LO MARIA. 



403 



scaly below, and produced from a stout, elongated stem of a woody nature, 

 clothed with large, egg-shajDed scales of a rusty-brown colour. These barren 

 fronds are broadly egg-shaped, Ift. to 3ft. long, 6in. to 12in. broad, and 

 furnished with leaflets of a leathery texture and dark green colour, Sin. to 

 6in. long, Jin. to lin. broad, the lower ones stalked, the others sessile 

 (stalkless), rounded or even cordate (heart-shaped) at the base, sometimes 

 auricled (eared), narrowed at the apex, and sometimes slightly toothed 

 on the margins. The fertile fronds have narrow and much- contracted leaflets 

 4in. to 6in. long and only |in. broad, distantly placed on each side of 

 the midrib. It often happens that the same frond is partially barren and 

 partially fertile, and there is, it is said, a form that has the barren leaflets 

 slightly pinnatifid (divided part of the way to the midrib). Considering 

 its robust constitution and the massive and stately habit of its gracefully- 

 arching fronds, L. procera is not grown as extensively as it really deserves. — 

 noohei% Species Filicuin, iii., p. 23 ; Garden Ferns, t. 53. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 294. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, 

 iv., t. 55. 



Many Ferns which have hitherto been regarded as distinct species, but 

 which are only varieties of L. procera, owing their distinctive characters to 

 their habitat only, are to be found in commerce under specific names. The 

 following are the most important : 



L. p. capensis — ca-pen'-sis (from the Cape of Grood Hope), Willdenow. 



A strong-growing and somewhat coarse-looking Fern, from South Africa, 

 with handsome, pinnate (once-divided), spear-shaped barren fronds of large 

 dimensions and of a peculiarly dark green colour. It is an extremely 

 ornamental Fern, especially when planted out in the rockery in a prominent 

 place, where there is sufficient room to allow for the full development of its 

 barren fronds, which sometimes measure 2|ft. in length, and of its fertile 

 ones, which, although much contracted, attain about the same dimensions. — 

 Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 179. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, 

 iv., tt. 59 and 60. 



L. p. chilensis — chil-en'-sis (Chilian), Kaulfuss. 



This truly majestic Fern, as its name implies, is a native of Chili, 

 where it grows naturally at high elevations and in comparatively cold 



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