58 



STOVE FERNS. 



are lance-shaped and pinnate, and, when well grown, a foot 

 or more in length. This deserves its designation of a very 

 remarkable Fern from the fact that the pinnae, or leaflets, 

 are covered thickly with narrow fringed scales of a light 

 hoary colour. These feathery scales give the plant a very 

 distinct and beautiful appearance, so much so that anybody 

 may distinguish it amongst a numerous collection many yards 

 off. It will bear a lower temperature than most other stove 

 Ferns. The Adiantum macrophyllum was quite killed in the 

 same house in which this same Goniophlebium is quite healthy 

 and uninjured. This is a remarkable fact, that some plants 

 from hot regions bear more cold than others ; and so, no 

 doubt, many Ferns from warm climates have a constitution 

 more hardy than we are aware of. This Fern we have in- 

 creased, though slowly, by dividing the white slow-creeping 

 rootstock. This is known in many gardens as Lepicystis. 



Gr. VACCINIIFCLIUM (Bilberry-leaved). This is another of 

 those very small-fronded creeping kinds, which show them- 

 selves to most advantage when creeping over an old stem. It 

 is a native of the forests of tropical America. The sterile 

 fronds are oval, not more than an inch in length ; but the fertile 

 fronds, which are rather rarely developed, are a little longer 

 and narrower. 



G-. VEREUCOSUM (Warted). - This Fern was imported from 

 Malacca, and is rather scarce. Its fronds are pinnate with 

 lanceolate pinnae. They are often 7 or even 8 feet in length, and 

 being too weak to support themselves they droop downwards 

 at once. The plant should, therefore, be grown either at the 

 top of a piece of rockwork, or, better still, in a suspended 

 basket. There is a swelling on the upper side of the frond 

 corresponding with the sorus below, whence the name. 



Those above mentioned are the most distinct and striking 

 kinds of GoniopJilebium ; but there are some few other kinds 

 which should not be passed over without mention, as Gr. col- 

 podes, G. dissimile, Gr. fraxinifolium, G. glaucum, G. latum, 



