ACROSTICHUM. 



223 



A. (Chrysodium) salicinum— Chry-so'-di-um ; sal-ic'-in-uni (Willow- 

 like), Hooker. 



Although its fronds attain nearly 2ft. in length, including their stalks, 

 this stove species, native of Sierra Leone, is of very little decorative value. — 

 Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 422. 



A. samoense — sam-o-en'-se (native of Samoa), Baker. 



A dwarf-growing, stove species, native of the Polynesian Islands, and one 

 which possesses only botanical interest, though particularly singular on account 

 of its fronds being densely clothed on both surfaces with brownish hairs of a 

 soft, bright silky nature. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 407. 



A. (Stenochlaena) scandens — Sten-och-he'-na ; scan'-dens (climbing), 

 John Smith. 



This very handsome stove species, very valuable as a decorative Fern, is 

 a native of South China, Ceylon, Fiji, and the Himalayas, and, according to 

 Beddome, is also found wild in moist forests in the Anamallay Mountains, 

 and, up to 4000ft. elevation, in the Sampagee Ghat (Coorg) and South Canara. 

 Its fronds, which have a particularly elegant outline and drooping habit, are 

 from 2ft. to 3ft. long, besides the firm, naked stipes (stalks), 4in. to Bin. long, 

 on which they are borne ; they are 1ft. or more broad, and simply pinnate 

 (divided only once to the midrib). The pinnae (leaflets), which are of a 

 very leathery texture, although sometimes slightly stalked and articulated, 

 are usually sessile (stalkless) ; they generally measure from 6in. to Sin. long 

 and from lin. to ljin. broad, and have their edge thickened and serrated 

 (having the appearance of a saw). The fertile pinna?, which are very seldom 

 seen on plants under artificial cultivation, though from 8in. to 12in. long, are 

 so contracted that they are seldom more than two lines broacl. See Plates 

 A and B (the first drawing, A, does not represent this plant, but another 

 cultivated at Kew under the same name. Plate B represents the true plant). — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, v., p. 249. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 i., p. 20. Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, t. 201. 



The rhizome (prostrate stem) on which the fronds are produced is very 

 long-trailing, and on that account this species is very useful for large Ferneries, 

 the more so that, although generally considered as a stove Fern, it grows 



