230 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



lin. broad, borne on slender, tufted, dark purplish -brown stalks lin. long, 

 are composed of horizontal leaflets terminating in a roundish lobe, and are 

 provided with one or two similar lobes on each side. These leaflets are of 

 a leathery texture, naked on both sides, and have one large sorus (spore 

 mass) at the base of each lobe. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 307. 



P. (Goniopteris) urophyllum — G-o-ni-op'-ter-is ; u-roph-yF-lum (tail- 

 leaved), Wallich. 



This strong-growing, stove species, native of Ceylon, Malaysia, and 

 Queensland, produces from a creeping rhizome its fronds, which are 2ft. to 

 4ft. long, lft. to l£ft. broadband borne on stout, upright stalks 2ft. or more 

 in length. They are composed of a terminal leaflet, and have usually several 

 on each side, which are sometimes lft. long and more than 2in. broad j their 

 edge is entire or very slightly lobed, their extremity sharp-pointed, and 

 their base narrowed and maimed. The texture is somewhat leathery, and the 

 spore masses are disposed sometimes in two close rows 

 and sometimes in one row only —Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 v., p. 9. Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, t. 239. 



P. U. rubrinerYe — rub-rin-er'-ve (having red nerves), 

 Baker. 



Though considered as scarcely more than a variety 

 of P. urophyllum, this Fern, native of Aneiteum and the 

 Fiji Islands, is distinct through the dark green colour 

 of its leaflets, naked on both sides, and also through 

 the reddish tint of its midribs. — Hooker, Synopsis 

 Filicum, p. 315. 



P. (Goniophlebium) Yacciniifolium — Go-ni- 

 oph-leb'-i-uni ; vac-ci-ni-if-oF-i-um (Whortle- 

 berry-leaved), Fischer and Langsdorff. 

 Though of small dimensions, this stove Fern, native 

 of the West Indies, Brazil, and St. Catharine Island, is very distinct and 

 interesting. Its stalkless or nearly stalkless fronds (Fig. 65), produced from 

 a slender and very wide-creeping, densely-scaly rhizome, are of two different 



Fig, 65. Creeping Rhizome of 

 Polypodium vacciniifolium 

 (nearly nat. size). 



