178 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



are 6 in. to lOin. long and are cut half- way down into bluntish lobes of a rigid 

 and somewhat leathery texture, bright green and naked on both surfaces. 

 The small and closely- set sori (spore masses) are disposed along the margin 

 of the lobes. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 506. 



P. (Phymatodes) musaefolium— Phy-maW-des ; mu-sse-forM-um (Musa- 

 leaved), Blume. 



The fronds of this massive-growing, stove species, native of the Malayan 

 Islands, are rendered very handsome by their conspicuous venation ; they are 

 produced from a woody rhizome clothed with egg-shaped scales of a dull 

 brown colour, and are from 1ft. to 3ft. long, 3in. to 4in. broad, and stalkless. 

 The lower part of the fronds is broadly winged to the very base ; their 

 extremity is sometimes sharp-pointed, but more generally bluntish ; they are 

 mostly simple (undivided), though occasionally pinnatifid or deeply lobed and 

 crowded together, of a leathery texture, and pale green in colour. The very 

 numerous dark, reticulated veins terminate before they reach the edge of 

 the fronds. The small and very abundant sori (spore masses) sometimes 

 cover the whole of the under-surface, upon which they are irregularly 

 scattered. In gardens this species is frequently confounded with P. 

 Heracleum. — Hooker, Species Filicum, v., p. 68. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, hi., p. 191. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, ii., t. 31. 

 Beddome, Ferns' of British India, t. 317. 



P. myriocarpum — my-ri-oc-ar'-pum (many-fruited). This is a variety of 

 P. pellucidum. 



P. myriophyllum — my-ri-oph-yl'-lum (many -leaved), Mettenius. 



A stove species, native of Peru, with flaccid, pendent fronds 1ft. long, 3in. 

 broad, borne on flexuose (zigzag-bending) stalks 4in. to 6in. long, of a wiry 

 nature, and densely clothed with long, soft, brown hairs. Their leaflets, 

 flexuose and closely set, are cut down to a narrow rachis into narrow lobes 

 of a somewhat leathery texture, slightly hairy underneath. The spore masses 

 are conspicuous through their being broader than the lobes at the base of 

 which they are situated. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iv., p. 227 ; Second Century 

 of Ferns, t. 21. 



