NOTHOCHL^NA. 



613 



Though, considered somewhat difficult to manage, N. Icevis is one of those 

 plants which amply repay any extra care bestowed upon them ; whoever 

 has had the good fortune of seeing it grown, as it was a few years ago, in 

 the select collection of the late Mr. S. Rucker, where, under Mr. Pilcher's 

 care, it formed a most handsome basket, the admiration of every visitor, will 

 testify to the possibility of success. It only requires cool, or at the most 

 intermediate, temperature and a dry position, such as a hangmg basket ; and 

 when grown in this way the beautiful silvery under-side of its fronds is 

 shown off to greatest advantage. 



N. lanuginosa — la-nu-gin-o'-sa (woolly), Desvaux. 



A pretty and delicate, greenhouse species, easily distinguished from all 

 others by the dense, white, woolly substance wliich covers its fronds. It is 

 one of the few species native of the South of Europe, being found from 

 Spain to Syria, in Greece, Madeira, Teneriffe, the Gape de Yerde Islands, 

 and Algiers, also in Temperate and Tropical Austraha. The oblong-spear- 

 shaped fronds, 6in. to 9in. long, lin. to l^^in. broad, borne on densely-tufted, 

 very short stalks of a woolly nature, are bipinnate (twice divided to the 

 midrib), being furnished with closely-set, spear-shaped leaflets of a soft 

 texture, but thick. The leaflets in the centre of the frond are the largest, 

 and frequently show roundish or oblong, entire or three-lobed pinnules 

 (leafits). The upper surface is of a peculiarly dark green colour, while the 

 under-side is wholly covered with very long, woolly scales, which give the 

 plant quite a distinct appearance, through their spreading some little distance 

 beyond the margin of the leaflets. — Hooker^ SjJecies Filicum, v., p. 119. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, ii., p. 455. Lowe, Ferns British and 

 Exotic, i., t. 16a. 



. This species is well adapted for growing in the crevices of the cool 

 rockery, where it should be planted with very little soil around it, and in an 

 elevated and exposed situation. 



N. Marantae— Mar-an'-ta3 (Maranta's), R. Brown. 



This exceedingly pretty, greenhouse or even hardy species has an 

 extensive range of habitat, being found in the Himalayas up to 15,000ft. 

 elevation, also in Syria and Tauria, in the South of Europe, in the Azores, 



