422 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



cultivation, eitiier in this or in any other country. We can, therefore, rely 

 only on the particulars furnished by careful observers in its native habitat, 

 where it is said to be found growing with the foliage exposed to the 

 action of the air to such a degree that no other member of the tribe 

 Hymenophylleoe could withstand ; but at the same time with its roots, which 

 are of a peculiarly wiry nature, constantly in water. The soil in which it 

 is found in its native places is said to be a yellow loam of a very clayey 

 nature, and this has proved to be the case with all the importations which 

 we have seen. Nothing can be said either about its propagation, except 

 that in a natural state it increases itself rapidly by means of its spores, 

 which are produced in great abundance. 



L. Cunninghami — Cun-ning-ham'-i (Cunningham's), Brown. 



This remarkable, greenhouse Fern, native of the Northern Island of 

 New Zealand, produces its handsome fronds from a long, stout, creeping- 

 stem. They are several times divided to the midrib, of a leathery texture, 

 pale green above, glaucous (bluish -green) beneath, 1ft. to IJft. long, and 

 are borne on stitF, erect stalks of the same length. The general habit of the 

 plant is that of a leathery -leaved Dicksonia, — Hooker, Species Filicum, i., 

 p. 86. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 299. 



LYGODICTYON— Lyg-od-ic -ty-on. See Lygodium. 



