h 



PTERIS. 287 



P. nitida — nit'-id-a (bright), Mettenius. 



A very distinct, stove species, of small dimensions, native of the banks 

 of the Gaboon, West Africa, and readily distinguished through the wide- 

 creeping, slender rhizome from which its fronds are produced. These fronds 

 are deltoid (in shape of the Greek delta, A), 9in. to 12in. long, and four times 

 divided nearly to the midrib ; their lower leaflets, much the largest, are 

 stalked, deltoid, and have the lower leafits on the lower side abundantly 

 produced. The ultimate lobes are oblong, blunt at the extremity, and wedge- 

 shaped at the base ; they are of a thin but firm texture, naked on both 

 surfaces, and of a bright green colour. The sori (spore masses) do not reach 

 either the tip or the base of the lobes, and they are covered by a narrow, 

 smooth involucre of a peculiar grey colour. — Hooker, Species Filicum, p. 479. 



P. (Doryopteris) nobilis — Dor-y-op'-ter-is ; no'-bil-is (noble), J. Smith. 



This very handsome, stove species, also known in gardens under the 

 names of P. elegans and Litobrochia grandis, is a native of Southern Brazil. 

 Its fronds, borne on naked, wiry stalks 1ft. or more in length, vary considerably 

 as regards both size and shape, according to the age of the plant. In its 

 young state it produces only single, heart-shaped fronds ; but those eventually 

 produced are halbert- shaped and finally somewhat palmate in form, with the 

 terminal and the upper lateral leaflets entire, and the lower lateral ones divided 

 into two or four spear-shaped leafits on their lower side. It then forms a 

 beautiful object, as the fronds, thick and of a very leathery texture, are of 

 a bright green colour, and their centre, as well as that of their leaflets and 

 leafits, is ornamented with a broad band of white, more intense in the middle 

 and gradually fading towards the edges. The spore masses form a continuous 

 line extending from the base to the tip of the divisions. — Hooker, Synopsis 

 Filicum, p. 167. 



P. novae- caledoniee — nov'-se-cal-e-do'-ni-aa (from New Caledonia), Hooker. 



Referring to this gigantic-growing, stove species, which is of little 

 decorative value, Mr. Charles Moore, of Sydney, who discovered it, states that 

 the fronds are sometimes 10ft. in height ; in some specimens, the lower leaflets, 

 which measure nearly 1ft. in length and 9in. in breadth, have five large leafits 

 on each side. — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 189. 



