104 THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



P. athyrioides — ath-yr-i-o-i'-des (Athyrium-like), Hooker. 



A greenhouse species, of small dimensions, native of Peru, with fronds 

 Sin. to 12in. long, lin. to 2in. broad, borne on firm, wiry stalks 2in. to Sin. 

 long and slightly hairy. The narrow-spear-shaped leaflets, about Jin. broad, 

 are cut half-way down to the midrib into close, oblong lobes ; the lower 

 leaflets are very gradually reduced. All are of a somewhat leathery texture, 

 and the copious sori (spore masses) are oblong. — Hooker^ Species Filicum, 

 iv., p. 224, t. 277b. 



P. attenuatum — at-ten-ii-a'-tum (attenuated). A synonym of P. Brownii. 



P. (Phlebodium) aureum — Phleb-o'-di-um ; au'-re-um (golden), Linnceus. 



This deservedly popular species, which thrives equally well under either 

 greenhouse or stove treatment, possesses a very wide range of habitat, being 

 common in the West Indies, in South America as far as Brazil, and even 

 being reported by Dr. Mueller from Australia. According to Lowe, it was 

 introduced into England in the year 1742, and received at the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, in 1809. Eaton, in his exhaustive work on " Ferns of North America," 

 says that JP. aureum is epiphytic on trees, eispecially on the Palmetto in the 

 Peninsula of Florida. Referring to its discovery, that writer states (vol. i., 

 p. 119) : "It was discovered long ago in the West Indies, and received from 

 the ante-Linna;an botanists a variety of names. Plumier figured it at 

 Plate 76 of his magnificent folio ' Traite des B'ougeres de I'Amdrique ' 

 (published in 1705), and named it Polypodlum majus aureum. He says : 

 ' Ce Polypode a la racine grosse environ d'un pouce, et longue bien souvent 

 d'un pied, ronde, noileuse, rameuse, charnue, verdastre en dedans, d'un gout 

 astringent, et toule couverte de petites ^cailles dorees.' (The root of this 

 Polypody is about lin. thick and very often 1ft. long, round, knotty, 

 branching, fleshy, greenish inside, of an astringent taste, and completely 

 covered with small, golden scales.)" 



P. aureum is a strong-growing Fern, strikingly bold in habit (Fig. 35), 

 and, owing to the glaucous tint of its massive foliage, conspicuous. In very 

 young plants the fronds are simple or three-lobed, but in fully-developed 

 specimens they are 3ft. to 5ft. long and 9in. to 18in. broad, and are composed 

 of a long, narrow-spear-shaped terminal leaflet, and of a variable number — ■ 



