234 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



A. (ElaphogloSSUm) YiSCOSUm — El-aph-og-los'-sum ; vis-co'-sum 

 (clammy), Svmrtz. 



This stove species, of easy cultivation and very distinct and ornamental, 

 lias a particularly wide range of habitat, for it is found wild from Cuba to 

 Brazil and Peru, also on the Himalayas, whence its presence is noted to 

 Ceylon, Java, and the Philippine Islands, besides having been gathered in 

 the Seychelle and Mascarene Islands, Fernando Po, Angola, &c. It is 

 very variable in size, as also in nature, according to the influence of the 

 habitat in which it is found, and also to the age of the fronds : these are 

 often quite naked, and then there is great difficulty in identifying the plant, 

 whose foliage is usually furfuraceous (covered with scurfy scales), and often 

 of a viscous nature (coated with a sticky, tenacious juice). There are some 

 very large -growing forms, from which it is a matter of difficulty to clearly 

 distinguish the typical species : among these are A. curvans, A. dissimile, 

 A. Karstenianum, and A. xanthoneuron of Kunze. In the commonest 

 form amongst subjects in cultivation, A. viscosum is of medium size. 

 Its barren fronds are entire (undivided) and lanceolate (spear-shaped), 

 pointed at their summit but gradually narrowed towards their lower part, 

 from Sin. to 12in. long only, and about lin. broad in their widest portion : 

 these are of a coriaceous (leathery) texture, and both their surfaces are 

 more or less covered with viscid (sticky) scales of very small dimensions. 

 The stipes (stalks) on which the barren fronds are borne are from Sin. to 

 4in. long, firm, upright, and equally scaly ; while the rhizome (prostrate 

 stem), from which they proceed, besides being densely covered with long 

 and very fine scales of a dark chestnut-brown colour, shows very little 

 inclination to creep as in most other species. The fertile fronds, though 

 smaller, are borne on longer stems than the barren ones. — Hooker, Species 

 Filicum, v., p. 220. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 20. 



A. (Chrysodium) Wallii — Chry-so'-di-um ; Wall'-i-i (Wall's), Baker. 



A stove species, of small dimensions and of purely botanical interest ; 

 native of Ceylon. Its barren fronds, almost stalkless, of a thin but rigid 

 texture, Sin. to 9in. long and less than Jin. broad, are narrowed to both 

 ends. The filiform (thread-like) fertile ones, 6in. to Sin. in length, are long- 

 stalked. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 523. 



