250 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



lower ones shorter and blunt, with a narrow wing running down the stem to 

 the base. The spore masses, slightly immersed, are disposed in one row on 

 each side of the mid vein. When dry the fronds emit a very pleasing almond 

 odour.— Hooker, Species Filkum, v., p. 97. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 hi., p. 195. 



P. (Phegopteris) Wrightii— Phe-gop'-ter-is ; Wright'-I-i (Wright's), Baker. 



This stove species, of small dimensions, produces from an upright-growing 

 rootstock of a woody nature its spear-shaped, simply-pinnate fronds, which 

 are 6in. to 9in. long, and borne on tufted grey stalks of similar length. The 

 stalked leaflets are square and eared on the upper side, wedge-shaped and 

 maimed on the lower side at the base ; they are of a rigidly leathery texture, 

 dull green in colour, and naked on both sides. The sori (spore masses) are 

 disposed in a single row not far from the edge of the leaflets.— Hooker, 

 Synopsis Filicum, p. 304. 



P. Xiphias— X.ipV-i-as (sword fish), Moore. 



The specific name of this very curious stove Fern refers to the peculiar 

 shape of its fronds, which in outline resemble the figure of the swordfish. It 

 is a native of the South Pacific Islands. The plant is provided with a wide- 

 creeping rhizome, about as thick as a goose-quill, and clothed with brownish 

 scales, from which the fronds, 1ft. or more long, 4in. across in their widest 

 part, and terminating in a tail-like appendage about Sin. long, are produced. 

 The fronds gradually narrow downwards, with a slight wing extending to the 

 very base, being elliptic-oblong in shape, of a firm though not leathery 

 texture, and somewhat undulated at the edge. The tail-appendage and about 

 one-third of the base of the frond are barren, but the rest of the under- 

 surface is copiously and pretty equally dotted over with medium-sized, round 

 sori (spore masses), which, though apparently irregularly disposed, in reality 

 form thinly-furnished lines, four in number, between the main veins, the lines 

 becoming lost towards the margin of the frond. — Moore, Gardeners' 1 Chronicle, 

 1881, p. 331. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iv., p. 592. 



P. zeylanicum — zey-lan'-ic-um (Cingalese), Mettenius. 



A stove species, of medium dimensions, native of Ceylon, provided with 

 a strong, wide-creeping rhizome clothed with broad, grey scales. Its entire 



