GYMNOGRAMME. 



275 



Colony, Madeira, Abyssinia, Ceylon, Java, Japan, Hong-Kong, the Himalayas, 

 the Neilgherries, and the Pulney Hills, and, according to Beddome, common 

 about Ootacamund. Its fronds, of a soft, papery texture, 1ft. to IJffc. long, 

 and Gin. to lOin. broad, are produced from a decumbent rhizome (stem), and 

 borne on stalks 6in. to 12in. long and shghtl}^ scaly below. They are 

 bipinnatifid (twice divided half-way to the midrib), being furnished with 

 sessile (stalkless), spear-shaped leaflets Sin. to 5in. long, about lin. broad, 

 with blunt, undivided lobes reaching about half-way down. The narrow- 

 oblong and simple sori (spore masses) are sometimes very profuse. — Hooker^ 

 Species Filicum^ v., p. 138. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, i., t. 12. 

 Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, t. 49, 



G. (Ceropteris) triangularis — Ce-rop'-ter-is ; trl-ang-ul-a'-ris (triangular), 

 Kaulfuss. 



A very pretty, greenhouse species, of dwarf habit, commonly known as 

 the " Californian Grold Fern," and, according to Eaton, very common on 

 rocky hills nearly throughout California, extending northward to Oregon and 

 southward to Ecuador. Its elegant little fronds are deltoid (in shape of the 

 Greek delta. A), Sin. to 4in. each way, and borne on slender, dark chestnut- 

 brown, glossy stalks 6in. to 12in. long and produced in tufts. The lowest 

 leaflets are much longer than the next pair, and have their segments on the 

 lower side much elongated ; the other leaflets, which are spear-shaped and 

 deeply cleft into oblong, blunt lobes, decrease regularly upwards from the 

 second pair. The texture is somewhat leathery ; the upper surface is 

 smooth and of a dark green colour, while the under -side is densely coated 

 with a powder which varies from deep orange to sulphur-colour, and 

 occasionally even to wliite, and in which the black sori (spore masses) are 

 deeply imbedded on the veins. — Hooker, Species Filicum, v., p. 146. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 105. Eaton, Ferns of North 

 America, ii., t. 48. 



G. (Ceropteris) trifoliata — Ce-rop'-ter-is ; trif-ol-i-a'-ta (three-leaved), 

 Desvaux. 



This conspicuous and most remarkable, stove species, whose habitat 

 extends from Cuba southward to Peru and Brazil, bears no resemblance 

 whatever to any other member of the genus ; its mode of growth, the shape 



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