312 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



is found in the central and eastern counties of New Jersey, usually growing 

 in the drier parts of sphagnous swamps, among White Cedars. Its curious 

 little fronds are produced from a horizontal, creeping rootstock, bearing only 

 a few barren and a few fertile ones. The latter, 3in. to 4in. long, are roundish, 

 wiry, much contorted, and curled ; the barren ones, much shorter, are also 

 much twisted and slightly flattened. The fertile segments, of a somewhat 

 erect habit, are unilateral, showing about six rather stout spikes on each side. 

 This species is said to be hardy in the South of England.— Hooker and Greville, 

 Icones Filicum, t. 48. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iii., p. 383. Eaton, 

 Ferns of North America, t. 24. 



S. robusta— ro-bus'-ta (robust), Baker. 



Although much larger in all its parts than S. australis, this plant, native 

 of the Sandwich Islands, is considered by Brackenridge as simply a tropical 

 form of that species. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 429. 



S. rupestris— ru-pes'-tris (rock-loving), R. Brown. 



A greenhouse species, of small dimensions, native of Temperate Australia, 

 whence it was introduced in 1822. Its stalks, only about lin. long and nearly 

 cylindrical, pass gradually into the fronds, which are grass-like and flattened, 

 almost fleshy in texture, 3in. to 4in. long, with a slender midrib. The fertile 

 segments, solitary and somewhat upright, show from six to ten slender, 

 spreading, toothed spikes on each side. — Hooker and Greville, Icones Filicum, 

 t. 47. Hooker, Garden Ferns, t. 42. 



S. Sprucei — Spru'-ce-i (Spruce's), Hooker. 



This is a very distinct, stove species, discovered on the banks of the 

 Rio Negro. Its fronds are produced from a somewhat upright rootstock of 

 a woody nature and borne on firm, dense, erect stalks 9in. to 12in. long, 

 clothed, especially below, with rough, brownish scales. They are very thick 

 in texture, naked, 6in. to Sin. long, nearly Jin. broad at their widest part, 

 narrowed gradually downwards, and bear at their summit from one to six 

 long-stalked fertile segments ljin. to 2in. long, with the rachis spirally 

 recurved. The very numerous fertile spikes are woolly beneath. — Hooker, 

 Icones Plantarum, t. 1016. 



