OLEANDRA. 



7 



O. m. Moritzii — Mor-itz'-i-i (Moritz's), Kunze. 



This variety differs from the species only through the rougher nature of 

 the scales covering the shoots, and through the disposition of its fronds, which 

 are more widely scattered. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 302. 



0. neriiformis — ne-rl-if-or'-mis (Nerium or Oleander-like), Cavanilles. 



This, the most striking- 

 species of the genus, and 

 which, according to Lowe, 

 was introduced into the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, in 1848, has a 

 wide range of habitat. It is 

 found in a wild state from 

 New Granada and Guiana to 

 Brazil and Peru, also in 

 Fiji, New Guinea, Samoa, 

 Aneiteum, Northern India, 

 the Philippines, and the 

 Malaccas, and on the Guinea 

 Coast. Beddome, in his ex- 

 haustive work on " Ferns of 

 British India," states that it 

 is found on the Anamallays, 

 on the Western slopes of the 

 Neilgherries, in ravines in 

 Ouchterlony's Valley, at an 

 elevation of 5000ft., &c. Its 

 mode of growth is peculiar, it 

 being distinct in this respect, 

 not only amongst Oleandras, 

 but also amongst the whole 

 family of Ferns. The rootstocks or shoots, which attain 4ft. in length and 

 branch freely, are of a hard, woody nature, and as thick as one's little finger ; 

 they are jointed at irregular intervals and covered with brown, adpressed 

 scales, which, in the older portions, are black and shining. A peculiarity 



Fig. 2. Oleandra neriiformis 

 (much reduced). 



