470 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



are situated at the end of the veinlets, near the edge. — Hooker, Species 

 Filimm, iv., p. 85 ; Filices Exotica?, t. 89. 



N. (Lastrea) alsophilaceum— Las'-tre-a ; al-soph'-il-a'-ce-um (Alsophila- 

 like), Baker. 



A stove species, of comparatively small dimensions, native of Rio Janeiro, 

 with oblong- spear- shaped fronds 1ft. to lift, long, bipinnatifid (twice divided 

 nearly to the midrib), and borne on grey, smooth stalks about 6in. long. The 

 peculiar, strap-shaped leaflets are all, except the uppermost, distinctly stalked, 

 the lower ones Sin. to 6in. long, many of them reduced at the base and cut 

 down to a broad wing into close, entire, somewhat sickle-shaped lobes of 

 a firm, parchment-like texture and bright green colour. The small and 

 medial sori (spore masses) are covered with a minute, fugacious (not lasting) 

 involucre. — Hooker, Synojjsis Filicum, p. 495. 



N. (Eunephrodium) amboinense— Eu-nei^h-ro'-di-um ; am-boi-nen'-se 

 (native of Amboyna), Presl. 

 This stove species, native of Ceylon and the Philippine and Malayan 

 Islands, is very closely related to the common N. molle. It differs principally 

 in the more papery texture of its fronds, which are of similar dimensions and 

 habit, and also in the less hairy and less deeply-lobed nature of its bluntish 

 and slightly sickle-shaped pinnules (leafits). The veins are pinnate, with four 

 to six veinlets on each side, and the sori (spore masses) are disposed in rows 

 close to the midrib. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iv., p. 75. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Gardening, ii,, p. 440. 



N. (Lastrea) amplissimum — Las'-tre-a am-plis'-sim-um (very large), 

 Hooker. 



A stove species, native of Gruiana and Brazil, with fronds 2ft. to 

 3ft. long, four or five times divided nearly to the midrib, and borne on 

 brownish, naked stalks IJft. to 2ft. long. The lower leaflets, as well as their 

 lower pinnules and segments, are deltoid (in shape of the Greek delta. A), 

 stalked, and wedge-shaped on the lower side at the base ; their terminal lobes, 

 blunt and oblong, are equal in the upper part of the leaflets, while in the 

 lower part they are narrowed at the base. The fronds are of a moderately 



