DICKSON I A. 



177 



grower, D. culcita produces comparatively few roots ; these are of a tough, 

 wiry nature, and seem to delight in an open compost made of two parts peat 

 and one part chopped sphagnum, without any sand. The soil should at all 

 times be kept very moist. Although spores are produced in great abmidance, 

 we have no knowledge of any young plants having ever been artificially 

 raised in this country, and our personal endeavours in that direction have 

 never met with success. 



D. (Patania) CUneata — Pat-an'-i-a ; cun-e-a'-ta (wedge-shaped), HooJcer. 



A stove species, native of the Phihppine Islands, with ample fronds, 

 sub -deltoid and quadripinnatifid (in shape of the Greek delta. A, and four 

 times divided nearly to the midrib). The spear-shaped leaflets, 6in. to 12in. 

 long, are furnished with short- stalked, spear-shaped, and closely-set pinnules 

 (leafits), which in their turn are cut into oblong, stalkless, deeply-cleft segments, 

 wedge-shaped at the base, more cut away on the lower side, and of a 

 moderately firm texture. The abundant sori (spore masses) are disposed at 

 the base of the ultimate sinuses (notches), and covered by cup-shaped 

 involucres. — Hooker, Species Filicum, i., p. 80, t. 28g. 



D. (Dennstaedtia or Patania) daYallioides— Denn-stted'-ti-a; Pat -an^-i-a; 

 dav-al-li-o-i'-des (Davallia-like), R. Brown. 

 This greenhouse species, native of temperate as well as of tropical parts 

 of Austraha, is of a loose, elegant habit of growth, and one of the most 

 graceful of the genus. Its fronds, which are abundantly produced from thick, 

 underground rhizomes (prostrate stems), are 2ft. to 4ft. long and of a thinner 

 texture than those of most other species ; they are tripinnate (three times 

 divided to the midrib), and their lower leaflets, 6in. to 9in. long and 3in. to 

 4in. broad, are cut down quite to the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion) into 

 narrow, sharp-pointed pimiules (leafits), which are again divided into oblong 

 segments that are deeply pinnatifid (cleft nearly to the midrib) and slightly 

 hairy on their under- surface. The stalks and rachises are smooth and shining. 

 The sori (spore masses), covered by nearly round, cup-shaped involucres, are 

 disposed two to eight to a segment, and placed at the base of the sinuses 

 (notches). — Hooker, Sjjecies Filicum, i., p. 71. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, i., p. 467. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, viii., t. 41. 



VOL. 11. >j 



