42 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



C. (Eucheilanthes) flexuosa — Eu-cheil-aiith'-es ; flex-u-o'-sa (flexuose, 

 or bending to and fro in opposite directions), Kunze. 

 A pretty, stove species, native of Groyaz, Brazil, with fronds 4in. to 

 6in. long and borne on tufted, naked stalks 2in. to 4in. long. These fronds 

 are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), and furnished with short- 

 stalked, spear-shaped leaflets, the lowest the largest. The leaflets are again 

 divided into flattish, blunt, stalkless segments of a membranous (parchment- 

 like) texture ; they are of a dull green colour on their upper surface and 

 slightly glandulous and pubescent. The small, roundish sori (spore masses) 

 are disposed six to eight on the margins of the largest segments. — Hooker., 

 Synopsis Filicum, p. 476. Nicholson., Dictionary of Gardening., i., p. 308. 



C. (Eucheilanthes) fragilis — Eu-cheil-anth'-es ; frag'-il-is (fragile), Hooker. 



A stove species, of larger dimensions than C. ^nysurensis, to which 

 species it is, however, closely related. It is a native of Moulmein, where it 

 is found growing on Hmestone rocks, and where it was discovered by the 

 Rev. C. S. Parish. Its fronds, 6in. to 12in. long and 2in. to 4in. broad, are 

 borne on strong, erect stalks of a woolly nature, and not more than lin. or 

 Sin. long ; they are somewhat spear-shaped and bipinnatifid (twice divided 

 half-way to the midrib). The numerous leaflets are lin. to Sin. long, set 

 lin. to Sin. apart, and cut down to the midrib into numerous narrow, blunt, 

 notched lobes of a papery texture. The small, roundish, and almost continuous 

 sori (spore masses) are covered by pale brown involucres of a parchment-Hke 

 texture. — Hooker, Filices Exotica^, t. 96. Beddome, Ferns of British 

 India, t. SS3. 



C. (Eucheilanthes) fragrans — Eu-cheil-anth'-es ; fra^-grans (fragrant), 

 Webb and Berthelot. 

 This pretty, evergreen, greenhouse species, of small dimensions, also known 

 under the names of C. odora and C. suaveolens, is of a very cosmopolitan 

 character. It is found wild in the South of France, Spain, Italy, Greece, 

 Turkey, Madeira, and the whole of the Mediterranean Islands ; also in 

 Afghanistan, Syria, and Algeria ; and we have it on the authority of Beddome 

 that it grows on the Himalayas, where it has been gathered at 5000ft. elevation. 

 Its delicately -cut little fronds are deliciously scented, and retain their agreeable 

 perfume for a very long time when in a dried state ; they are only Sin. to 



