382 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



on a shelf if in a spacious house, or near the glass if in a warm pit or low 

 house. Watering overhead is very injurious to all of them. They prefer 

 being grown in small pots to being planted out in the Fernery, and although 

 they are not what may be thought the ideal of decorative Ferns, as they 

 cannot be used for general purposes on account of their vegetation being too 

 slow, still, when grouped together or in conjunction with other Ferns of 

 dwarf habit or of medium dimensions, they present a very striking appearance. 



Anemias are usually propagated from their spores, which germinate very 

 freely, though some species of a naturally tufted habit may be increased by 

 the division of their crowns, an operation which, to be successful, should be 

 performed between the middle of March and the end of April. 



Principal Species and Varieties. 



A. adiantifolia — ad-i-ant-if-ol'-i-a (Maidenhair-leaved), Swartz. 



This very handsome, evergreen, stove species, which is perhaps the best- 

 known of the whole genus, is a native of the West Indies, being found 

 abundantly in Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, St. Domingo, Guadeloupe, also 

 in Central and South America, Southern Florida, Biscayene Bay, Guatemala, 

 and Mexico, where, according to Schott, it is found growing in pine woods 

 and on old ruins. Its fronds, which seldom exceed LJffc. in height, including 

 the very slender and very hairy stipes (stalks) on which they are borne, are 

 produced from a creeping rhizome (prostrate stem), and have their veins 

 repeatedly forked but not intermixed. They are bipinnate (twice divided to 

 the midrib), except at the base, where they are thrice pinnate : their 

 barren portion is shortly stalked, 6in. to 9in. long, 4in. to Gin. broad, deltoid 

 (in shape like the Greek delta, A), and furnished with lanceolate (spear- 

 shaped) pinnse (leaflets), the lower pair of which are opposite and the others 

 alternate (not opposite). Their pinnules (leafits) are of a leathery texture, 

 dark green on both sides, cuneate (wedge-shaped) at the base, and sharply 

 toothed on the margin, the basal ones being again divided to the midrib. 

 The fertile panicle, situated at the base of the leafy or barren portion of the 

 frond, consists of two upright, contracted segments Sin. to 4in. long, and 

 borne on slender stalks Sin. to oin. long : they are flattened, and bear two 

 rows of acorn-shaped sporangia (spore cases), provided with a terminal, 



