278 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



of a pale green colour, which, although numerous, are not crowded, for they 

 are all distinctly borne on short, hair-like stalks and are of a peculiar 

 rhomboid (unequally four-sided) and cuneate (wedge-shaped) form, quite 

 intermediate between those of the two supposed parents. The intermediate 

 sub-divisions are all more or less deeply lobed on the anterior or outer side, 

 while the terminal ones are simply wedge-shaped, with two or three lobes at 

 their summit, and the basal ones are roundish or oval and narrowed into the 

 stalks. The kidney-shaped sori (spore masses), which are freely produced all 

 over the fronds, are disposed one in each of the notches situated at the 

 summit of the marginal lobes. Notwithstanding its apparently prolific 

 character, this form has not been known to reproduce itself: its propagation 

 is effected exclusively by the division of the crown,— Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, iv., p. 484. 



A. daphnites— -daph-ni'-tes (glistening). A variety of A. Capill us- Veneris. 



A. decorum — dec-o'-rum (decorous), Moore. 



This popular name is the one under which this plant is, and has been for 

 the last twenty years, most extensively known. It is, however, synonymous 

 with A. Wagneri. 



A. deflexum — de-flex' -um (deflexed). A variety of A. cuneatum. 



A. deltoideum — del-toid'-e-um (in form resembling the Greek delta, A), 

 Swartz. 



A very distinct, stove species, native of the West Indian Islands, differing 

 from all other known species by the singular shape of its pinnas (leaflets), 

 which resemble an Ivy-leaf in miniature : without, however, having a clearly- 

 defined central midrib. Its fronds, 4in. to 6in. long and about fin. broad, 

 are borne on wiry, polished, upright, dark chestnut-brown stipes (stalks) 

 Sin. to 4in. long. They are composed of a terminal lobe and numerous pairs 

 of pinnae that are distinctly stalked, hastate-deltoid (that is to say, between 

 the shape of a halbert and that of a Greek A), and either heart-shaped or 

 wedge-shaped at the base. The sori (spore masses) in this singular species 

 are disposed in interrupted lines along the sides of the pinnas, the rounded 

 extremity of which they do not reach. — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 9. 



