POLYPODIUM. 



149 



P. heteromorphum — het-er-om-or'-phum (of various forms), Hooker and 

 Greville. 



This greenhouse species, of large dimensions and distinct habit, found in 

 Mexico and along the Andes to Ecuador, is also known as P. variabile. Its 

 very flaccid, pendent, sometimes simple, sometimes repeatedly forked or pinnate 

 fronds, are borne on tufted, slender, naked stalks of a wiry nature. When 

 repeatedly forked, they are furnished with closely-set, irregular leafits 1ft. to 

 l£ft. long, but only about Jin. broad, of a soft, papery texture, and bearing 

 from one to six spore masses each. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iv., p. 229. 

 Hooker and Greville, Icones Filicum, t. 108. 



P. (Dictyopteris) heterosorum — Dic-ty-op'-ter-is • het-er-os-or'-um 

 (having variable sori), Baker. 

 A strong-growing, stove species, of little decorative value, with fronds 2ft. 

 to 3ft. long, but only pinnatifid, and abundant irregular sori (spore masses), 

 which often become confluent. It is a native of Malacca. — Hooker, Synopsis 

 Filicum, p. 506. 



P. (Phegopteris) hexagonopterum— Phe-gop'-ter-is ; hex-ag-o-nop'- 

 ter-um (having six-angled wings), Michaux. 

 This very pretty and distinct, hardy species, of a deciduous character, 

 is principally a North American Fern, being found in moist woodlands from 

 Canada to Florida, and westward to Iowa, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and, 

 though not common, fairly abundant in favourable localities, more particularly 

 in the Middle and Southern States. Although Eaton, in his exhaustive work, 

 "Ferns of North America," states (vol. i, p. 148) that it has not been found 

 outside of North America, we find it stated in Hooker's "Synopsis Filicum" 

 (p. 308) that it is found " from Lapland to Japan, Etruria and Greece ; 

 Greenland, Iceland, and Russian America, southward to the United States." 

 According to Lowe, its introduction into England dates from about the year 

 1811. Its slender and wide-creeping rhizome (rootstock), sometimes 1ft. long, 

 is of a somewhat fleshy nature, and creeps just beneath the surface of the 

 ground. The fronds, which are borne on slender stalks Gin. to 9in. long, 

 naked, except towards the base, are 6in. to 9in. long, 4in. to Gin. broad, and 

 subdeltoid (somewhat like the Greek delta, A). Their lower leaflets, 2in. to 



