LOMARIA. 



383 



though of similar shape, and are furnished with narrow leaflets which show 

 an involucre (covering) of a parchment-like texture and sometimes fringed, — 

 Hooker^ Species Filicum, ii., p. 27 ; Garden Ferns, t. 52. Nicholson, 

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

 iv., t. 62. 



There are in gardens several acknowledged varieties of L. Boryana, the 

 most distinct of which are the foUowmg : 



L. B. cycadoides — cyc-ad-o-i'-des (Cycas-like), Moore. 



A greenhouse variety, native of South-east Africa, whence it was intro- 

 duced in 1875. Its barren fronds, 1ft. to 2ft. long, are produced from a stout, 

 massive trunk, furnished about the crown and at the base of the stalks with 

 a profusion of long, soft, black scales ; their broadly spear-shaped leaflets are 

 blunt at the extremity, of a deep gi-een colour and leathery texture ; the 

 fertile ones, narrowly spear-shaj)ed and contracted, are recurved at their 

 extremity. The fertile fronds difl'er only in their leaflets being contracted, 

 and thus appearing set farther apart. This is the same plant as L. zanfiioefolia 

 of gardens and L. zamioides of Gardner. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 ii., p. 293. 



L. B. Dalgairnsiae — Dal-gairn'-si-£e (Miss Dalgairns'), Moore. 



A variety introduced into European gardens from South Africa in 

 1877. Its trunk, of a blackish colour, is shaggy at the top with long, dark 

 brown scales. The barren fronds are distinctly pinnate (once divided to the 

 midrib), spear-shaped, and furnished with spear-shaped, sharp-pointed leaflets, 

 dark green above and paler beneath. The fertile fronds, of similar shape, 

 are of very upright, rigid habit, and have their leaflets conspicuously 

 contracted. For the accompanying Plate we are indebted to Mr. William 

 Bull. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 293. 



L. B. robusta — ro-bus'-ta (strong), Carmichael. 



A stout-growing form, native of the Island of Tristan d'Acunha. It is 



readily distinguished from the species and from the other varieties by the 



rachis (stalk of the leafy portion) of its fronds being densely clothed 



throughout with long, narrow, fibre-like scales of a dark brown colour. — 

 Rookei', Synopsis Filicum, p. 180. 



