LO MARIA. 



401 



L. Patersoni — Pat-er-so'-ni (Paterson's), Sprengel. 



This essentially distinct, greenhouse species, of dwarf habit and peculiar 

 appearance, is also known as L. Cwmingiana ; it has a wide range of habitat, 

 being found in a wild state in South Australia, Tasmania, and the Philippine 

 Islands. The barren fronds, usually simple (undivided) or occasionally, 

 especially when the plant is growing vigorously, pinnatifid (divided nearly 

 to the midrib), are about 1ft. long, less than liw. broad, broadest one-third 

 of the distance from the top, and very gradually narrowed downwards ; their 

 extremity is sharply pointed and their margin slightly wavy. They are borne 

 on wiry, erect stalks Sin. to Sin. long, and, being placed several deep and 

 all round the crown of a short- creeping rhizome (prostrate stem), they form 

 a thick and handsome mass of foliage of a dark green colour, the whole 

 relieved by numerous young fronds, which are to be found among them at 

 almost any time of the year, and which for a long period remain of a beautiful 

 metallic hue. The fertile fronds, of about the same length as the barren 

 ones, are only about ^in. broad, the sori (spore masses) occupying the whole 

 space between the midrib and the margin. This species thrives best when 

 planted out in a rockery. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iii., p. 3 ; Filices Fxoticce, 

 t. 49. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, iv., t. 50. 



L. P. elongata — e-long-a'-ta (lengthened), Blume. 



A variety in which both fertile and barren fronds are pinnatifid (cut 

 nearly to the midrib). It is also known as L. Colensoi and L. punctata, and 

 is a native of New Zealand, Fiji, Ceylon, and the ISTeilgherries, where, according 

 to Beddome, it is very abundant in most of the Sholas on the Koonah 

 Mountains and in the Shola behind the Avalanche Bungalow ; also in the 

 Sisparah (xhat, in all the ravines above 4000ft. elevation. Both kinds of 

 fronds are about 2 ft. long, the barren ones divided into six to nine leaflets 

 on each side, which are often 6in. to 9in. long, nearly lin. broad, and suddenly 

 decurrent (running down) at the base. In the fertile fronds, the leaflets 

 are often numerous on each side ; some fronds have their upper and some of 

 their lower leaflets fructified while the other leaflets are sterile and leafy ; 

 in other cases only portions of the fertile fronds bear spores. — Hooher, 

 Synopsis Filicum, p. 174. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 294. 

 Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, t. 28. 



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