608 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



N. eriophora — er-i-oph-o'-ra (wool-bearing), Fee. 



This stove species, very distinct through its habit, which much resembles 

 that of a Doryopteris, is a native of South Brazil. Its deltoid fronds (in shape 

 of the Greek delta, A), 2in. to 3in, each way, are borne on slender, tufted 

 stalks Sin. to 4in. long, of a wiry nature, dark chestnut-brown, and more or 

 less hairy ; they are formed of three or four blunt, narrow -oblong, entire lobes 

 on each side, the lowest pair much the largest, deeply cleft on the lower side. 

 The fronds are very thick, and the under-surface is densely matted with 

 yellowish-brown wool. The abundant sori (spore masses) are disposed on the 

 margin. — Hooker, Species FiUcurn, v., p. 229. ' 



N. (Cincinalis) Fendleri— Cin-cin-a'-Ks • Fend'-ler-i (Fendler's), Kunze. 



One of the most ornamental of the several North American species in 

 cultivation. It thrives well under cool treatment, being found wild in clefts 

 of exposed rocks from the mountains of Colorado to Texas, New Mexico, and 

 Arizona. In habit the plant is very peculiar ; the general outline of its 

 fronds, which are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), and borne 

 on densely-tufted, wiry, chestnut-brown, pohshed stalks 2in. to Sin. long, is 

 broadly triangular, being nearly as broad as long. The main rachis (stalk of 

 the leafy portion) and the primary and secondary branches are singularly 

 flexuous, being bent at an obtuse angle alternately to right and left : thus 

 the branches are never opposite or in pairs, but almost uniformly alternate. 

 The leaflets, leafits, and segments are all distinctly stalked ; their upper surface 

 is of a glaucous (bluish) green, while their under-surface is covered with 

 a dense, white powder. All the branches and branchlets are dark brown and 

 smooth, like the stalks, and they are so much refracted and divaricated that 

 the several fronds on one plant, as is frequently the case in Pellaeas, are 

 generally much entangled and very difficult to separate without injury. — 

 RooJcer, Species Filicum, v., p. 113. Eaton, Ferns of North America, i., t. 9. 



N. ferruginea — fer-ru-gin'-e-a (rusty). Hooker. 



An old inhabitant of our gardens. Although a native of the West Indies 

 and Mexico, and found also along the Andes of Chili, it is generally imported 

 from North America, where it grows abundantly in rocky places along the 

 Rio San Pedro and Rio Grande, in Texas, and in New Mexico, where it is 



