MARATTIA. 



443 



Island ; also in Southern India, where, according to Beddome, it grows 

 abundantly in Sisparah Ghat, in the Bolamputty Valley on the Coimbatore 

 Hills. Its gigantic fronds, twice pinnate or casually thrice divided to the 

 midrib, are 6ft. to loft, long, and borne on stalks 1ft. to 2ft. long, IJin. 

 thick, deciduously scaly and swollen in the lower part. The j)inna3 (leaflets), 

 1ft. to 2ft. long and often 1ft. broad, are provided with oblong-spear-shaped 

 leafits 4in. to Gin. long, lin. to IJin. broad, of a leathery texture, sharply 

 pointed at their extremity, wedge-shaped or slightly rounded at their base, 

 and entire or slightly toothed on their margins. Both surfaces are naked, 

 and the rachises (stalks of the leafy portion) are sometimes slightly winged. 

 The synangia, disposed in close rows near the margin of the leafits (Fig. Ill), 

 are about ^in. long ; they have their sides upright, and are composed of 

 from six to twelve capsules on each side. — Hooker^ Synoj^sis Filicum, p. 440. 

 Nicholson^ Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 327. Beddome, Ferns of Southern 

 India, t. 79. 



Of the many varieties of M. fraxinea known in cultivation, the most 

 distinct are the following : 



M. f. ascensionis — as-cen-si-o'-nis (from Ascension Island), /. Smith. 



This curious variety, which is the same plant as M. jmrpurascens of 

 De Vriese, and the smallest of all known Marattias, is, as its name implies, 

 a native of the Island of Ascension. It is particularly striking on account 

 of its very compact habit and the heavy dark green or lurid -purple colour of 

 its fronds, which seldom attain more than 3ft. in height, and rise from between 

 two succulent and leafy appendages attached to their base, as in M. Cooperii, 

 but of a smoother nature. The lower pinnules (leafits) are often cut down to 

 a distinctly- winged rachis (stalk), and the leafy appendages at the base of 

 the stalks sometimes produce lobes like the frond in texture. — Hooker, 

 Synopsis Filicum, p. 441. 



M. f. elegans — e'-leg-ans (elegant), Endlicher. 



An easily -grown and highly -decorative form, found abundantly in 

 Norfolk Island and ISTew Zealand alike, and one which can be used with 

 great advantage in the cool conservatory all the year round, or for sub -tropical 

 work during the summer months, when it produces quite a unique effect. 



