GLEICHENIA. 



223 



G. glauca — glau'-ca (bluisli-green). Synonymous with G. longissima. 



G. hecistophylla — he-cis'-topli-yF-la (smallest-leaved). This is a variety 

 of G. dicarpa. 



G. Hermanni — Her-man'-ni (Hermann's). A synonym of G. dichotoma. 



G. (Mertensia) hirta — Mer-ten'-si-a ; hir'-ta (hairy), Blume. 



A curious and very handsome, stove species, native of the Malayan 

 Islands. Its massive fronds, which are many times dichotomous (divided 

 into two), are formed of ascending, fiabellate (fan- shaped) branches furnished 

 with leaflets 7in. to 9in. long, standing at an angle of 30deg., very narrow, 

 gradually tapering, and cut nearly to the midrib into oblong-linear, blunt, 

 slightly-curved lobes with revolute margins ; their colour is dark green above, 

 very glaucous (bluish-green) below, the midvein being densely clothed with 

 spear-shaped scales of a rusty-brown colour, paler at the margin, and ciliated 

 or furnished with a hahy fringe. The sori (spore masses), composed of three 

 to five naked capsules, are disposed between the midvein and the margm. — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, i., p. 11. 



G. laevigata — la3-vig-a'-ta (smooth). Synonymous with G. fiagellaris. 



G. longipinnata — long-ip-in-na'-ta (having long pinnas or leaflets). This 

 name is applied to varieties of G. dicarpa and G. jmbescens. 



G. (Mertensia) longissima — Mer-ten'-si-a ; long-is'-sim-a (longest), 

 Blume. 



This remarkably robust-growing, greenhouse species, is also known as 

 G. Bancroftii, G. excelsa, G. gigatitea, G. glauca, and G. pinnata ; it is usually 

 given as a native of China and Japan, in which countries it is common. 

 Beddome, however, states that it is equally found in Assam, N^epaul, Bhotan, 

 Sikkim, Java, and Khasya ; while, according to Hooker, the same plant with 

 trifling modifications is distributed all over the Malayan Islands and Peninsula, 

 the Sandwich Islands, the West Indies, ISTew Granada, Mexico, and Guatemala. 

 We have it also on the authority of Oh. Curtis, Superintendent of the Govern- 

 ment Experimental Nurseries in Penang, that it occurs plentifully in that 

 Island, where its fronds attain extraordinary dimensions, but that it is seldom, 

 if ever, found there below 2000ft. elevation, and that it is only above that 



