290 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENINa. 



with a minimTun temperature of (50°. Perhaps 

 further trials might stiU further lessen the number oi 

 the warm-house species, and prove that with a little 

 care most of the stove Trichomanes might be gradu- 

 ally inured to, and succeed better with, green-house 

 treatment. 



T. apiifolium is a very beautiful and rare species, 

 with finely-cut fronds somewhat resembling those of 

 T. maximum in general outline, but the habit is 

 more graceful and the texture more delicate ; the ia- 



lanceolate pinnate or pinnatifid fronds four to twelve 

 inches long by one and a half to two inches broad. 

 In texture these are membranaceous, the pinnas are 

 generally incurved and crisped, and the rachis is 

 more or less clothed with reddish-brown hairs. 

 This species is widely distributed throughout tror 

 pical America, and has also been found in western 

 tropical Africa. T. maciUntum is a near ally of 

 T. Bmcroflii, from which it is distinguished by its 

 more creeping rhizome and more divided fronds ; it 



TbICUOMANES RADICANS. 



volucres, too, are smaller and shorter, verging upon 

 those of the Hymenophyllum. In fully- developed 

 fronds, the strong erect fibrillose stipes measure 

 four or six inches in length, and the frond itself nine 

 to eighteen inches long by four to eight inches broad. 

 This species is now and then met with under the 

 nam.e of T. meifoUum, and is a native of the Philip- 

 pine Islands, Java, Polynesia, and Norfolk Island. 



T. Bancroftii is a distinct and pretty species from 

 the West Indian Islands and tropical America 

 southward to Brazil and Peru. It has firm-textured, 

 dark green, ovate-oblong fronds, from three to six 

 inches long by about an inch broad ; the rachis is 

 broadly winged and so is the stipe to the very base. 

 T. criapum has a strong, tomentose rhizome ; strong, 

 wiry, tomentose stipes two to six inches long, and 



is a native of Trinidad, Demerara, and the northern 

 provinces of Brazil, and succeeds almost equaUj' well 

 under stove or cool-house treatment. T. Prieurii is 

 a noble species with stout tufted stipes four to eight 

 inches long, and broadly-ovate, finely-cut fronds 

 twelve to eighteen inches in length by from six to 

 twelve inches in breadth ; it is a native of the "West 

 Indian Islands southward to Peru and Brazil. 

 T. spicatum is the only representative mentioned in 

 these pages of a small section, Feea — regarded as a 

 distinct genus by some authorities — in which the 

 sterile and the fertile fronds are difEerent, the latter 

 consisting of a narrow distichous spike. The^ dark 

 green sterile fronds measure from four to six inches 

 ia length by one to one and a half in breadth, and 

 are pinnatifid nearly to the rachis. 



