CYATHEA. 



73 



to be proliferous. The plants are therefore usually propagated from their 

 spores, which are abundantly produced and which germinate freely, making 

 very showy young plants in the course of a couple of seasons. 



Principal Species and Varieties. 



C. aculeata — ac-u-le-a'-ta (prickly). 



The plant generally met with in gardens under this name, for which 

 we cannot find any authority, is the same as Alsophila aculeata of J. Smith. 



C. aflinis — af-fi'-nis (related), Swartz. 



- A stove species, native of the Polynesian Islands. Its ample fronds are 

 tjipinnate (three times divided to the stalk of the leafy portion) and are 

 furnished with oblong- spear -shaped leaflets 1ft. to l^ft. long, bearing sessile 

 pinnules (stalkless leafits) of a rigid, somewhat leathery texture, and divided 

 again into strap- shaped segments barely ^in. broad. The upper surface of 

 the fronds is smooth, but the lower one is slightly scaly. The sori (spore 

 masses) are disposed along the costa (mid vein), and their firm, persistent 

 involucres have a pecuhar way of breaking up irregularly. — Hooker, Synopsis 

 Filicum, p. 27. 



C. albifrons — al'-bif-rons (white-fronded), Vieillard. 



This stove species, native of ISTew Caledonia, has a very peculiar 

 appearance, produced by the grey-coloured stalks of its ample fronds, which 

 are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), provided with leaflets 1ft. 

 to 1-Jft. long, bearing crowded, strap-shaped, and distinctly -stalked pinnules 

 (leafits) oin. to 4:in. long, about lin, broad, of a rigidly leathery texture, 

 and again divided into blunt, strap-shaped, distinctly -notched segments. Both 

 sides of the frond are smooth and the lower surface is quite white. The 

 moderately large sori (spore masses) are disposed nearer the edge than the 

 costa (midvein) ; they are covered by involucres of a membranous (parchment- 

 like) texture bursting irregularly. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 453. 



C. aneitense — an-ei-ten'-se (from the Island of Aneiteum), Hooker. 



A very distinct, greenhouse species, with a smooth trunk. The fronds, of 

 a somewhat parchment-like texture, are borne on strong stalks of a purple- 



