CHEILANTHES. 



47 



C. (Physapteris) lanuginosa — Phy-sap'-ter-is ; la-nu-gin-o'-sa (woolly), 

 Nuttall. 



This curious and pretty Fern, whicli thrives best under cool treatment, 

 is known under the appellations of C. lanosa of Moore and C. gracilis 

 of Riehl, and is essentially a plant of North America, where it is 

 popularly known as the " Woolly Lip Fern." Eaton says it is found in the 

 United States, from Illinois and Wisconsin to Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, 

 and Arizona. According to the same authority, this species was also collected 

 in British Columbia, at the base of the Rocky Mountains, where it grows in 

 dense tufts on dry and exjDosed rocks and chtFs. Its fronds, usually 4in. to 

 8in. long, but sometimes much smaller, and lin. to l^^in, broad, are produced 

 from a short- creeping rootstock, forming a matted mass, and borne on densely- 

 tufted, erect, wiry stalks Sin. to 4in. long, of a very dark chestnut- brown 

 — nearly black — colour, and scantily furnished with spreading, woolly hairs of 

 a light colour. These fronds are somewhat spear-shaped, and bipinnatifid (twice 

 divided half-way to the midrib), being furnished with leaflets disposed in 

 opposite pairs. The leaflets, of a somewhat leathery texture, are divided into 

 Hnear- oblong pinnules (leafits), which in their turn are cut down to the stalk 

 into numerous small, roundish or oblong segments having their margin 

 conspicuously incurved. The upper surface, of a grass-green colour, is scantily 

 furnished with whitish, webby hairs, while the lower side is heavily covered 

 with a coat of pale brown, matted wool, the fibres of which are flattened and 

 plainly articulated. The copious sori (spore masses), disposed around the 

 edges of the segments, are covered by involucres which can only be seen by 

 carefully removing the wool, and are then found to be almost continuous 

 round the lobule and formed of its scarcely-changed, herbaceous (soft, papery) 

 margin. — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 99. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, i., p. 308. Eaton, Ferns of North America, i., t. 6. 



C. (Physapteris) lendigera— Phy-sap'-ter-is ; len-dig'-er-a (maggot- 

 bearing), Swartz. 



This very handsome, stove species, usually found in gardens under the 

 name of C. frigida, is a native of Mexico, where it is found at elevations 

 varying between 6000ft. and 11,000ft. It is particularly adapted for growing 

 in small hanging baskets, as its fronds, produced from a short- creeping 



