CHAPTER XXIV 



ANGIOPTERIS, Hoffmann. 

 (An-gi-op'-ter-is.) 



L THOUGH above sixty kinds of Angiopteris are enumerated 

 by Moore in his "Index Filicum," only one of these has 

 been recognised by Hooker and Baker as possessing suffi- 

 ciently denned characters to rank as a species : all others 

 usually known in gardens as distinct species are simply 

 varieties of it. This genus, which derives its name from aggeion, a vessel, 

 and pteris, a wing, and forms in the " Synopsis Filicum " Genus 69, 

 belongs to the Sub-order Marattiacece, which is composed of Angiopteris^ 

 JDa?icea, Gymnotheca, Kaulfussia, and Marattia. It is formed exclusively of 

 Ferns with fronds of large dimensions, and rising in a peculiar manner 

 from between two fleshy appendages. Their veins, either simple or forked, 

 are free (not running into one another). The fructification consists 

 of sessile (stalkless) capsules, opening by a slit on the inner side ; they 

 are biseriate (disposed in two rows), eight to fifteen to each pinna 

 (leaflet), set very close to one another, but not concrete, and arranged in 

 linear-oblong sori (boat-shaped spore masses) near the edge of the frond, 

 almost hiding the inferior fringed involucre or covering. 



Culture. 



All the known forms of Angiopteris are of particularly robust habit, 

 and are found growing naturally in swampy places, most of them all over 



