DICKSON I A. 



173 



D. (Cibotium) Barometz — Cib-o'-ti-um ; Bar'-om-etz (Barometz), Link. 



A handsome, greenhouse species, which, on account of the singular 

 appearance of its decumbent, massive, hairy rhizome (prostrate stem), is known 

 under the popular name of " Vegetable Lamb " ; it is a native of Assam 

 (being known in gardens as I), assamicum)^ China, and the Malayan Peninsula 

 and Islands. The handsome fronds, of a leathery texture and 6ft. to 8ft. 

 long, are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib) and triangular in shape. 

 The lower leaflets, 1ft. to 2ft. long and 6in. to 12in. broad, have their 

 pinnules (leafits) narrow, sharp-pointed, and cut down within a short distance 

 from the rachis (stalk) in their upper portion and sometimes quite down to it 

 at their base. Their upper surface is a dark, shining green, whereas their 

 underside is of a beautiful glaucous colour. The stalks and rachis are more 

 or less densely clothed throughout with long, light-brown hairs, and the sori 

 (spore masses), disposed two to twelve to a pinnule, are covered by a 

 distinctly two-valved involucre. — Hooker, Species Filicimi, i., p. 82. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 467. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, viii., 

 t. 36. Beddome, Ferns of British Lndia, t. 83. 



D. (Eudicksonia) Berteroana — Eu-dick-so'-m-a ; Ber-ter-o-a'-na 

 (Bertero's), Hooker. 

 This very handsome, greenhouse species, native of Juan Fernandez, 

 possesses a special interest, inasmuch as it is one of the very few plants 

 in cultivation which are indigenous to that remarkable island only. It is a 

 very robust-growing subject, its fronds and their stalks being thicker and 

 stouter than those of most other known Dicksonias. The trunk, which attains 

 about 15ft. in height, is also of a drier nature than that of most other 

 species of this genus, and from the dark brown hairy crown at its summit 

 a tuft of arching fronds spreads gracefully in all directions (see Plate). 

 These fronds are bipinnate (twice divided to the midrib), about 7ffc. long, 

 2ft. to 2jft. broad, and of a leathery texture. The long-spear-shaped leaflets, 

 Ift. to l|ft. long, are furnished with sessile pmnules (stalkless leafits), 

 sjDear- shaped, undulated at the margins, blunt at their extremity, and 

 overlapj^ing each other, or at least so closely set as to produce quite a massive 

 appearance. The fertile segments are deeply pinnatifid (cleft nearly to the 

 midrib), while the barren ones are nearly entne (undivided). The sori (spore 



