200 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



Chili, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Australia, Japan, 

 Malaysia, and the Philippine Islands. It is also said to occur from Northern 

 India to Ceylon, Bourbon, St. Helena, &c. From a wide- creeping, hairy 

 rhizome, its much-divided fronds, 1ft. to 4ft. long and 6in. to 2ft. broad, are 

 produced ; they are borne on firm, erect, naked or hairy stalks 1ft. to 2ft. 

 long, of a viscid or sticky nature. The lower leaflets, sometimes 2ft. long, 



are deltoid (in shape of the Greek delta. A), cut 

 into close, spear-shaped leafits and segments, with 

 notched or deeply-cleft, oblong ultimate lobes, the 

 edges of which are often more or less reflexed. 

 The fronds are of a soft, papery texture, with 

 their under-side slightly hairy, and the abundant 

 spore masses are disposed near the margin of the 

 lobes. — Hooker., Species Filicum, iv., p. 272. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iii., p. 192. 



P. p. rugUlOSUm — ru-gul-o'-sum (slightly 

 wrinkled), Lahillardiere. 

 The fi-onds of this variety are less divided 

 and of a more leathery texture than in the type, 

 and their rachis (stalk of the leafy portion) is of 

 a deep purplish-brown colour and densely viscid. 

 — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 312. 



P. (Phy mat odes) pustulatum— Phy-mat- 



o'-des ; pus-tul-ai'-tum (blistered), Forster. 

 A distinct and very useful, greenhouse species, 

 native of Australia and New Zealand, whence it 

 was introduced into the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 

 1826. Its singular fronds, produced in great 

 abundance from a copiously-branched, wide-creeping rhizome of a woody 

 nature and covered with narrow, dark brown scales, are borne on stalks lin. 

 to Sin. long. They vary in shape from entire, Sin. to 9in. long, Jin. to fin. 

 broad, and narrowed to both ends (Fig. 57), to Iffc. to l^ft. long. Sin. to 

 4in. broad, and cut down to a broadly-winged rachis throughout into 



Fig, 57. Entire Frond of Polypodium 

 pustulatum 



(nat. size). 



