82 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GAEDEmNG. 



find its way to' British gardens ; the precise date of 

 its introduction is unknown, but it was cultivated by 

 Lord Petre (who introduced it) prior to 1742, It is a 

 native of Florida and Mexico, southward to Brazil, 

 and it has also been found in Australia. "Whether in 

 tt juvenile or adult stage this ferzi is highly orna- 

 mental, presenting a distinct and striking aspect, and 

 being read£y and rapidly propagated from spores. 

 In small pots it comes in very useful for ordinary de- 

 corative purposes, the golden-yellow or rusty scales, 

 which densely clothe the thick wide-creeping rhizome, 

 contrasting markedly with the somewhat coriaceous, 

 glaucous-green fronds. Fully-developed plants have 

 stout, erect, naked, glossy stipes, one to two feet long, 

 and bold, handsome fronds, three to five feet long by 

 nine to eighteen inches broad. This is one of the 

 ferns that are grown largely to supply Covent Gar- 

 den, a pretty sure test of its value for "furnishing.'' 

 P. fraxinifolium, as might be expected from its 

 name, has pinnate fronds, resembling in outline the 

 leaf of an Ash ; the stout rhizome is clothed with de- 

 ciduous, spreading, dark brown, narrow scales ; the 

 firm, erect, naked stipe measures one to two feet in 

 length, and the frond itself (in old plants) two to four 

 feet long by a foot to a foot and a half broad. In 

 texture it resembles the last-named species, and in a 

 wild state occurs from Columbia to Brazil and Peru. 

 P. guatemalense somewhat resembles P. fraxini- 

 folium in general aspect and texture. It has naked 

 straw-coloured stipes, six inches to a foot in length, 

 and fronds two to three feet long by a foot or more 

 in breadth. It is a native of Guatemala. 



P. hastafolium owes its name to the sharp distinct 

 auricle which is found at each side at the base of the 

 blunt entire pinnae. The wiry, deciduously scaly, 

 tufted stipes are one or two inches long, and the 

 , fronds six to nine inches long by one and a half to 

 two inches broad. They are sHghtly leathery in 

 texture, the rachis is hairy, and the under surface of 

 the frond nearly naked. It is a native of the West 

 Indies. 



P. irioides has sessile or nearly sessile sub-coriaceous 

 undivided fi'onds, narrowed gradually to both ends. 

 They are naked on both surfaces, and the very small 

 and numerous sori are irregularly scattered over the 

 lower one. The rhizome is stout, and is clothed with 

 dark brown blunt scales. This species has a wide dis- 

 tribution, being found from North India and Chusan 

 to Fiji, the Isle of Pines, and New South Wales, the 

 Mascarene Islands, Zambesi-land, Natal, Angola, and 

 the Guinea coast. 



P. leiorhizon has a very thick rhizome, clothed with 

 ovate, adpressed peltate scales and erect stipes, one 

 to two feet long, surmounted by fronds, two to four 

 teet long by one to two feet broad ; the pinnaj are 

 narrowed at the base, and have entire edges. This 



is a native of Northern India, where it ascends tO' 

 elevations of 7,000 feet above sea-level. 



P. Imgissimmn is a handsome plant, with deeply 

 pinnatifid leathery fronds, one to four feet long by 

 six to twelve inches broad ; the firm glossy stipe fre- 

 quently measures three or four feet in length ; the 

 wide-creeping rhizome is clothed with ovate, brown, 

 adpressed scales. This makes a fine specimen plant, 

 either in a large pan or planted out amongst stones, 

 &c., in the stove fernery. It is a native of North 

 India, the Neilgherries, Malacca, the Phiiippiiies, and 

 Formosa. 



P. Meyeniantim belongs to the section Drynaria, 

 which is characterised by having 'either a separate 

 sterile frond, or the base of the ordinary one pinna- 

 tifid like a sessile Oak-leaf, brownish in colour and 

 rigid in texture. It has a very stout rhizome, 

 clothed with linear, crisped, bright reddish-brown, 

 narrow scales, half an inch in length ; the fronds are 

 two to three feet long and eight to twelve inches 

 broad. This very distinct and strikingly handsome 

 species is a native of the Philippines. 



P. neriifoUum is a near ally of P. guatemalense, 

 already described. It differs principally in the grey, 

 lance-shaped spreading scales of the stout rhizome, in 

 the sinuated terminal pinna, and in its more leathery 

 texture. It is found from the West Indies and 

 Mexico to Brazil and Peru. 



P. pectinaium is a graceful species, with a, stout 

 fibrillose rhizome, finely hairy or naked stipes, two 

 to six inches long, and deep green fronds of a thin, 

 papery texture, one to two feet long by two to six 

 inches broad, cut down to the rachis into numerous 

 close, horizontal, entire or slightly-toothed pinnae. 

 The rachis and both surfaces are either naked or 

 finely hairy, and the veinlets are pellucid. In a wild 

 state it is abundant from Mexico and the West 

 Indies to Peru and Brazil. 



P. pereuasmn has a wiry, wide-creeping rhizome, 

 with lanceolate, adpressed, deciduous scales; short, 

 firm, erect stipes; and very leathery, rigid, entire 

 fronds (gradually narrowed to both ends) from six to 

 twelve inches long by three-qiiarters of an inch to an 

 inch and a half broad ; the imder surface is clothed 

 with fine scattered scales, and the round sori are dis- 

 tinctly immersed. It is a native of the New World, 

 ranging from Columbia to Peru and Brazil. 



P. PhylUtidis, a species abundant from Florida to 

 South Brazil, is an ally of P. angustifoKum, the first 

 species described here. It has rigid, very leathery, 

 naked fronds, from one to three feet long by one to 

 four inches broad, with an acute point, and the lower 

 part very gradually narrowed, the margin being 

 entire or slightly sinuated. The stipes are scattered 

 or produced in small clusters, short or sometimes 

 altogether suppressed. 



