258 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



G. lanata — la-na'-ta (woolly). A variety of G. ferruginea. 



G. (Selliguea) lanceolata — Sel-li'-gue-a ; lan-ce-ol-a'-ta (lanceolate or 

 spear-shaped), Hooker. 

 This species, which succeeds equally well under either cool or warm 

 treatment, is a native of Japan, China, Ceylon, the Fiji, Samoan, and 

 Mascarene Islands, Natal, the Himalayas, and the ISTeilgherries, where, according 

 to Beddome, it usually grows on trees. Its simple (undivided) fronds, 6in. 



to 12in. long and Jin, to fin. broad, are sharply 

 pointed at their summit, whereas their lower third 

 is gradually narrowed to the base or to a short 

 stalk ; they are produced from a wide-creeping 

 rhizome (prostrate stem) covered with small, very 

 narrow scales of a dull brown colour, are of a thick, 

 leathery, yet flaccid texture, and smooth on both 

 sides. The sori (spore masses) are disposed in 

 oblique lines, starting from the midrib, but falling 

 considerably short of the edge. Fig. 64 is re- 

 duced from Col. Beddome's " Ferns of Southern 

 India," by the kind permission of the author. — 

 Hooker Species Filicum, v., p. 156. Nicholson^ 

 Fig. 64. Gynwogrcvnme lanceolata Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 105. Beddome, 



(i nat. size). ' ' , ' 



Ferns of Southern India, t. 51. 



G. Lathamiee — La-tham'-i-a3 (Mrs. Latham's), Latham. 



A very handsome Fern, of garden origin, raised by Mr. W. B. Latham, 

 Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Birmingham, and supposed to be a hybrid 

 between G. decomposita and the West Indian G. schizophylla. Its general 

 aspect fully warrants the supposition, for while its fronds are as finely 

 divided as those of the latter species they are as broad as those of the former, 

 being 2ft. to 2|ft. long, and quadripinnate (four times divided to the midrib) ; 

 their leaflets, triangular in shape, are ascending and very short -stalked, pale 

 green on their upper surface, but whitish underneath. The habit is also 

 intermediate between the two species named, G. Lathamiw being much more 

 upright than G. schizophylla, while its chestnut-red stalks are slenderer than 

 those of G. decomposita.— Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardeniiig, ii., p. 105. 



