246 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



a particularly light and elegant appearance, are produced in great abundance 

 from a close, tufted crown, showing no signs of running or creeping under- 

 ground stem. They are borne on particularly slender stipes (stalks), 4in. to 

 6in. long, and their foliaged part, which at most measures 10in. in length, is 

 in the form of a triangle, somewhat narrow at the base, quadripinnate (four 

 times divided to the rachis or midrib), and furnished with distinct lateral 

 pinna? (leaflets), also of a triangular shape. The leaflets are, in their turn, 

 subdivided into numerous pinnules (leafits), of rhomboid (oblong) shape, 

 deeply notched, and tapering to the base ; the terminal pinnule is distinctly 

 cuneate (wedge-shaped), and, like the others, is borne on a very slender, 

 short, thread-like stalk. The colour of the foliage is one of the darkest greens 

 known among Adiantums. The sori (patches of spores) are disposed two to 

 four to each segment, and are round or nearly so. — Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, L, p. 24. 



A. aethiopicum — aBth-i-op'-ic-um (Ethiopian), Linnmus. 



This species, which may be grown with equal success in either the inter- 

 mediate or the warm house, has a most extensive range of habitat, being found 

 on the Cameroon Mountains, at an elevation of 7000ft., in Natal, Cape Colony, 

 Bourbon, Madagascar ; also on the Neilgherries, in New Zealand, in tropical 

 as in temperate parts of Australia ; in America, from Texas and California 

 southward to Valparaiso and Monte Video, &c. Its fronds, 1ft. to l^ft. long 

 and 6in. to 9in. broad, triangular in shape, three or four times divided to the 

 rachis (midrib), are of a soft, herbaceous texture, and are borne on stipes (stalks) 

 6in. to 9in. long, produced from slender rhizomes (underground stems). 

 They are furnished with numerous pinna? (leaflets), the lower ones 3 in. to 4in. 

 long and 2in. to 3in. broad ; these are again divided into sub-orbicular (nearly 

 round) pinnules (leafits), of a thin, transparent texture, from |-in. to Jin. 

 across, and the upper part of which is deeply lobed. The sori (groups of 

 spores) in this species are disposed in several roundish patches. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, h\, p. 37, t. 77. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 24. 



Several popular kinds, usually given as species, are by Hooker and Baker 

 considered so closely related to A. osthiopicum as to be regarded as simply 

 forms of this very variable species. These differ either in size, in habitat, or 

 in the texture of their fronds, to such an extent as to appear quite distinct from 



