ADIANTUM. 



293 



6in. to 9in. long, are composed of a terminal pinna (leaflet) and of two to 

 four lateral ones on each side, the lowest pair of which sometimes bear two 

 to four pinnules (lea-fits) each. The pinnules are from 3in. to 4in. long, about 

 lin. broad, nearly equal-sided except at the base, and almost entire. The 

 sori (spore masses) are disposed in continuous lines along both edges of 

 the pinnules. This is one of the few Adiantums with veins anastomosing 

 (intermixing), and the texture of the fronds being thin and paper-like, these 

 veins distinctly show a sort of network which is almost unique in the genus. 

 — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 7. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 



k p- 26. 



A. hians — hi'-ans (gaping), Moore. 



An ornamental, stove Maidenhair, native of the South Pacific Islands, 

 with triangular fronds about lOin. long and tripinnate (three times divided to 

 the midrib). The upper pinnae (leaflets), which are egg-shaped and borne 

 on short stalks, and the almost stalkless lower ones, are both furnished with 

 pinnules (leafits) of variable form, but mostly roundish or balloon-shaped, 

 bearing at their rounded summit one or two large, broadly-gaping sori 

 (spore masses). — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iv., p. 484. 



A. hirtum— hir ; -tum (shaggy), Klotzsch. 



A very handsome, though little-known, tropical American, stove species, 

 whose habitat ranges from Panama and Guiana southward as far as Peru 

 and Brazil. Its fronds, closely and regularly branched like those of the 

 popular A. formosum, are borne on wiry, upright, polished stalks of a dark 

 chestnut-brown colour. They are composed of a terminal pinna (leaflet) 

 and of several pairs of erecto-patent (upright and spreading) lateral ones, 

 all of which are furnished with numerous pinnules (leafits) of sub-coriaceous 

 (almost leathery) texture and whose upper margin is bluntly rounded and 

 finely toothed. These pinnules are closely set together : the lower ones are 

 slightly stalked and the others quite sessile (stalkless) ; their under- surface 

 is slightly, and their stalks densely, hairy. The venation, though fine, is 

 prominent. The sori (spore masses) are small, numerous, oblong, and very 

 close : they are disposed in small lobes on the upper and outer margin. — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 20, t. 82a. 



