148 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



pinnatifid, have at their base a heart-shaped, lobed wing Sin. to 4in. broad, 

 while their upper part is cut down to a broadly-winged rachis into entire, 

 sharp-pointed lobes, which are often 1ft. to lift, long and 3in. to 4in. broad. 

 The fronds are of a light green colour and of a stiff, harsh texture ; their 

 upper surface is covered with minute, short, whitish hairs, while the midrib of 



Fig. 45, Polypodium Heracleum 

 (much reduced). 



the frond is crowded with brown hairs, especially near the base, where they 

 are longer. The small and copious sori (spore masses) are irregularly scattered 

 over the whole of the under-surface, in which they are slightly immersed. — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, v., p. 93 ; Garden Ferns, t. 1. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Gardening, iii., p. 189. Lowe, Ferns British and ' Exotic, ii., t. 32. 



P. (Niphobolus) Heteractis— Niph-ob'-ol-us ; He-ter-ac'-tis (Heteractis). 

 A variety of P. Lingua. 



P. (Phymatodes) heterocarpum — Phy-mat-o'-des ; het-er-oc-ar'-pum 

 (having variable fruit), Blume. 

 A stove species, of little decorative value, greatly resembling the better- 

 known P. membranaceum, from which it differs principally in its smaller 

 dimensions and also in its spore masses being disposed in four to six regular 

 rows near the main veins. It is a native of Northern India, Ceylon, Java, 

 Borneo, &c, and is also called P. Zollingerianum. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 v., p. 72. Beddome, Ferns of British India, t. 319. 



