THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



GoNiOPHLEBiUM (Gro-ni-oph-leb'-i-um), Blume. In this important and 

 thoroughly distinct sub-genus the veins form ample, regular areolae (caAdties), 

 each with a single, distinct, free, included veinlet, the sori (spore masses) 

 being terminal on the latter, often in the costal cavity only, but sometimes 

 also in the second or even third row. A few of the species included here 

 have simple (undivided) fronds, e.g.., P. glaucophyllum ; others have their 

 fronds pinnatifid (divided half-way to the midrib), as exemplified in 

 P. Matthewsii; but in the majority of the species the fronds are distinctly 

 pinnate (once divided to the midrib), a character which is well shown ui 

 P. suhauriculatum. 



GoNioPTERis (Go-ni-op'-ter-is), Presl. This small sub-genus, belonging to 

 the Desmobryoid series (in which the fronds are adherent and continuous 

 with the rhizome), is composed of plants having the venation of Eunephrodium, 

 i.e., veins pinnate, with the lower veinlets of contiguous groups joining. Some 

 species, such as P. meniscioides, have their leaflets entire or slightly notched ; 

 but most of them have their leaflets distinctly notched or even cleft nearly 

 to the midrib, as in P. Ghiesbreghtii. A few species are proliferous (rooting 

 at the extremity of their fronds). 



Grammitis (Gram-mi'-tis), Hooker and Baker. A small section of the 

 sub-genus Eupolypodium, being distinguished specially by the oblong shape 

 of the spore masses, a character which is best illustrated in P. Deplanchei. 



NiPHOBOLUS (Mph-ob'-ol-us), Hooker and Baker. This is a small but 

 very interesting and distinct section of the sub-genus Campyloneuron. It is 

 composed of plants with entire fronds, the under- surface of which is clothed 

 with a substance of a woolly or cottony nature, in some cases, such as 

 P. Lingua, thin and adpressed, but in other instances much thicker, more 

 woolly, and looser, a character well shown in P. nummularioefolium. 



Phegopteris (Phe-gop'-ter-is), Mettenius. This is by far the most 

 important sub-genus contained in the Desmobryoid series (in which the fronds 

 are adherent and continuous with the axis or rhizome). The venation in 

 Phegopteris is the same as in Lastrea {Nephrodium), all the veins being free. 

 The outhne and the divided character of the fronds vary very much : in some 

 instances the leaflets are entire or lobed less than half-way to the midrib, 

 as in P. Carrii ; in other cases they are either cut more than half-way to the 

 midrib into close, regular, nearly entire lobes, as in P. ohtusilobum, or, as in 



