538 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



though it has all the ajDpearance of a deeply -contracted form of the popular 

 N. patens^ of which it possesses most of the outward characters. We fail to 

 find any positive record as to how it was introduced in this country ; all that 

 can be gathered with certainty is that it was sent out in 1886 by Messrs. 

 E. Gr. Henderson and Sons, in whose establishment it had been raised by 

 their general manager, Mr. James O'Brien, from spores received by himself 

 from a friend residing in Brazil. Its fronds, somewhat narrow-egg-shaped, 

 but terminating in a tapering point, are borne on roundish stalks oin. to 6in. 

 long, green above and brownish below, where they are clothed with light 

 brown scales, similar scales densely covering the crown from which they are 

 produced. These fronds are IJft. to 2ft. long and Sin. to Oin. broad in their 

 widest part, and are furnished with very short-stalked leaflets, disposed 

 alternately (not opposite), and cut nearly to the midrib into sharp -pointed 

 lobes connected with it by a broad wing. Each of the leaflets, of a soft, 

 papery texture and deep green colour, is provided at its base with a pair of 

 distinct, though narrow, auricles (ears), hiding the short stalks on which they 

 are borne ; these ears extend along the rachis (stalk of the leafy portion), reaching 

 from one leaflet to another. The abundant and conspicuous sori (spore masses) 

 are placed near the midribs on each side, and are covered with inflated, kidney- 

 shaped, lead-coloured, persistent involucres. 



N. (Lastrea) Lepinei— Las'-tre-a ; Lep-i'-ne-i (Lepine's), Baker. 



A robust, stove species, native of Tahiti, with fronds 6ft. long and 

 quadripinnatifid (four times divided nearly to the midrib). The leaflets, 

 distinctly stalked and deltoid (in shape of the Greek delta, A), are furnished 

 with short- stalked, oblong- spear- shaped pinnules (leafits), which in their turn 

 are cut into oblong- spear -shaped segments, with lobes bluntly toothed. The 

 fronds are smooth on both surfaces and of a dull green colour. The sori 

 (spore masses) are marginal, being disposed at the ends of the teeth. — 

 Hooker Synopsis Filicum, p. 501. 



N. (Lastrea) Leprieurii — Las'-tre-a ; Lep-rieur'-i-i (Leprieur's), Hooker. 



A stove species, of large dimensions, native of Gruiana and of the Andes 

 of North- Eastern Peru, with fronds 2ft. to 3ft. long, 1ft. to IJft. broad, borne 

 on grey stalks 1ft. to 2ft. long and hairy. The leaflets are cut down to 



