CHAPTER XIX, 



DRYMOGLOSSUM, Presl. 

 (Dry-mog-los'-sum.) 

 Wood Tongue Fern. 



HE name Drymoglossum is applied to a small genus of dwarf, 

 stove Ferns, of creeping habit and peculiar through the 

 dimorphous (two-formed) nature of the fronds of all the known 

 species. It is derived from drymos, a wood, and glossum, a 

 tongue, in allusion to the natural place of growth and to the 

 form of the fronds. Drymoglossum is a small division of the tribe Grammi- 

 tidece, and in Hooker and" Baker's " Synopsis Filicum " it forms Genus 58. 

 The sori (spore masses) are linear (long and very narrow) and disposed in a 

 central or sub-marginal line, which is sometimes interrupted. 



Culture. 



Drymoglossums are of easy culture in a mixture of two parts of leaf 

 mould, one of sphagnum, and one of peat, with a dash of silver sand ; and 

 we have it on the authority of Messrs. Birkenhead, of Sale, near Manchester, 

 who are most successful cultivators, that some species have been by them 

 grown luxuriantly on cork for several years. The slender rhizomes (prostrate 

 stems) firmly adhere to that material, especially when it is so situated as 

 to remain permanently moist. The plants are particularly fond of strong 

 light, but are adverse to moisture on their fronds. Propagation is usually 

 effected by the division of the rhizomes. 



