DICKSON I A. 



179 



D. (Eudicksonia) fibrosa— En-dick-so'-m-a ; fi-bro'-sa (fibrous), Colenso. 



Tliis fine, greenhouse species, native of New Zealand, and seldom met 

 with in collections, at first sight somewhat resembles the Australian and 

 Tasmanian D. antarctica. It is, however, essentially distinct, and is readily 

 distinguished from that species by its trunk, which is much stouter in proportion 

 to its height and covered all over with small, mry roots, which, instead of 

 descending straight from the crown as in other species, seem to cross 

 each other all over the surface of the trunk. It is also distinguished by its 

 tripinnate fronds, 3ft. to 4ft. long, borne on very short stalks, which are 

 densely covered with short, narrow scales of a bright brown colour. The 

 central leaflets, which are the longest, seldom exceed 9in. in leng-th, and have 

 their narrow, stalkless pinnules (leafits) and their oblong, toothed segments 

 turned upwards at the points, thus giving the whole plant a bristly and rigid 

 appearance. The sori (spore masses), disposed four to six to the largest 

 segments, are much smaller than those of D. antarctica. — Hooher, Sjjecies 

 Filicuw, i., p. 68, t. 23b. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 467. 



D. (Patania) flaccida— Pat-an'-i-a ; flac'-cid-a (weak, relaxed), Swartz. 



A stove species, with tripinnate fi-onds, native of Aneiteum and the New 

 Hebrides, and very closely related to the better-known D. rubiginosa, from which 

 it differs principally in being of a much brighter and more pleasing colour, 

 and in having its rachises (stalks of the leafy portion of the fi^ond) densely 

 woolly throughout. — Hooker, SjJecies Filicwn, i,, p. 77. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Gardening, i., p. 468. 



D. (Cibotium) glauca— Cib-o'-ti-um ; glau'-ca (glaucous). Smith. 



An arborescent, stove species, native of Oahu, Sandwich Islands, and one 

 of comparatively small dimensions. Its broadly-spear-shaped fi^onds, 1ft. to IJft. 

 long and 6in. to 9in. broad, are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), 

 their pinnules (leafits) being cut quite down to the rachis (stalk) in the lower 

 part into narrow-oblong and somewhat sickle-shaped lobes ; they are of a 

 somewhat leathery texture, dark green above and glaucous (bluish-green) beneath. 

 The sori (spore masses), disposed two to twelve to a lobe, are covered by a 

 distinctly two-valved involucre, the inner valve being oblong and narrower 

 than the outer one.— Hooker, Sjjecies Filicum, i., p. 82, t. 29a. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 468. 



N 2 



