CHAPTER XLIV. 



NOTHOCHLi^^NA, R. Brown. 

 (JSToth-och-lEe'-na. ) 



Gold and Silver Maidenhair Ferns. 



HE name of this genus is frequently but incorrectly spelt 

 Nothocloena ; it is derived from nothos, spurious, and chlaitia, 

 a cloak, on account of the covering of the spore masses with 

 which some species appear to be provided. Nothochlce7ia, which 

 in Hooker and Baker's "Synopsis Filicum" is Genus 50, 



forms an important part of the tribe Grammitidea?. The plants are closely 

 related to Cheilanthes, from which they dilFer only by the absence of a distinct 

 involucre, and with whi^h they are connected by gradual intermediate stages. 

 The genus is divided into Nothochlasna proper, with fronds densely matted 

 beneath, and Cincinalis of Desvaux, the fronds of which are coated on their 

 under-side with white or yellow powder. The learned Dr. Fee, in speaking 

 of this coloured powder, says : " L'exudation jaune, blanche, ou rose qui 

 couvre la lame inferieure de ces plantes est de nature ceracee, et cette sorte 

 de cire vegetale et soluble dans I'alcool et I'ether. Elle est produite par des 

 glandes en massue et presente sous le microscope I'aspect de petits filaments 

 d'une tenuite extreme"* (Eaton, "Ferns of North America," i., p. 67). 



The plants belonging to this genus are widely dispersed, some being 

 found in Southern Europe, in North and South America, in China, in 



* " The yellow, white, or pink exudation which covers the under-surface of the fronds of these plants is of 

 a ceraceouB (waxy) nature, and this sort of vegetable wax is soluble in alcohol and in ether. It is produced by 

 club-shaped glands, and presents, under the microscope, the aspect of small filaments of great tenuity." 



