ADIANTUM. 



313 



plant one of the most telling Ferns for the conservatory, as it is later on 

 for the rockery and shaded nook outside. 



A. pentadactylon — pent-ad-ac'-tyl-on (five-fingered). A variety of the 

 well-known A. trapeziforme, 



A. peruvianum — per-u-vi-a'-num (Peruvian), Klotzsch. 



This very fine and well-marked, Peruvian, stove species, which by 

 the size and shape of its pinnules (leafits) is readily distinguished from all 

 others, is undoubtedly one of the most ornamental of all the known large- 

 growing Maidenhairs. Its ample and gracefully-pendent fronds, which are 

 produced from a thick, underground, running rhizome (prostrate stem), are 

 borne on stout, upright, black, polished stipes (stalks) 9in. to 18in. long and 

 of a very wiry nature. Their leafy portion grows to a length of from 2ft. to 

 3ft., and is almost triangular in outline and elegantly arched. These fronds 

 are simply pinnate (once divided to the midrib) on two-thirds of their total 

 length, but they usually have at the base from one to three branches, 

 some of which are occasionally again slightly divided. The pinnules are 

 2in. or more broad, ljin. deep, unequally ovate (irregularly egg-shaped) in 

 form, wedge-shaped at the base, and finely toothed and lobed round the 

 upper and outer edges. When mature, these pinnules, which are borne on 

 short though perfectly distinct footstalks, are of a beautiful dark green colour, 

 contrasting most agreeably with the soft metallic hue of the fronds in course 

 of development and the pale green tint of those newly expanded. The sori 

 (spore masses), somewhat varying in length but usually oblong in form, 

 are disposed in interrupted patches along the whole of the anterior margins 

 of the fertile pinnules. See Plate (for which we are indebted to Messrs. 

 J. Veitch and Sons). — Hooker, Species Filicum, ii., p. 35, t. 81c. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 27. 



A. Phyllitidis— Phyl-li'-tid-is (Phyllitis-like), /. Smith. 



This stove species, native of Guiana and Eastern Peru, somewhat 

 resembles A. lucidum, but the pinnse (leaflets) are fewer in number, broader, and 

 of a thicker and more leathery texture. Its fronds, borne on upright, nearly 

 black, polished, strong stalks 6in. to 12in. long, are about 1ft. long and 

 3in. to 6in. broad, simply pinnate (only once divided to the midrib), furnished 



2 s 



