50 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



narrow-spear-shaped, dark brown scales, its fronds, 4in. to 12m. long and lin. 

 to 2in. broad, wliicli are borne on strong, erect, wiry, densely-downy stalks. 

 The numerous leaflets are deltoid (in form of the Greek delta, A), much 

 upcurled, incurved, and cut down to the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion) 

 below into narrow -oblong, notched or pinnatifid leafits. The numerous sori 

 (spore masses) are covered by roundish and slightly confluent involucres. — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 91. 



C. (Aleuritopteris) mexicana— Al-eu-ri-top'-ter-is ; mex-ic-a'-na (from 

 Mexico). Synonymous with C. farinosa. 



C. (Eucheilanthes) micromera — Eu-cheil-anth'-es ; mi-crom'-er-a (having 

 small parts). A variety of C. microphylla. 



C. (Eucheilanthes) microphylla— Eu-cheil-anth'-es ; mi-croph-yl'-la 

 (small-leaved), Sivartz. 

 This very elegant, deHcate-looking, greenhouse species is popularly known 

 in North America as " Plumier's Lip Fern." Eaton, in his excellent work on 

 " Ferns of North America," says (vol. ii., p. 84) that " on account of its 

 having been discovered nearly two centuries ago by the Rev. Charles Plumier, 

 a Franciscan, who visited the West Indies and published several magnificent 

 fohos on their botany, and was the first to notice this Fern, it is proper that 

 the English name assigned to it should commemorate his discovery." It has 

 a very extensive range of habitat as, according to Eaton, it is found on 

 ancient shell-heaps, Stratton Island, near the mouth of the St. John's River, 

 Florida ; also on the calcareous rocks of the Hot Springs of Arkansas ; and 

 extends through Mexico and the West Indies southwards to Venezuela and 

 Peru. Its fronds, produced from a slightly-creeping rhizome, and borne on 

 slender, wiry, flexuose (bending) stalks 2in. to 6in. long, of a dark chestnut- 

 brown colour and woolly below when young, are Sin. to 9in. long, 2in. to 

 Sin. broad, spear-shaped and bi- or tripinnatifid (three or four times divided 

 half-way to the midrib). The numerous leaflets are disposed in opposite pairs ; 

 the lowest, lin. to 2in. long, are divided into linear-oblong pinnules (leafits) 

 of a somewhat leathery texture and cut down to the stalk below. Both 

 surfaces are green and smooth. The roundish or elongated sori (spore masses) 

 are covered with narrow involucres of a pale colour. — Hooker, Species 



