NEPHRODIUM. 



575 



each way. The lower leaflets are much the largest, and the pinnules (leafits) 

 on the lower side are much larger than the others, which are lin. to oin. 

 long and about lin. broad, often cut down to the rachis (stalk of the leafy 

 portion) below into broad, oblong lobes of a soft, papery texture and dark 

 green colour. The sori (spore masses) are disposed along the midvein. — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, iv., p. 129, t. 259. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, ii., p. 444. • 



N. (Sagenia) SUbtriphyllum— Sag-e'-m-a ; sub-triph-yF-lum (somewhat 

 three-leaved), Baher, 

 A stove species, of medium dimensions, native of Polynesia, China, Malaya, 

 Ceylon, and the Mascarene Islands. Its fronds, produced from a creeping 



Fi^. 139. Frond of Nephrodium subtriphyllum 



(} nat. size). 



rhizome (prostrate stem) and borne on brownish stalks 1ft. or more in length, 

 are 1ft. to IJft. long. Sin. to 12in. broad, and sub-deltoid (nearly in shape of 

 the Greek delta, A) ; they are composed of a large, deeply-cleft terminal leaflet, 

 with spear-shaped lobes, and one or two leaflets on each side. These leaflets 

 are usually distant, auricled at the base, and spear-shaped at the point, and are 

 of a soft, papery texture. The rather large but scattered sori (spore masses) 

 are confined to the connected veinlets. Fig. 139 is reduced from Col. Beddome's 

 " Ferns of Southern India," by the kind permission of the author. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, iv., p. 52. Beddome, Ferns of Southern hidia, t. 242. 



