194 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



P. Picoti— Pi-cot'-i (Picot's), Regel. 



This is a noble-looking, greenhouse Fern, of vigorous habit. Its 

 numerous arching, wavy, narrow-oblong, entire fronds, 3ft. or more in length 

 and 4in. to 6in, broad, are of a leathery texture, dark green and very shiny 

 above, and glaucous-green beneath. It is a native of Brazil, and was intro- 

 duced into Europe in 1886. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iv., p. 592. 



P. (Goniophlebium) piloselloides — Go-ni-oph-leb'-i-um ; pil-o-sel- 

 lo-i'-des (Pilosella-like), Linnaeus. 

 Among the various Polypods of diminutive size, this stove species 



(Fig. 56), which is common throughout Tropical America and the West 



Indies, is undoubtedly one of the most 

 attractive. It is the Lopholepis piloselloides 

 •of J. Smith, and has the appearance of a 

 miniature Niphobolus, its barren and fertile 

 fronds, articulated upon a slender, very wide- 

 creeping rhizome of a wiry nature, differing 

 from each other in both size and form. The 

 barren ones, lin. to Sin. long, Jin. to fin. 

 broad, and egg-shaped, are borne on short, 

 hairy stalks ; the fertile ones, narrower and 

 longer, are borne upon longer, more slender, 

 and equally hairy stalks. Both kinds are of 

 a leathery texture, pale green in colour, and 

 more or less scaly on both sides. The large, 

 bright yellow sori (spore masses) form a 



conspicuous row on each side of the midrib. — Hooker, Garden Ferns, t. 18. 



Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iii., p. 192. Lowe, Ferns British and 



Exotic, i., t. 32. 



Fig. 56. Portion of Creeping Rliizome (witii 

 Barren Fronds) of Polypodium piloseiioides 



(nearly nat. size). 



P. p. aurisetum — au-ri-se'-tum (having golden bristles), Raddi. 



This variety differs from the typical species in the shape of its barren 

 fronds, which are sometimes nearly round and scaly, and in its fertile ones 

 having their under- surface densely covered with soft hairs of a reddish 

 colour. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 340. 



