170 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



pinnules, of a soft, papery texture and slightly hairy underneath, have oblong, 

 blunt segments with from two to four bluntish lobes on each side, which do 

 not reach half-way to the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion). The sori (spore 

 masses), covered by a cup-shaped involucre, are disposed two to eight to 

 a segment, and placed at the base of the sinuses (notches) between the lobes. 

 —Hooker, Species FiUcum, i., p. 75, t. 26b. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, i., p. 467. 



D. (Eudicksonia) antarctica— Eu-dick-so'-ni-a ; ant-arc'-tic-a (Antarctic), 

 Lahillardiere. 



This magnificent, greenhouse species, native of Eastern Austraha and 

 Tasmania, is a universal favourite. Though it is the commonest of all the 

 arborescent Ferns in cultivation, it always attracts special attention, and is 

 much admired on account of its trunk, which, although varying considerably 

 in thickness, is generally proportionate to its height. Although it is said 

 to attain the height of 35ft., the handsomest specimens that one usually meets 

 with measure from 18ft. to 20ft. high. Its massive fronds, 3ft. to 6ft. long, 

 2ft. to 3ft. broad in the centre, and borne on stalks barely 1ft. long, which in 

 their young state are densely covered with narrow, fibrous scales of a dark 

 purple-brown colour, are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), 

 spear-shaped, and, when fully developed, furnished with thirty to forty pairs 

 of fully-pinnate leaflets (Fig. 39). The central leaflets are 1ft. to IJft. long 

 and 4in. to 5in. broad ; their pinnules (leafits), about Jin. broad and of a leathery 

 texture, are sessile (stalkless), of a rich shining-green colour above, paler 

 beneath, and subdivided into oblong, deeply-cleft segments, the sori (spore 

 masses) being disposed six to ten on the lowest only. These sori, globose 

 in form and produced on the extremities of the smaller veins, are small but 

 numerous, and their indusium (covering) is of a leathery texture. A fine 

 specimen of this species is shown in the foreground of our View in the 

 Fernery of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens, Manchester. — Hooher, Species Filicum, 

 i., p. 66. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 467. Lowe, Ferns 

 British and Exotic, viii., t. 43. 



D. antarctica is a large and rapid grower, easily cultivated, and requiring 

 very little attention to produce its handsome fronds, which in some specimens 

 are of an upright and somewhat rigid habit, whereas in others they are 



