3G4 FERN FAMILY. 



4^ GYMlfOGBAMME. (Name meaning in Greek a naked line, from 

 ttie elongated fruit-dots.) Tlie following cult, species all have free veins, and 

 the under surface of the fronds covered with a yellow or whitish waxy powder. 

 G. triangul&ris, Californian Gold-fern. Deserves more general cul- 

 tivation ; frond 4' - 6' long, on slender and polished stalks, broadly 3- br'rathcr 

 5-angled in outline^ twice pinnate below, pinnate above ; pinnae oblong-lanceo- 

 late, deeply pinnatifid into obtuse lobes. Smooth and green above, beneath 

 uf a rich golden yellow, sometimes paler ; the fertile fronds at length nearly 

 covered with brownish lines of spore-cases. 



G. sulphtirea, of West Indies-: fronds narrowly lanceolate in outline, 

 ]°-l^°high, 2' -3' wide, pinnate; pinnae ovate or ovate-oblong, lower ones 

 gradually smaller and very remote, pinnatifid into ovate obtuse toothed or rag- 

 ged lobes, the lower surface covered with sulphUr-yellow powder. 



G. oalomelanos, from Tj opical America, the commonest Gold and Silver 

 ferns of the conservatories ; much like the last, but broader and larger, the lower 

 pinnas largest, and lobes mostly acute. The powder white, or in var. chryso- 

 PHifLLA golden yellow. 



5. UOTHOLiEN'A. (Name from the Greek, signifying spurious wool, the 

 woolly pubescence of some species concealing the marginal fniit-dots.) Th? 

 following cult, species are small, 4' -8' high, ovate in outline, mostly tri- 

 pinnate; their ultimate divisions roundish-ovate or oblong, distinct, stalked, 

 and covered beneath with a waxy powder : stalk and branches dark brown 

 and polished. 



N. flavens, from Central America : powder bright yellow ; fruit-dots ex- 

 tending from the edge almost to ihe midrib, so that it -might equally well be 

 eonsidered a Gymnogramme. 



N. nivea. Also Central American, and very like the other ; but the powder 

 snowy white, and the fruit-dots closer to the margin. 



6. ADIANTUM, MAIDEN-HAIR. (Name from the Greek, meaning 

 nnweUed, the rain-drops not adhering to the fronds.) A large genus, most 

 abundant in warm climates. 



» * Fro7id simpfy pinnate : exotic. 



A. macroph:^llum. Cult, in hot-houses from West Indies ; pinnae 2 -5 

 pairs and a terminal one, nearly ses.silej deltoid-ovate, 2' -3' long, nearly half 

 as wide ; fructification in long marginal rarely inteiTupted lines. PinnEe of 

 sterile fronds wider and somewhat crcnately incised and toothed. 



» * Frond 2-4 times pinnate, ovate-lanceolate in general outline. 



A. Capillus- Veneris, Venus-hair, so named from the shining capillaiy 

 branches of the rhachis; native S., often in conservatories N. : twice pinnate or 

 thrice pinnate at the base, the long upper part simply pinnate ; pinnules about 

 ^' broad, 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 

 6' -12' high,) often pendent from damp shaded rocks in the mouths of wells, 

 &c., in S. of Europe. 



• A. -ffithiopicum, as commonly seen in hot-houses, is much like the last ; 

 but has smaller pinnules not so sharply wedge-shaped, often broader than long, 

 and less deeply lobed ; fruit-dots in deep sinuses of the upper margin ; involucres 

 kidney-shaped or crescent-shaped. 



A. cuneiltuni, from S. America, is a much larger plant, broadly triangu- 

 lar in outline,- 3 -4 times pinnate ; pinimles smaller and very numerous, wedge- 

 shaped at the base, the upper edge deeply lobed ; fruit-dots as in the last. 



• » * Frond two-forked, with elongated simply pinnate divisions springing from 

 the upfier side of the two recurved brandies: midrib of the pinnides none: 

 , . . veins forked from the base. 



. A. pedSttum, Maiden-hair. Native in shady woods ; whole plant smooth, 

 l°-2o high; principal divisions 4' -10' long, I'-l^' wide; pinnules very 



