GLEICHENIA. 



219 



young growths is very peculiar, as until they are perfectly developed they are 

 completely clothed with large, brown, chaiFy scales. — Hooker^ SiJecies Filicum, 

 i,, p. 6, t. 6b. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 72. 



G. (Eugleichenia) dicarpa — Eu-glei-che'-ni-a ; dic-ar'-pa (two-fruited), 

 Broiv7i. 



An elegant and equally variable greenhouse species, native of Australia 

 and Tasmania, where it is very abundant, and also of the Isle of Pines and 

 of New Caledonia. It is distinguishable from all the other species belonging 

 to the same section by its graceful fronds, of variable length, being 

 repeatedly divided in two only, the leaflets being again pinnatifid (cleft nearly 

 to the midrib), and by their lobes or segments being small, round, deeply 

 pouched, pale green below, and of a dark shining green above. The sori 

 (spore masses) consist of two capsules, concealed in the almost slipper-shaped 

 lobes, and are mixed with rusty- coloured hairs which often extend to the 

 stalks. — Hooker, SjJecies Filicum, i., p. 3, t. Ic. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, ii., p. 72. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, viii., t. 48. 



In commerce there are several very handsome forms of this variable 

 species, the most distinct of which, usually accepted as species, are as follow : 



G. d. alpina — al-pi'-na (mountain-loving). Brown. 



A pretty, dwarf variety, from Tasmania and New Zealand, where it is 

 found on high mountains. It differs from the species in being smaller in 

 all its parts and of a more compact habit, and also in having the stalks 

 of its fronds and the young shoots thickly clothed with short wool of 

 a chaffy nature and of a rusty-brown colour. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 i., p. 2. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 72. 



G. d, hecistophylla — he-cis'-toph-yr-la (smallest-leaved), Allan Gun- 

 ningham. 



This most graceful and slender form, native of New Zealand, is of 

 erect habit and rapid growth. Its fronds, abundantly produced from wiry, 

 fast - creeping rhizomes (stems), are borne on dark - coloured stalks of 

 a smooth, shining nature. They are dichotomously divaricated (growing in 

 dupHcate, the one branch recedmg from the other, and each again producing 



