138 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



and borne on firm, erect stalks 4in. to 6in. long and woolly upwards, are 6in. 



to 18in. long, lin. to IJin. broad, and very gradually narrowed to the apex. 



They are of a leathery texture, naked on their upper surface, but densely 



clothed underneath with a woolly substance of a somewhat rusty-brown colour. 



The small, bright -coloured sori (spore masses) are disposed in straight diagonal 



rows from midrib to edge and occupy the central 

 portion of the fi'ond. Fig. 42 is reduced from Col. 

 Beddome's " Ferns of British India," by the kind 

 permission of the author. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 v., p. 49. Beddome, Ferns of British India, t. 162. 



P. (Phegopteris) formosum — Phe-gop'-ter-is ; 



for-mo'-sum (beautiful), Raddi. 



This very handsome, stove species is a native 



of Brazil. Its fronds, of a rich, dark shining green 



colour, are produced from an upright caudex (stem) 



densely covered with scales of a dark reddish-brown 



colour. They are IJft. to IJft. long, and are once 



divided to the midrib into narrow-spear-shaped 



leaflets, which are short-stalked and furnished with 



rounded pinnules (leafits). The stalks of the fronds 



are about lOin. long and scaly, especially near the base. The sori (spore 



masses) cover the whole under-side of the fronds. — Lowe, Ferns British and 



Exotic, ii., t. 53. 



Fig. 42. 



Polypodlum flocculosum 

 (much reduced). 



P. (Drynaria) Fortune! — Dryn-a'-rl-a ; For-tu'-ne-i (Fortune's), Kunze. 



A singular, greenhouse species, native of South China, where it is said 

 to be found both on the coast and in the interior. The fronds, which are 

 produced from a short-creeping rhizome of a woody nature, are of two 

 thoroughly distinct forms : the barren ones are seldom more than 2in. to Sin. 

 long and lin. to IJin. broad ; while the fertile ones are 1ft. to IJft. long, 

 4in. to 6in. broad, and cut down nearly or quite to the rachis into' spear- 

 shaped, bluntish lobes of a somewhat leathery texture and 2in. to 4in. long. 

 The sori (spore masses) are disposed in single rows between the main veins. 

 — Hooker, Species Filicum, v., p. 95. 



