POLYPODIUM. 213 



P. sericeo-lanatum— se-ric'-e-o-la-na'-tum (silky-woolly), Hooker. 



A distinct-looking, stove species, native of the Andes of Columbia and 

 Ecuador, with flaccid, drooping fronds 1ft. to 2ft. long, IJin. to Sin. broad, 

 divided to the rachis into blunt, entire leaflets about lin. long, of a thick 

 texture, and densely matted on both sides with soft, silky hairs of a greyish 

 colour.. The spore masses are disposed in two long rows. — Hooker, Species 

 Filicum, iv., p. 221. 



P. (Niphobolus) serpens — Niph-ob'-ol-us ; ser'-pens (creeping), Forster. 



This greenhouse species, usually found in gardens under the name of 

 Niphobolus rupestris, is a native of Australia and New Zealand. It produces 

 from a wide-creeping rhizome clothed with scales of a rusty-brown colour its 

 small, round, barren fronds and its longer and narrower fertile ones, some- 

 times 6in. long and seldom more than ^in. broad. Both kinds are of a 

 leathery texture and have their under-surface densely coated with a whitish 

 substance of a woolly nature. The large and prominent sori (spore masses) 

 ultimately cover the whole of the upper part of the fertile fronds. P. serjyens 

 of Swartz is synonymous with P. Swartzii, a plant of smaller dimensions. — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, v., p. 46. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, i., t. 20. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iii., p. 193. 



P. (Goniophlebium) serratifolium — Go-ni-oph-leb'-i-um ; ser-ra-tif-ol'- 

 i-um (saw-toothed-leaved). A variety of P. suhauriculatum. 



P. serrulatum, — ser-rul-a'-tum (slightly saw-edged), Mettenius. 



A stove species, of botanical interest only, with fronds seldom exceeding 

 6in. in length. It has a range of habitat extending from the West Indies 

 and Mexico to Brazil, Peru, and Juan Fernandez ; it is also found in 

 Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Sandwich Islands. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 iv., p. 174. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iii., p. 193. 



P. (Grammitis) sessilifolium — Gram-mi'-tis ,• ses-'sil-if-oF-i-um (stalkless- 



leaved). Hooker. 



This stove species, native of Malaysia and the Philippine Islands, is of 



small dimensions. Its entire fronds, gradually narrowed below the point, 



bluntish, and with the edge slightly undulated, measure from Sin. to 6in. in 



