233 



A. Yillosum — vil-lc/-sum (clothed with long, weak hair), Swartz. 



A pretty, dwarf, stove species, found in a wild state from Mexico to 

 Cuha and Peru. The barren fronds, Gin. to 9in. long and lin. to ljin. 

 broad, are simple (undivided), lanceolate (spear-shaped), undulated, and of a 

 pale green colour : they are of a thin, flaccid texture, and have both their 

 surfaces, as also their edge, more or less scaly. The fertile fronds, of similar 

 shape, are of much smaller dimensions. Both kinds of fronds are articulated 

 (jointed) near the base of the stipes (stalks), which are produced from a 

 short rhizome (prostrate stem) of a woody nature, densely clothed with bright 

 brown scales. This is a very variable species : among the principal deviations 

 from the type may be named the thin-textured A. Plumieri of Fee, the small 

 J., setosum of Liebmann, and the robust A. undulatum of Willdenow. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, v., p. 225. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 20. 

 Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, vii., t. 54. 



A. (Gymnopteris) Yirens — Gym-nop'-ter-is ; vir'-ens (green), Wallich. 



This stove species, of particularly robust constitution and decorative 

 habit, is a native of Fernando Po, Sierra Leone : it is also found from the 

 Himalayas to Ceylon, Formosa, and Moulmein. Its barren fronds, of a 

 coriaceous (leathery) texture and with both surfaces naked, are from 2ft. to 

 3ft. long, often 1ft. broad, and furnished on each side with sessile (stalkless) 

 pinna3 (leaflets) 6in. to Sin. long and about lin. broad, the edge of 

 which is usually bluntly lobed, though it sometimes has a tendency to become 

 sinuate (uneven) ; the terminal pinna, twice as long as the lateral ones and 

 frequently longer, is generally rooting at the point. These large fronds are 

 borne on firm, upright stipes (stalks), which are devoid of scales, and which 

 proceed from a short- creeping rhizome (prostrate stem) of a hard, woody 

 nature. This handsome species appears to be connected with several equally 

 decorative forms which are not possessed of characters sufficiently distinctive 

 in themselves to be separated from it. Among these are A. terminans 

 and A. contaminans of Wallich ; A. crispatulum, equally of Wallich, with 

 pinnee (leaflets) narrow, crisped, and of a very leathery texture ; A. proliferum 

 of Hooker, with broad leaflets ; A. costatum of Wallich, with pinnse Sin. to 

 12in. long, 2in. to 3in. broad, and tinged with red. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 v., p. 262. 



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