BLECHNUM. 



fronds, of a uniform pale green colour, Ift. to IJft. long, and furnished 

 with long and narrow, somewhat sickle-shaped pinnaa (leaflets) of parchment- 

 like texture and minutely hairy. The sori (spore masses) form a continuous 

 line on each side of the midrib, and extend nearly to the point of the 

 leaflets. — Loive, Ferns British and Exotic^ iv., t. 41. 



B. gracile— grac'-il-e (slender). A variety of B. lonyifolium. 



B, (Eublechnum) hastatum — Eu-blech'-num ; has-ta'-tum (halbert- 

 shaped), Kaulfuss. 



A very distinct and pretty, greenhouse species, native of the temperate 

 parts of South America, producing from a short, stout, scaly stem its spear- 

 shaped fronds, Iffc. to IJft. long and 2in. to 4in. broad ; these are borne 

 on erect and nearly smooth stalks 4in. to 6in. long, and are furnished on 

 each side with from twenty to forty pinnas (leaflets) of a leathery texture. 

 The barren leaflets, lin. to IJin. long and Jin. broad, are somewhat sickle- 

 shaped and gradually narrowed to a point ; they are slightly auricled on 

 their lower side, whereas their upper side is heart-shaped and provided with 

 distinct, hastate (halbert- shaped) auricles. The fertile leaflets, of similar shape, 

 are narrower, and the sori (spore masses) are disposed half-way between 

 the midrib and the edge in a continuous or more or less interrupted line. 

 — Hooker^ Species Filicum, iii., p. 57. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 i., p. 194. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, iv., t. 3ob. 



B. (Eublechnum) laeYigatum— Eu-blech'-num ; la3-vig-a'-tum (smooth), 

 Cavanilles. 



This most interesting, greenhouse species, native of Port Jackson, New 

 South Wales, is, of all the known Blechnums, that in which the dimorphous 

 (two-formed) character of the fronds is most noticeable. In nearly all others 

 the difference between the barren and the fertile fronds is hardly perceptible, 

 whereas in this species they are totally different. Both kinds are borne 

 on pale-coloured stipites (stalks) 6in. to 9in. long, and are produced from 

 a stout, ascending stem clothed at the crown with large, spear-shaped scales 

 of a pale brown colour : the barren ones, 9in. to 15in. long and Gin. to 

 9in. broad, are composed of a large terminal leaflet and from fifteen to twenty 

 pairs of lateral ones of a coriaceous (leathery) texture, elliptical in shape. 



