; whole plant smooth, 

 l-2 high; principal divisions 4' -10' lon^, V-l' wide; pinnule* very 



