264 THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



development. The very compact habit of this Fern, which retains its foliage 

 for a lengthened period, renders it a most useful decorative plant for the warm 

 conservatory and intermediate house. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 iv., p. 596. 



For several years this Fern had been considered barren, and, notwith- 

 standing repeated and numerous sowings by various cultivators in this country, 

 no seedlings had been raised. Its fertile character has, however, now been 

 decidedly proved, Mons. Arthur van den Heede, of Ghent, having succeeded 

 in raising a great number of seedlings, among which several departures or 

 variations from the type are noticed, some being indeed heavily crested, while 

 others have lost the stiiF, upright habit of the parent, and are of a much 

 more elegant outline ; but they all retain the dark glossy colour of the original 

 plant, both in their leafy portion and in the stalks. 



P. (Campteria) biaurita — Camp-te'-ri-a ; bi-au-ri'-ta (two-eared), Linnaeus. 

 This robust-growing, stove species, which differs from P. quadriaurita 

 principally in its leaflets being less deeply cleft, and in the bases of the 

 segments being connected by an arching wing, is a native of West Tropical 

 Africa, Bourbon, Mauritius, the Himalayas (where it is found up to 4000ft. 

 elevation), Ceylon, Java, and Tropical America, from the AVest Indies south- 

 wards to Brazil. Its ample fronds, borne on strong, upright, straw-coloured 

 stalks Ift. to 2ft. long, are composed of a terminal leaflet Gin. to 12in. long 

 and IJin. to 2in. broad, and of several lateral ones on each side, cut down 

 within Jin. of the rachis into numerous spreading, narrow-oblong lobes lin. 

 long and barely Jin. broad. The lowest pair of leaflets are usually once forked. 

 The texture of the fronds is somewhat leathery, and they are of a pale green 

 colour and naked on both sides. The spore masses extend along the whole 

 length of the lobes. — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 204. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, iii., p. 241. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, iii., 

 t. 50. Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, t. 44. 



P. Boivini— Boi-vi'-ni (Boivin's). Synonymous with Pellma Boivini. 



P. (Litobrochia) brasiliensis— Li-tob-roch'-i-a ; bras-il-i-en'-sis (Brazilian). 

 A variety of P. denticulata. 



