402 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



L. Plumieri — Plu-mi-e'-ri (Plumier's), Desvaux. 



A stove species, of large dimensions, native of Tropical America, where 

 it is said to be abundant and to extend from the West Indies and Columbia 



southward to Rio Janeiro and Peru. Its 

 massive, oblong-spear-shaped barren fronds, 

 2ft. to 3ft. long and 9in. to 12in. broad, 

 are abruptly terminated at the base ; they 

 are furnished with numerous and some- 

 what leathery, spreading leaflets 4in. to 

 Bin. long, Jin. to fin. broad, cut down 

 very nearly to the base, with flat edges, 

 and sharp-pointed at their extremity. In 

 some of the forms the leaflets are nearly 

 equal at the base : in others they are few 

 in number and conspicuously dilated. In 

 the fertile fronds, the leaflets, often vari- 

 ously curved and dilated at the base, are 

 4in, to Gin. long and only |in. broad. — 

 Hooker., Species Fllicum, iii. p. 7. 



L. procera — pro-ce'-ra (tall), Sprengel. 



This very handsome, greenhouse 

 species, of large dimensions and much 

 given to variation, is a plant with a very 

 wide range of habitat, being found in 

 Mexico and the West Indies southward 

 to Chili ; in the Malayan and Polynesian 

 Islands ; in New Zealand, South Australia, 

 Tasmania, and South Africa. According 

 to their various habitats, these forms or 

 variations are of a more or less hardy 

 constitution, some being well adapted for 

 growing outside and . unprotected in many parts of the West of England. In 

 the typical species, the barren fronds, which are divided quite to the midrib 

 (Fig. 99), are borne on stout, upright stalks, 6in. to 12in. long and 



Fig, 99, Barren Frond of Lomaria procera 



(i nat. size). 



