174 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES FILBERT 



Hottentot Figs. With a few exceptions they are all natives 

 of South Africa; they are represented in Australia by M. 

 ccquilateraU, the fruit of which is eaten by the natives. 



Filbert. {See Hazel.) 



Filmy Ferns, a name applied to the tribe of ferns termed 

 Hymenophylleae, of which there are nearly 200 species described, 

 found in all regions conducive to fern life. As a tribe they 

 differ from other ferns by the extremely delicate and, in general, 

 thin pellucid texture of the fronds, which, in the different 

 species, vary much in form and size, from half an incli to a foot 

 and a half in length, entire, or variously lobed or multifid. 

 Tln^ee species are native of this country, but are rare, and are 

 becoming more so in consequence of the interest taken in them by 

 amateurs, who grow them in Wardian cases, in which they form 

 interesting objects. In 1864 the Kew collection consisted of 

 sixty exotic species of Hymeno'pliylliim and Triclwmanes. 



Finocchio, or Finicho. {Sec Fennel, Giant.) 

 • Fiorin Grass {Agrostis stolonifera), a wide-spreading, creep- 

 ing, bent grass, which, with A. alha, was highly extolled by the 

 late Dr. Eichardson as a winter fodder grass ; he brought the 

 subject so prominently before the Agricultural Society and the 

 public that he was caricatured mowing grass in winter with his 

 coat off and the snow on the ground. 



Fir Trees are typically represented by the well-known Xor- 

 way Spruce, Silver, and Balm of Gilead Firs, which, with the 

 recently-discovered allied species, form a part of the important 

 family ConifcKe. They were originally included under the genus 

 Pinus of Linnaeus, but modern botanists have considered it 

 proper to separate them as a distinct genus under the name of 

 Abies, which by some authorities also includes the Larch and 

 Cedar of Lebanon (which see). The species of Ahics are readily 

 distinguished from those of Pinus by having short linear leaves 

 separately attached, closely set on the branches, imbricate in 

 two or more distinct rows, while those of Pinus are long, narrow, 

 and needle-like, produced in fascicles of two, three, or five. 



During the present century many new species of Ahics have 



