19S 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDBNESTQ. 



are slender and smooth, four to six inches long, and 

 the lanceolate fronds six to twelve inches long, hy an 

 inch and a half to two inches broad. The texture is 

 less firm than that of the two preceding species ; the 

 ipeoific name comes from the fronds heing fre- ' 

 quently terminated hy a long entire point. 



D. media, of which there are numerous forms, both 

 wild and of garden origin, is found in the Poly- 

 nesian Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. It is 

 very closely allied to the last species, of which it 

 is perhaps merely a Tariety. 



pale gxeen, firm-textured fronds, rather less than a 

 foot in length, contrasting markedly with the wiry, 

 polished blackish stipes, the bases of which are 

 clothed with fine wooUy reddish-brown scales. 



P. atropurpurea has glaucous, somewhat leathery 

 fronds, varying both in cutting and outUne. In size 

 they range from four to twelve inches in length by 

 two to six inches in breadth; sometimes they are 

 simply pinnate, at other times the smooth pinnae are 

 divided into several pinnules. This ranges from 

 sub-arctic Korth America to the Andes of llecoya. 



DOODIA CAUDATA. 



The Pellseas. — In general aspect the JPellwas 

 closely resemble the dieilanthes ; the habit of growth 

 is the same in both, but the quite continuous invo- 

 lucre, formed of the more or less changed edge of 

 the frond, renders any Felltea easy enough to dis- 

 tinguish when in fruit from Cheilanthes. The geo- 

 graphical distribution is somewhat alike in both 

 genera; the species occur in both northern and 

 southern hemispheres, many extending into the 

 tropics. Probably hardly more' than a dozen of the 

 upwards of fifty species known to science, exist at 

 the present time under cultivation in this country. 

 The glaucous tints of several are especially pleasing, 

 and as they require but little space and — those which 

 are described below at any rate — succeed in a cool 

 house, there arc few of the smaller- growing ferns 

 more desirable. 



P. Alabamcnsis, a native of Alabama, Georgia, and 

 Tennessee, has ovate-lanceolate, twice or thrice-cut. 



where it has been found at elevations of 8,000 to 

 10,000 feet above sea-level. 



P. consoirina is a strong-growing species, with 

 strong, erect, naked, dark brown polished stipes, and 

 glabrous, leathery, divided fronds six to twelve 

 inches long by four to nine inches broad. It is a 

 native of both North and South Africa, and the 

 Mascarene Islands. 



P. cordata. — The polished straw-coloured stipes of 

 this species form a striking contrast to the heart- 

 shaped segments of the glaucous, firm-textured 

 fronds. The habit is erect, and the plant attains the 

 height of a foot or more. It occurs from Mexico 

 and Arizona southward along the Andes to Peru. 

 The variety ^CTMosa is of a rather pendulous habit 

 of growth, and is better suited than the type for 

 cultivation in hanging baskets. 



P. hastata has wiry, erect, dark chestnut-brown 

 stipes, and twice or thrice-cut fronds, sometimes aa 



