DICKSON I A. 



185 



darkish green in colour, are produced from a creeping rliizome (prostrate 

 stem) ; they are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib) and about 

 oft. long, with lower leaflets 1ft. to IJft. long and Gin. to 9in. broad. The 

 narrow leafits are cut quite to the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion) 

 throughout into triangular or oblong, pinnately-cleft segments that are rounded 

 at their extremity. The stalks, rachises, and under- surface of the fronds are 

 finely hairy. The sori (spore masses), which are remarkably small for a 

 Dicksonia, are disposed two to twelve to a segment, being placed at the 

 base of the notches and covered with a cup-shaped involucre. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, i., p. 29, t. 27a. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 i., p. 468. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, viii., t. 45. 



D. r. anthriscifolia — an-thris'-cif-oh-i-a (Anthriscus-leaved), Kaulfuss. 



A variety of the preceding species, from whicli it diflers through having 

 its segments larger and more divided, and also through the rachises and 

 under- surface of its fronds being nearly naked. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 i., p. 79, t. 27b. 



D. (Sitolobium) samoensis— Si-tol-oV-i-um ; sa-mo-en'-sis (from Samoa), 

 Baker. 



A stove species, closely resembling the better-known D. cuneata, with 

 which it agrees in size as also in habit and divisions of the fronds. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, p. 462. 



D. (Patania) SCabra— Pat-an'-i-a ; scab'-ra (rough), Wallich. 



A stove species, native of the Himalayas, Ceylon, and the Malayan 

 Peninsula, and usually found in gardens under the name of Sitolobium 

 strigosum. Its triangular or spear-shaped fronds, borne on stalks about 1ft. 

 long, rough and very hairy below, are produced from a wide- creeping- 

 rhizome (prostrate stem) ; they are bipinnate (twice divided to the midrib), 

 20in. to 30in. long, and 6in. to 2ft. broad. The lower leaflets, 4in. to Sin. 

 long and spear-shaped, have their pinnules (leafits) quite distinct, the lower 

 ones cut down nearly to the stalk into numerous pinnatifid segments of 

 a soft, papery texture and more or less hairy on their under- surface. The 

 sori (spore masses), covered by a cup-shaped involucre, are disposed two to 

 six to the lower segments. — Hooker, Species Filicum, i., p. 80, t. 27b. 



