158 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



long, Sin. to 4in. broad, and borne on naked, shining stalks of a peculiar 

 purplish colour. The numerous loose leaflets are opposite, IJin. to Sin. long, 

 and cut down to a narrow wing into close, blunt lobes of a parchment-like 

 texture, light green in colour, and smooth on both sides. The sori are nearly 

 oblong. — Hooker., Synopsis Filicum, p. 505. 



IS 



. (Phymatodes) lanceolatum — Phy-mat-o'-des ; lan-ce-ol-a'-tum 

 (spear-shaped), Linnceus. 

 This distinct, stove species has a remarkably wide range of habitat, for it 



found in numerous places from the West Indies and Panama to Brazil ; in 



Juan Fernandez, the Sandwich and Mascarene 

 Islands, Zambesi Land, Cape Colony, St. 

 Helena, and the Guinea Coast ; while Bed- 

 dome gives it as a native of the Neilgherries, 

 and states that it is common in woods about 

 Ootacamund. Its wide-creeping rhizome, of a 

 wiry nature and covered with bright rusty- 

 brown scales, produce simple (undi\'ided) 

 fronds Sin. to 9in. long, Jin. to lin. broad, 

 and gradually narrowed to both ends ; these 

 are of a leathery texture and more or less 

 thickly coated on both sides, especially on 

 the under-one, with fine scales. The large, 

 immersed sori (spore masses) are placed 

 half-way between the midrib and the edge. 

 Fig. 46 is reduced from Col. Beddome's 

 " Ferns of Southern India," by the kind 

 permission • of the author. — Hooker., Species 

 Filicum, v., p. 56. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardeninq. iii., p. 190. Beddome, Ferns of 



Polypoaium lanceolatum "^ '■ 



(} rat. size). Southcm India, t. 181. 



Fig. 46. 



p. lanigerum — la-nig'-er-um (woolly), Eaton. 



A greenhouse species, of little decorative value, with flaccid, pendent 

 fronds, 6in. to 9in. long, cut down to the rachis into blunt, small leaflets of 



