ADIANTUM. 



263 



A. C.-V. imdulatum — un-dul-a'-tum (wavy), Moore. 



This is a very elegant though somewhat delicate form, of dwarf habit ; 

 its dense fronds, which seldom exceed Gin. in length, are furnished with broad, 

 roundish pinnules (leafits) of a peculiar dark green colour, and prettily 

 undulated at the edges. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 25. 



A. cardiochlsena — car-di-och-ke'-na (having heart-shaped indusia). A 

 popular name, synonymous with A. polyphyllum. 



A. caudatum — cau-da'-tum (tailed), Linnaeus. 



This evergreen, stove species, which in appearance is very different to the 

 majority of Maidenhair Ferns, and which is exceedingly useful for growing 

 in suspended baskets, is found wild nearly everywhere through the tropics, 

 in China, Ceylon, Mauritius, the Malay Islands, Java, Madras, Cape Colony, 

 on the banks of the Niger, in the Cape de Verde Islands, &c, and even on 

 the Himalayas, where it has been collected up to 3000ft. elevation. The usual 

 length of the fronds, which are simply pinnate (only once divided to the 

 midrib), is from lft. to ljffc., when they generally root at the extremity. 

 They are provided on each side of the midrib with leaflets about Jin. long, 

 dimidiate (fully developed on one side and scarcely at all on the other), nearly 

 sessile (stalkless), with the lower line straight and horizontal, while the 

 upper, rounded, one is more or less cut, the point generally blunt, the lower 

 ones slightly stalked and wedge-shaped at the base. The leaflets are of a pale 

 dull green or greyish colour, and, like the stalks, are covered with short, 

 pale brown hairs, more abundant as they approach the crown whence 

 the fronds start. In hanging baskets this plant makes a charming object, as 

 it is not unusual to see from the same specimen three generations of plants, 

 hanging down 3ft. or more. The roundish or transversely oblong sori (spore 

 masses) are disposed on the edge of the lobes. — Hooker, Species Filicum, 

 ii., p. 13. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, iii., t. 2a. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Gardening, i., p. 25. 



A. C. Edgeworthii — Edge-worth'-i-i (Edgeworth's), Hooker. 



This plant, which is also known in commerce as A. ciliatum, is like- 

 wise a native of China and the Himalayas. It differs from the species just 



