DID YMO CHLMNA . 



193 



thoroughly well drained ; although 



fig. 42. Pinna of Didymochlasna lunulata 

 (i nat. size). 



broad, of a leathery texture, with 



YOL. II. 



they naturally grow in places that are 

 constantly moist, stagnancy at the roots 

 must be carefully avoided. The spores, 

 which are produced in abundance, germi- 

 nate freely, and produce young plants in 

 a remarkably short space of time. 



Species and Variety. 



D. lunulata — lu-nul-a'-ta (crescent- 

 shaped), Desvaux. 

 This very handsome, stove Fern, 

 extensively known in gardens also under 

 the name of D. truncatula, is a native 

 of Tropical America, from Cuba and 

 Guatemala to Peru and Brazil, also of 

 the Fiji and Malayan Islands, Mada- 

 gascar, &c. It is hardly arborescent 

 enough to be called a Tree Fern : 

 although it forms a trunk, this never 

 attains any great height under culti- 

 vation. It is very thick, and seldom 

 exceeds a few inches high, but it 

 abundantly produces its massive and 

 highly decorative fronds 4ft, to 6ft. 

 long. These fronds are borne on short 

 stalks, which, like the midrib of the 

 leaflets, are densely clothed with long, 

 brown, chafly scales ; they are bipinnate 

 (twice divided to the midrib) and broadly 

 spear-shaped. The leaflets (Fig. 42), Sin. 

 to lOin. long, are sessile (stalkless), and 

 furnished with more or less crescent- 

 shaped pinnules (leafits) fin. to lin. 

 their margin either smooth or slightly 







