92 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



the fertile ones, longer and narrower (2in. to 4in. long and Jin. to Jin. broad), 

 have their fructification confined to the upper part, which is narrowed or 

 conspicuously contracted. The fronds are of a leathery texture and smooth 

 on both sides, and the sori (spore masses) are disposed in single rows close 



to the midrib. Fig. 31 is re- 

 duced from Col. Beddome's 

 " Ferns of British India," by 

 the kind permission of the 

 author. — Hooker, Species Fili- 

 cum, v., p. 66. Beddome, Ferns 

 of British India, t. 215. 



P. achilleeefolium — ach- 

 ill-e'-te-fol'-i-um (Achillea- 

 leaved), Kaulfuss. 

 A small-growing, stove spe- 

 cies, native of Ecuador and 

 Brazil, with oblong- spear- shaped 

 fronds 3in. to 5in. long, lin. 

 to l^in. broad, produced from a single crown, and borne on tuftecl stalks 

 barely lin. long, of a wiry nature, but clothed with short, soft, spreading 

 hairs. The leaflets, of a leathery texture, closely set, and spreading, are 

 deeply cleft into narrow lobes, each of which bears a spore mass. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, iv., p. 225. 



P. (Niphobolus) acrostichoides — Niph-ob'-ol-us ; ac-ros'-tich-o-i'-des 

 (Acrostichum-like), Forster. 

 This stove species, native of Ceylon, Malaysia, the Philippines, the New 

 Hebrides, Queensland, &c, and rare in cultivation, possesses a very peculiar 

 appearance on account of its singularly long and comparatively narrow, leathery, 

 drooping fronds being produced at long intervals apart on a wide-creeping, 

 woody rhizome, clothed with roundish scales black in the centre. The fertile 

 and the barren fronds are similar in shape and size, and are also produced in 

 about equal proportions ; they are borne on firm, upright stalks lin. to 3in. 

 long, and they sometimes measure as much as 2ft. in length by only lin. in 



Fig. 31. Poly podium accede ns 

 (J nat. size). 



