LO MARIA. 



379 



green colour. The fertile ones, borne on stalks 4in. to Sin. long, heave their 

 leaflets narrower and more distant ; these do not share the changes of colour 

 which alFect the sterile ones. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iii., p. 16. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 293. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, 

 iv., t. 52a. 



Although it may in many sheltered places be treated as a hardy Fern, 

 this species succeeds best and remains evergreen in the greenhouse. It is 

 extremely useful for edging in the rockery or for planting in groups, making 

 patches of a metallic or dark green colour on, say, the point of a rock, as it 

 is a plant which requires very little soil in which to grow. 



L. andina — and'-in-a (from the Andes), Baker. 



A greenhouse species, of small dimensions, native of the Andes of Peru, 

 with barren fronds somewhat spear-shaped, seldom more than 2in. long and 

 Jin. broad, produced from a very slender, wide-creeping rhizome (prostrate 

 stem), and borne on very slender stalks ^in. to lin. long ; their unequal- sided, 

 blunt leaflets are of a firm, parchment-like texture, naked on both surfaces, 

 and of a dark green colour. The fertile fronds are narrower and their leaflets 

 are more distant. — Hooker, Sy^iopsis Filicum, p. 482. 



L. aspera — as'-per-a (rough), Klotzsch. 



This greenhouse species, native of ChiH and Chiloe, is one of the very few 

 Lomarias known to be proliferous, the end of its fronds usually taking root 

 and producing new plants. It is of dwarf habit, with barren fronds Gin. long, 

 2in. broad, broadly spear-shaped, and very gradually narrowed below ; their 

 leaflets, of a leathery texture, are slightly enlarged at the base, auricled (eared) 

 on their upper side, closely set, and blunt at their extremity. The fertile 

 fronds are much smaller, about Sin. long by fin. broad, and borne on a longer 

 stem. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iii., p. 14, t. 144. 



L. attenuata — at-ten-u-a'-ta (attenuated), Willdenow. 



This distinct and handsome species, of easy cultivation, has a particularly 

 wide range of habitat, being found in America, from the West Indies and 

 Guatemala southward to Brazil and Juan Fernandez ; also in the Polynesian, 

 Norfolk, Mauritius, and Bourbon Islands, Fernando Po, and Cape Colony. 



