POLYPODIUM. 



201 



spear -shaped lobes. These fronds are of a papery texture, dark green in colour, 

 with beautifully-marked veins darker still, and smooth on both sides. The 

 conspicuous circular spore masses are disposed in a single series along the 

 margin of the lobes, and distinctly immersed. — Hooker, Species Filicum, v., 

 p. 80. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, hi., p. 192. Lowe, Ferns British 

 and Exotic, ii., t. 8. 



This plant is of easy culture ; it is well adapted for growing in dark 

 places where hardly any other Fern would thrive, and for planting in such 

 positions on stones or rock-work, which it rapidly covers and to which it 

 clings with a remarkable tenacity. 



P. pygmaeum — pyg-mae'-um (very dwarf), Buckingham. 



A very diminutive, stove species, of botanical interest only, native of 

 Bourbon Island. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 507. 



P. (Drynaria) quercifolium — Dryn-a'-ri-a ; quer-cif-or-i-um (Oak- 

 leaved), Linnoeus. 



This is one of the most curious Ferns known in cultivation ; it is a 

 stove species, native of Queensland and India, where, according to Beddome, 

 it is found growing on trees and rocks, being very common on the Western 

 side of the Madras Presidency, from the plains up to 4000ft. elevation. 

 According to Lowe, it was introduced into the Royal Gardens, Kew, by Dr. 

 Wallich in 1840. The plant is provided with a thick rhizome of a woody 

 nature, from which its distinct barren and fertile fronds are produced. The 

 barren ones, stalkless, brown, rigid, Sin. to 12in. long, and 2in. to Gin. 

 broad, are bluntly lobed often half-way down ; the fertile ones, on the contrary, 

 are long-stalked, 2ft. to 3ft. long, 1ft. or more in breadth, and cut down 

 nearly to the rachis into entire lobes Gin. to 9in. long, Jin. to ljin. broad, of 

 a rigid texture, and naked on both sides. The large and conspicuous spore 

 masses are disposed half-way between the midrib and the edge. — Hooker, Species 

 Filicum, v., p. 96. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, hi., p. 192. Beddome, 

 Ferns of Southern India, t. 187. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, ii., t. 10. 



P. reclinatum — rec-li-na'-tum (drooping), Brackenridge. 



A stove species, of peculiar appearance, native of Southern Brazil, with 

 pendent, very flaccid fronds 1ft. to 2ft. long, lin. to l^in. broad, and borne 



