NEPHRODIUM. 



5*01 



N. d. lepidotum— lep-id-o'-tum (scaly), Moore. 



A singularly distinct, dwarf variety, with a very obscure history. It is 

 said to have been originally found in Yorkshire, but all that we know 

 respecting it is that it was distributed by Mr. Tait, of Edinburgh. Its 

 remarkably handsome fronds, scaly in all their parts, are quadripinnate (four 

 times divided to the midrib), and in full-grown specimens measure IJft. in 

 length ; they are broadly egg-shaped, and the leaflets are everywhere very 

 unequal, the posterior ones being much the larger. The small and distinct 

 pinnules (leafits) are again divided into distant, blunt segments, having 

 a tapering, stalk-like base. A striking peculiarity in the development of 

 the fronds of this variety, as observed by Thomas Moore, consists in the 

 indefinite character of their evolution, for the basal pinnules of a leaflet have 

 matured and scattered their spores before the extremity of the same leaflet 

 has expanded. This extraordinary form reproduces itself true from spores. 

 — Lowe^ Our Native Ferns, i., t. 33. 



N. d. nanum — na'-num (dwarf), Newman. 



This, the smallest variety of N. dilatatum known in commerce, was 

 originally found near Settle, in Yorkshire, and eventually in the hilly districts 

 of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Its fronds, which seldom, if ever, exceed 

 lOin. in length, are egg-shaped, broadest at the base, and bipinnate (twice 

 divided to the midrib). The spreading leaflets have their basal pinnules 

 (leafits) stalked, and the larger ones deeply lobed, with finely-toothed edges. 

 The sori (spore masses), which usually cover the whole under-side of the 

 frond, are often most copious towards its summit, forming a line on either 

 side. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, i., p. 317. 



N. d. ramosum — ra-mo'-sum (branched), Moore. 



A fine and really interesting Fern, said to be a native of Scotland. It 

 has the appearance of being a ramose form of N. d. dumetorum ; it is usually 

 twin-fronded, but sometimes each twin frond is again divided, thus forming 

 a large, flabellate (fan-shaped) mass of foliage, and in that state it is very 

 remarkable. The spores are abundant, and more or less reproduce the variety, 

 some seedlings being more branched than others. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, 

 i., fig. 238. 



