CHAPTER XIII 



DIACALPE, Blume. 

 (Di-ac-ar-pe.) 



lACALPE, which seems more appropriately placed with the 

 Cyathea3 than with the Dichsoniece, and which in Hooker 

 and Baker's " Synopsis Fihcum " forms Genus 7, is monotypic 

 — that is to say, it is composed of a solitary species. Its 

 name is derived from dia, through, and caljjis, an urn, in 

 reference to the arrangement of the spore cases, which are disposed in 

 numerous and almost stalkless capsules. The chief peculiarity in this genus 

 is the hard, globose, entirely closed involucre (covering), which at last bursts 

 open irregularly, and is affixed to the sorus (spore mass) by a small point 

 of contact. 



D. aspidioides — as-pid-i-o-i'-des (Aspidium-like), Blume. 



This stove species is a native of the Malayan Islands, Sylhet, Assam, and 

 Ceylon. It is an easily grown plant, its requirements being similar to those 

 of the strong-growing Aspleniums, and it is very striking on account of the 

 rich dark green colour of its massive fronds (see Coloured Plate) of a graceful 

 habit. These are IJft. to 2ft. long, including the smooth and comparatively 

 slender stalks on which they are borne, and about Ift. broad ; they are 

 broadly ovate (egg-shaped), and of a sub-membranous (thin and more or less 

 transparent) texture. The leaflets, of the same shape as the leafy portion of 

 the frond itself, have their pinnules (leafits) of a peculiar oblong-wedge- 

 shape, lobed, and as the plant becomes older more or less decurrent (partly 



