NEPHRODIUM. 



495 



2ft. long and Sin. to 12in. broad, are borne on tufted stalks, which are Ift. 

 or more in length, densely clothed with narrow scales at the base and naked 

 above. The lower leaflets are much the largest, and the lowest pinnules 

 (leafits), larger than the others, are spear-shaped with their segments again 

 pinnate, being cut into spathulate (spoon-shaped) lobes furnished with spiny 

 teeth. The texture is leathery, and the abundant sori (spore masses) are 

 scattered over the whole under-surface. — Hooher^ Species Filicum, iv,, p. 147. 



N. (Lastrea) deparioides — Las'-tre-a ; dep-ar-i-o-i'-des (Deparia-like), 

 Hooker. 



This greenhouse species, of medium size, native of Ceylon and Southern 

 India, where, according to Beddome, it is found on the Anamallay Hills, 

 though not in abundance, possesses a character unique in the genus through 

 the position of its sori (spore masses), which are quite terminal, thus giving 

 the plant the appearance of a Deparia. Its oblong-spear-shaped fronds, IJft. 

 to 2ft. long and Sin. to lOin. broad, are borne on firm stalks 1ft. or more 

 long and slightly scaly below. The lower leaflets, 4in. to 6in. long, 2in. 

 broad, and spear-shaped, are cut down to the rachis (stalk of the leafy 

 portion) into unequal-sided, stalked, triangular pinnules (leafits), whose broad, 

 blunt, nearly quadrangular lobes are furnished with very distinct and 

 prominent teeth. The texture is soft and papery, and the sori (spore masses), 

 terminal in the teeth, are quite concealed by convex involucres. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, iv., p. 139 ; Filices Exoticce, t. 3. Beddome, Ferns of 

 Southern India, t. 104. 



N. (Lastrea) dilatatum — Las'-tre-a ; di-la-1a'-tum (enlarged), Desvaux. 



Although given in the " Synopsis Filicum " as simj^ly a variety of 

 N. spiinulosum, also of Desvaux, this strong-growing, perfectly hardy Fern, 

 popularl}^ known in England as the "Broad, Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern," 

 possesses such distinctive characters, and has been accepted in commerce as 

 a species for such an indefinite space of time, that we cannot deprive it of 

 its specific rank, which has been acknowledged by such authorities as Smith 

 and Swartz under the generic appellation of Aspidium, and by Babington, 

 Lindley, Moore, Presl, Sowerby, and others under that of Lastrea. With 

 the object of making it perfectly clear for future reference, it is perhaps well 



