492 FERN FAMILY. 



* * Frond 2-4 times pinnate, ovate-Jane eolate or triaiujular in general 



outline. 



A. Capillus-V^neris, Linn. Venus's Haiu, so named from the shining 

 capillary branches of the rhachis ; native Va. and Ky., S., often in conser- 

 vatories N.; twice pinnate or thrice pinnate at the base, the long iijiper 

 part simply pinnate ; piimules about .]' l)road, 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 (i'-12' high, 

 often pendent from damp shaded rocks in the mouths of wells, etc., in S. 

 of Eu. 



A. cuneatum, Langsd. & Flsch. S. Amer.; fronds broadly triangular in 

 outline, 3-4 times pinnate ; pinnules small and very numerous, wedge- 

 shaped at the base, the upper edge deeply lobed ; fruit dots in deep sinuses 

 of the upi^er margin. A. gracillimu.m, the commonest Maidenhair of 

 the florists, with decompound and very delicate fronds, as a garden form 

 of this species. 



A. tdnerum, Swartz. Fla. and S., and cult.; fronds deltoid, 3-4-pin- 

 nate, l°-;i" long and the stipes 1° high, the pinnules cuneate and rounded 

 or angled on the upper edge, sometimes deeply lobed, articulated to their 

 petioles. Original of the remarkable A. F.\ui.eyense of horticulturists 

 (from Farley Hill, Barbadoes), which has very large fronds (2^-3^^ long) 

 and very large drooping, fringed pinnules. 



7. PTERIS, BRAKE. (The ancient Greek name for Ferns, meaning 

 a u'inrj, from the feather-like fronds.) A large and widely distributed 

 genus. ^ Fnnul sitnjili/ piinutte ; pinnai undivided. 



. P. longif6lia, Linn. Cult, from warm regions, native in S. Fla.; 

 oblong-lanceolate in outline; pinnte numerous, linear and tapering from 

 a truncate or cordate base, the upper and lower ones gradually smaller. 



* * Frond pinnate, and with the loioer pairs of pinna; forked or again 



pinnate, the divisions and upper pinnae elomjated, simple. 



P. Crfetica, Linn. Cult, from warm climates, native in Fla.; l°-2° 

 high ; pinnaj 1-4 pairs, the upper ones slightly decurrent, lower ones cleft 

 almost to the base into 2-3 long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate divisions ; 

 sterile ones and tips of the narrower fertile ones finely and sharply ser- 

 rate. Var. albo-like\ta has a whitish stripe in the middle of each 

 division. 



P. serrulita, Linn. f. Cult, from China, but native in Ga. and Ala.; 

 1^-H° higli ; pinnai 3-8 pairs, ail but the lowest decurrent and forming a 

 wing 3" wide on the main rhachis ; lower pairs pinnately or pedately cut 

 into several narrow linear-acuminate divisions ; upper ones simple, sterile 

 ones spinulose-serrulate. 



* * * Fronds pinnate, and the numerous, primarij divisions pinnnte.hj cut 

 into many lobes {except sometimes the uppermost), the lowest ones 

 mostly jvith 1-3 elongated, similar J y-lobed hranehes on the lower side. 



P. quadriaurlta, Retz. Cult, from the tropics ; fronds l°-3° long, 6'-12' 

 wide, broadly ovate in outline ; lobes of primary divisions linear-oblong, 

 I'-V long, 3" wide, very numerous and often crowded, mostly rather 

 obtuse. Var. argykka has a band of white along the middle of the pri- 

 mary divisions ; to this is added a tinge of red in var. xufcoLon. 



P. tremula, R.Br. Australia and New Zealand ; fronds 2'^-4° long and 

 mostly broad, the tip with a few, close, undivided pinuie or lobes which 

 are decurrent at the base, some of the upper pinuie simply pinnate, but 



