POLYPODIUM. 



153 



Natal, Zambesi Land, and from Ohio to Uruguay and Chili ; whereas Eaton 

 states that it grows commonly in large tufts on trunks of trees, on old walls 

 and roofs, and more rarely on rocks, from Florida to Texas, extending 

 northward to the Natural Bridge, Virginia. Eaton adds that it is common 

 in the West Indies, and Lowe, who gives 1841 as the date of its introduction 

 into the Royal Gardens, Kew, says that it is a native of the West Indies and 

 South America. Its wide-creeping rhizomes, of a woody nature, are very 

 much entangled and clothed with small, dull brown scales. The fronds, 2in. 

 to 4in. long, ljin. broad, and borne on firm, erect stalks lin. to 4in. long, 

 are cut down to the rachis into entire, blunt leaflets, which are enlarged at 

 the base, of a leathery texture, and densely scaly on their under- side. The 

 sori (spore masses) are disposed in a row on each side of the mid vein, and 

 are almost completely hidden by the scales covering the under-side of the 

 leaflets. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iv., p. 209. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, hi., p. 190. Eaton, Ferns of North America, i., t. 26. Lowe, 

 Ferns British and Exotic, i., t. 48a. 



P. (Phymatodes) incurvatum — Phy-mat-o'-des ; in-cur-va'-tum (incurved, 

 bent in), Blume. 



A very distinct, stove species, native of Mount Ophir, Malacca, and Java, 

 with barren and fertile fronds totally distinct, produced from a scaly rhizome 

 of a woody nature. The barren ones are Gin. to 9in. each way, deltoid (in 

 shape of the Greek delta, A), and cut into broad, spear-shaped, entire lobes ; 

 the larger fertile ones are cut down nearly or quite to the rachis (stalk of the 

 leafy portion) into entire, distant lobes 4in. to Sin. long, the lowest of these 

 being often forked. The fronds are of a very leathery texture and naked 

 on both sides. The deeply-immersed sori (spore masses) form prominent 

 projections on the upper surface. — Hooker, Species Filicum, v., p. 77. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, hi., p. 190. Beddome, Ferns of British 

 India t. 124. 



P. (Phymatodes) insigne — Phy-mat-o'-des ; in-sig'-ne (remarkable), Blume. 



This stove species, of small dimensions, native of Java, the Philippines, 

 and Malacca, is provided with a slender rhizome from which the fronds, 6in. 

 to 9in. long, are produced. These fronds are formed of a terminal, entire, 



