562 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



N. (Eunephrodium) refractum — Eu-neph-ro'-di -um : ref-rac'-tum 

 (curved back), Hooker. 

 A greenhouse species, native of Brazil. It is well marked by its peculiar 

 babit and by the bright green colour of its fronds, which are 1ft. to IJft. 

 long, 6in. to 9in. broad, and borne on naked stalks 1ft. long and of a glossy 

 nature. The leaflets grow gradually smaller, from near the bottom to the 

 top ; the lower ones, 4in. to Sin. long and fin. broad, are deflexed, and 

 the lowest pairs very much so, their broad and blunt lobes reaching about 

 a quarter of the way down to the midrib. The fronds are of a soft, papery 

 texture and bright green colour, and are smooth on both surfaces. The sori 

 (spore masses), disposed along the midvein, are covered with a minute, 

 fugacious involucre. — Hooher^ Species Filicum, iv., p. 162, t. 252. Nicholson^ 

 Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 442. 



N. (Lastrea) remotum — Las'-tre-a ; rem-o'-tum (distant), R. Braun. 



This handsome Fern, which, in Hooker's " British Ferns " (t. 22), is 

 figured and given as a variety of N. sjjinulosum, was first discovered in the 

 summer of 1859, in Westmoreland, by Mr. F. Clowes, of Windermere, who 

 himself looked upon it as a form of N. sjmmlosum, and sent some fronds 

 to Mr, Thomas Moore, of the Chelsea Botanic Gardens. This well-known 

 authority on Ferns recognised it as Aspidium remotum of Braun, and 

 announced the discovery of this British species at a meeting of the Linnean 

 Society on the 15th December, 1859. It is a plant of deciduous character, 

 with oblong-spear-shaped fronds, 2ft. long, 6in. broad, and of upright habit. 

 The leaflets, usually opposite and spear-shaped, are closely set, and their 

 pinnules (leafits), about IJin. long and shortly stalked, are cut half-way 

 down to the midrib, or more, and distinctly toothed, more especially towards 

 the extremity. The somewhat consj)icuous sori (spore masses) are disposed 

 in two rows near the midvein, and are covered with a kidney-shaped indusium 

 of a persistent nature. — Loive, New and Rare Ferns, t. 22. Correvon, Les 

 Fougeres rustiques, p. 142. 



N. (Lastrea) Richardsi — Las'-tre-a ; Rich-ards'-i (Richards'), Raker. 



A stove species, native of New Caledonia. It is of little decorative value, 

 of medium dimensions only, and has fronds of a parchment-hke texture. The 



