CHAPTER XX, 



FADYEKIA, Hooker. 

 (Fad-yen^-i-a.) 



jST Hooker and Baker's " Synopsis Filicum " Fadyenia forms 

 Genus 47 ; it is dedicated to the memory of Dr. James 

 McFadyen, author of "A Flora of Jamaica," and is 

 composed of a solitary species, tke distinguishing characters 

 of which reside in its oblong sori (spore masses), disposed 

 in two series near the midrib and terminating the free veinlets, being- 

 covered by a large sub-reniform involucre (somewhat kidney-shaped covering) 

 attached by the centre, but free all round the edge. 



Culture. 



This eccentric-looking little Fern is so thoroughly distinct from any 

 other known species that no mistake as regards its classification can possibly 

 be made by anyone who has seen it once. It is usually considered 

 difficult to manage, yet it is free growing when kept under suitable 

 conditions ; these consist of heat, moisture, and permanent shade. It 

 succeeds well in a compost of three parts fibrous peat and one part sand, 

 with abundant moisture at the roots. Under such treatment it not only 

 flourishes, but rapidly spreads in all directions, through the rooting of the 

 proliferous extremities of its barren fronds where the young plants thus 

 produced (and without being disconnected from the parent plant) in turn 

 yield subjects having all the characters of a fully -developed specimen. 



