344 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



H. repens — re'-pens (creeping), Fresl. 



Although a somewhat coarse-growmg Fern, this stove species, native of 

 Tropical America, from the West Indies southward to Brazil and Peru, is 

 a robust, handsome plant, with fronds 3ft. to 4ft. long, quadripinnatifid (four 

 times divided nearly to the midrib), produced from a wide-creeping rhizome 



(prostrate stem), and borne on strong, upright 

 y stalks 1ft. to 2ft. long, straw-coloured, and 

 ^ more or less densely prickly. The lower 

 m leaflets (Fig. 88), 1ft. to 2ft. long and 6in. to 



12in. broad, are divided into spear-shaped 

 pinnules (leafits) 6in. long, lJin..^to 2in. broad, 

 with oblong-spear-shaped, blunt segments, that 

 are cut down nearly to the midrib into numer- 

 ous bluntish lobes ; they are of a soft, papery 

 texture, and the sori (spore masses), two to 

 six to a segment or lobe, are placed in the 

 sinuses (notches). — Hooher, Species Filicum, 

 ii., p. 64, t. 90c. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, ii., p. 170. Lowe, Ferns British 

 and Exotic, iv., t. 11. 



This species seeds so freely that, when 

 once obtained, it is almost impossible to lose 

 it ; indeed it becomes a troublesome weed, 

 covering every Fern-pan, to the exclusion of 

 all less robust species. 



H. spectabilis — spec-ta'-bil-is (beautiful). 



Fig. 88. Pinna of Hypoiepis repens Synonymous with Cheilanthes chloro- 



(i nat. size). 



phyiia. 



H. tenuifolia — ten-il-if-or-i-a (slender-fronded), Bernhardi. 



This very handsome and distinct species, of unusually striking habit, is 

 a robust-growing plant of a cheerful bright green colour ; on account of its 

 being found in a wild state in Java, the Polynesian Islands, Australia, Norfolk 

 Island, and New Zealand alike, it is of a very accommodating nature, thriving 



