ADIANTUM. 



297 



A. lucidum — lu'-cid-um (shiny), Swartz. 



A distinct, stove species, of medium growth, native of the West Indian 

 Islands, Panama, and Brazil. The fronds, 9in. to 15in. long and 4in. to 8in. 

 broad, are produced from a creeping rhizome (prostrate stem) and borne on 

 strong, upright stipes (stalks) Gin. to 9in. long, which are densely covered 

 with short hairs of a ferruginous (rusty) colour : they are simply pinnate 

 (only once divided to the midrib) and consist of a large terminal pinna 

 (leaflet) and six to ten lateral ones on each side. These pinnae are 3in. to 

 4in. long and about lin. broad, nearly equal-sided, slightly dented towards 

 the point, wedge-shaped at the base, of a bright olive-green colour, and 

 shining on both sides. The lower leaflets are sometimes slightly branched. 

 The oblong sori (spore masses) are disposed in a continuous row along 

 each side. — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 4, t. 79c. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Gardening, i., p. 27. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, hi., t. 4a. 



A. Luddemannianum — Lud-dem-an-ni-a'-num (Luddemann's). A 

 specially striking crested variety of A. cuneatum. 



A. lunulatum — lu-nul-a'-tum (crescent-leaved), Burmann. 



This is a very distinct and handsome, stove species, of exceptionally 

 widespread habitat, for it is found in Hong-Kong, in Cochin China, on 

 the Himalayas at an elevation of 4000ft., southward to the Polynesian Islands 

 and Tropical Australia, Madagascar, Angola, Guinea, in Tropical America 

 from Mexico southward to the Organ Mountains in Brazil, &c. It is 

 an easily-recognised species, of deciduous habit, losing its fronds about 

 December and starting into growth again about the beginning of March. 

 It has a peculiarly slender, pendulous habit, and is proliferous at the end 

 of its fronds — so much so, that it is not rare to see produced from their 

 apices three generations of plants. The fronds, which spring from a tufted 

 crown and are borne on wiry, flexible stipes (stalks) 6in. to 12in. long, 

 are simply pinnate (only once divided to the midrib), from lOin. to 15in. 

 long and about 2in. broad. The pinnee (leaflets), which are about lin. 

 broad and lin. deep, are of a bright green colour, sub-dimidiate (nearly 

 fully developed on one side and scarcely at all on the other), their lower 

 edge being nearly in a line with the short stalks on which they are borne ; 

 their upper edge is rounded and, like the sides, usually more or less lobed. 



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