304 FERN FAMILY. 



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

 the elongated fruit-dots.) The following cult, species ail have free veins, and 

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



G. triangularis, CALIFORNIA* GOLD-FERN. Deserves more general cul- 

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

 6-angled in outline, twice pinnate below, pinnate above ; pinnae oblong-lanceo- 

 late, decp'.y 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 s] ore-cases. 



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

 1-1^ high, 2'-.'$' wide, pinnate; pinnae ovate or ovate-oblong, lower ones 

 gradually smaller and very remote, pinr.atifid into ovate obtuse toothed or rag- 

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



G. calomelanos, front Trop'cal America, the commonest Gold and Silver 

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

 pinna? largest, and lobes mostly acute. The powder white, or in var. CHKYSO- 

 PHYLLA golden yellow. 



5. NOTHOL^ENA. (Name from the Greek, signifying spjfious wool, the 

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

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

 pitmate ; their ultimate div.sions 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 fiom 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 o.her ; but the powder 

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



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

 mi a; t/(d, the rain-drops not adhering to ihe fruiuls.) A large genus, most 

 abundant in warm climaies. 



# Frond nimpfy pinnate : exotic. 



A. macroph^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 ; fruc ideation in long marginal raiv'.y interrupted lines. Pinnae of 

 sterile fronds wider and somewhat crenately incised and toothed. 



* * Frond 2-4 times pinnate, orate-hinceolnte in general online. 



A. Capillus-Vdneris, VENUS-HAIH, so named from the shining capillary 

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

 thrice pinna e ar the b.vsc, the long upper pan simply pinnate; pinnules about 

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

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

 do's one 10 each lobe; involucres kidney-shaped or iransversely oblong. Plant 

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

 '&c., in S of Europe. 



A. ^Ithidpicum, as commonly seen in hot-houses, is much like '.be la-;, ; 

 but lias smaller pinnules not so sharply wcdje-shaped, often broader than long, 

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

 kidney-shaped or crescent-shaped. 



A. Clineatum, 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 tn--frked, with elongated simply pinnate din'simis s/iringiny from 

 the tijtjier si(l<- of thf tirt> r>cnrr<<l ln'tinrfifs : inidi'i/i of the, pninnUs none: 

 r>/ns forkxl from tlte Ixtse. 



A. pedatum, MAIDKV-HAIK. Native in shady woods ; whole plant smooth, 

 l-2 high; principal divisions 4' -10' long, V-l' wide; pinnules very 



