POLYPODIUM. 211 



clothed with silvery scales, they were divided quite as much as those of 

 P. V. elegantissimum, and they eventually became of a broader and more 

 triangular shape, their leafy portion measuring 9in. each way. The leaflets 

 are now so closely set as to be almost overlapping ; they are divided into 

 pinnules (leafits) Sin. to 4^in. long, and these are again cut into deeply-cleft, 

 undulated lobes of a most pleasing nature, a character which the plant has 

 developed only after the drawing (Fig. 60) had been made. The fronds are 

 borne on comparatively short, round stalks of a stiff, wiry nature, and 6in. to 

 9in. in length : these, in their young state, show a few white, chaffy scales, 

 similar to those seen in P. aureum. It is too soon to speculate on the 

 sporidiferous character of this hybrid in relation to either of its supposed 

 parents, as the plant has not yet produced fertile fronda. 



P. (Phymatodes) Schomburgkianum — Phy-mat-o'-des ; Schom- 

 burgk-i-a'-num (Schomburgk's), Kunze. 

 The undivided fronds of this stove species, native of Guiana and the 

 Amazon Yalley, are produced from a rhizome sometimes lin. thick and densely 

 clothed with spear-shaped scales ; they are borne on firm, upright stalks 

 lin. to 2in. long, and measure sometimes IJft. in length and 3in. in breadth 

 at their middle, being narrowed at both ends. Their texture is leathery, they 

 are naked on both sides, and their margin is so thickened that no distinct 

 main veins are apparent. The sori (spore masses), large and not immersed, 

 are disposed in single rows not far from the midrib. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 v., p. 68. 



P. (Phymatodes) Schraderi — Phy-mat-o'-des ; Schra'-der-i (Schrader's), 

 Mette?iius. 

 This is a small-growing species, of botanical interest only. Its somewhat 

 leathery fronds, seldom more than 5in. long, are gradually narrowed both 

 ways, and have large spore ma^es disposed in a single row on each side of, 

 and close to the midrib. It is a native of Cape Colony and Natal. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, v., p. 59. 



P. scolopendrioides — scol-op-en'-dri-o-i'-des (Scolopendrium-like). This 



is synonymous with P. trifurcatum. 



p 2 



