144 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



into egg- shaped segments, each of which bears two to twelve spore masses 

 at the base of its teeth on the upper side of the central vein. — Hooker^ 

 Synopsis Filicum^ p. 91. Beddome^ Ferns of British India, t. 95. 



D. (Loxoscaphe) nigrescens— Lox-os'-caph-e ; nig-res'-cens (blackish), 

 Hooker. 



A stove species, of medium growth, somewhat resembling D. gibberosa, 

 but having pinnules (leafits) shorter and more divided, with flatter segments 

 and hairy rachises (stalks of the leafy portion of the fronds). It is a native 

 of Fernando Po, where it grows at an elevation of SOOOffc. — Hooker, Synopsis 

 Filicum, p. 101. 



D. (Leucostegia) nodosa— Leu-cos-teg'-i-a ; no-do'-sa (knotted). Hooker. 



This very strong-growing, greenhouse species, native of North Hindostan, 

 and ascending in Sikkim to 10,000ft. elevation, has fronds 2ft. to 4ft. long, 

 quadripinnate (four times divided to the midrib), borne on strong, upright 

 stalks 1ft. to 2ft. long and scaly below. The lower leaflets, Ift. to l^ft. long 

 and 6in. to 9in. broad, are cut into pinnules (leafits), which in their turn 

 are divided into segments cut down to the rachis (stalk) into small, rather 

 bluntly-toothed lobes. The sori (spore masses), one to four to a lobe, are 

 placed between the midvein and the margin. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 i., p. 157. Beddome, Ferns of British India, t. 93. 



D. (Leucostegia) novae-zelandiae— Leu-cos-teg'-i-a ; nov'-£e~ze-land'-i-a3 

 (from JSTew Zealand), Colenso. 

 This exceedingly beautiful, greenhouse Fern, native of New Zealand, is 

 more generally known under the name of Acrophorus hispidus. It almost 

 equals some of the Filmy Ferns in beauty, and should be extensively grown, 

 as it makes a very pretty object on the rockwork, in the fissures of which it 

 becomes quite at home. The fronds, 1ft. to IJft. long, 4in. to Sin. broad, 

 triangular, and tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), are produced 

 from a slender, creeping rhizome (prostrate stem) clothed with ferruginous 

 (rust- coloured) hairs, which are soft and jointed ; they are of a brownish- 

 green colour, glossy, of a somewhat leathery texture, and borne on firm, erect 

 stalks of a mahogany-brown colour, and from 4m. to Sin. long. The lower 



