ADIANTUM. 



305 



A. novae- caledoniae — nov'-re-cal-e-don'-i-ai (from New Caledonia), Moore. 



This handsome, stove species, native of New Caledonia, is entirely distinct 

 from any other Adiantum in cultivation. Its fronds, which are borne on 

 slender stipes (stalks) 6in. to 9in. long, of a blackish-purple colour and 

 densely clothed with dark brown hair-like scales, are of a peculiar shape : 

 they are pedately pentagonal (in the form of a bird's foot with five 

 distinct sides) in outline, tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib) in 

 their basal part, and only twice pinnate above. The pinna 3 , (leaflets) are 

 narrow-lanceolate (narrowly spear-shaped), the larger ones being caudate 

 (ending in a tail) ; they are abundantly furnished with equally distinct 

 pinnules (leafits), coarsely toothed and irregular in size and in form, the 

 largest frequently measuring l|in. long. The colour of the pinnules is a 

 peculiar greyish-green when mature, but they are of a lovely metallic tint 

 when partly developed, and the way in which they are deeply dented and 

 overlap each other renders the plant most interesting and gives it a very 

 decorative appearance. See Plate (for which we are indebted to Messrs. 

 W. and J. Birkenhead). — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iv., p. 485. 



When subjected to the influence of a very moist stove atmosphere, the 

 fronds of this beautiful species are liable to become of a blackish colour, 

 but this may easily be avoided by allowing a little more air than is given 

 to Maidenhairs in general. 



A. oblique -truncatum — ob-li'-que-trun-ca'-tum (obliquely and suddenly 

 cut off). A synonym of A. villosum. 



A. obliquum — ob-li'-qu-um (oblique), Willdenow. 



A very interesting, stove species, of compact habit, native of the West 

 Indian Islands, British Guiana, and Guadeloupe. It is much in the way of 

 A. Kaulfussii, and differs from that species principally through its fronds being 

 of thinner texture and mostly fertile, dark green above but glaucous (bluish- 

 green) on their under-surface ; they are 9in. to 12in. long and 2in. to 4in. 

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

 but slightly hairy stalks. The plant is also quite distinct from A. Kaulfussii 

 by the disposition of its sori (spore masses), which are numerous, from 

 fourteen to sixteen on a pinnule (leafit), oblong, and situated along 

 both the upper and the lower margin, where they form almost continuous 



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