612 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



2m. to 4in. long and dark cliestnut-brown, are very nearly naked. Tlie 

 fronds, 4m. to Gin. long and about lin. broad, are bipinnatifid (twice 

 divided nearly to the midrib), with egg-shaped leaflets cut down nearly or 

 quite to the rachis (stalk) below into blunt lobes of a somewhat leathery 

 texture. The upper surface, of a pale green colour, is almost naked, while 

 their under- side is densely matted with a white or slightly rusty-brown 

 substance of a woolly nature. — Hooher^ Species Filicum, v., p. 110. Nicholson^ 

 Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 455. 



N. inaequalis — in-te-qua'-lis (unequal), Kunze. 



A greenhouse species, native of Macalisberg, near Natal, and Angola. Its 

 spear-shaped or nearly triangular fronds, 4in. to Gin. long and 2in. to 3in. 

 broad, are produced from a stout rhizome (prostrate stem) covered with long, 

 narrow scales of a bright rusty-brown colour, and borne on erect, naked, 

 black stalks 3in. to Gin. long and of a firm texture. The upper leaflets are 

 spear-shaped, while the lower ones are distinctly deltoid (in form of the Greek 

 delta. A) — hence the specific name — and their blunt, spear-shaped pinnules 

 (leafits) are again deeply cleft. The fronds are of a thick texture, and have 

 both surfaces densely coated with a rusty-brown, woolly substance. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, v., p. 118. 



N. laevis — la^'-vis (soft), Moore and Hoidston. 



This very handsome, greenhouse species, native of Mexico, is very seldom 

 met with in cultivation now, possibly owing to repeated failures experienced 

 by its being generally grown in too warm a temperature. Its fronds, 

 which are simply pinnate (only once divided to the midrib), with entire 

 leaflets attached to the midrib by a short stalk and slightly undulated at 

 their margins, are from 1ft. to IJft. long and about l^in. broad ; they are 

 borne on stalks of a woolly nature, round and very brittle, produced from a 

 short -creeping rhizome (prostrate stem), whose extremity is very densely 

 clothed with silvery scales. The upper surface is of a glaucous-green colour, 

 and the whole under- side is densely covered with long, narrow scales, white 

 in the young fronds, but of a light brown colour in the matured ones. The 

 abundant very dark sori (spore masses) protrude through the scale covering on 

 the margins of the leaflets only. — Lowe, Ferns British and E(DOtic, i., t. 14a, 



