HYMENOPHYLL UM. 



303 



2in. to Sin. long, lin, or less broad, somewhat egg- shaped, and abundantly 



produced from extremely slender rhizomes (prostrate stems) of a woolly 



nature, which delight in finding their way through a piece of Tree Fern or 



in lying on a bare piece of sandstone. They are 



thrice divided half-way to the midrib, which is 



winged in its upper part. The leaflets are often l^^ji'^^-z-^ 



much imbricated (overlapping), the lower ones 



being frequently fan-shaped. The sori (spore 



masses), two to twelve to a frond, are terminal ' ' ^ 



on the segments, and provided with a small invo- ■ -"^in 



lucre (covering) divided nearly down to the base, 

 with valves rounded and densely ciliated. The 

 pubescence on the fronds in a young state is i 

 silvery, but with age it assumes a brown or tawny 

 colour. Special care must be taken to prevent 

 wetting the foliage of this species. — Eooher^ Species 

 Filicum, i., p. 93. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gar- 



\, ^ Fig. 79. Frond of Hymenophyllum 



dening, ii., p. 165. Lowe, New and Rare Ferns, semginosum 

 Addenda, p. 181. ("^t- size). 



H. andinum — and'-in-um (from the Andes), Van den Bosch. 



A species, native of the Andes of Ecuador, closely allied to the better- 

 known II. 2^olya7ithos, from which it is readily distinguished by its elongated 

 and flaccid habit, as also by its fewer, more distant, and less-divided segments. 

 — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 60. 



H. asplenioides— as-ple'-ni-6-i'-des (Asplenium-like), Swartz. 



This charming little Fern, whose habitat extends from Cuba and Mexico 

 southward to Brazil, where it is found pendent from mossy rocks and trunks 

 of trees, is easily recognised by its peculiar habit of growth as also by the 

 extremely delicate nature of its narrow, shining fronds, produced from very 

 slender rhizomes (prostrate stems). These fronds are seldom more than 4in. 

 long, lin. broad, and have a singularly pretty, undulated appearance through 

 their being divided into somewhat obtuse lobes, down to within a short 

 distance of the midrib. The sori (spore masses), one to fom- to a frond, are 



