ASP ID I UM. 



463 



of Northern California at an elevation of 8000ft., in which locality it was 

 first discovered by the botanists of the " Duperry's " voyage, and later on by 

 Darwin, J. D. Hooker, and others. We have it on the authority of Eaton 

 that in North America this Fern grows in loose and moist granitic soil ; the 

 rootstocks, which are very chaffy with dark brown scales, are hidden under 

 rocks, and a great many plants are found in one cluster. Mr. J. Gr. Lemmon, 

 from whom Eaton derives his information, says : "It is very abundant on 

 the side of a little valley at the headwaters of the South Fork of the Sacramento, 

 and along the southern sloping side of Mount Eddy, which rises on the 

 northern side of the valley." Its fronds, of a thick, leathery texture, 

 oblong-spear-shaped in form, 6in. to 12in. long and 2in. to 3in. broad, are 

 borne on stout stipes (stalks) Sin. to 6in. long, more or less densely clothed 

 with spear-shaped scales of a dark brown colour ; they are furnished with 

 numerous lanceolate pinna; (spear-shaped leaflets), bluntly toothed or slightly 

 three-lobed in small plants, but cut down to the midrib into slightly-toothed 

 leafits in full-grown plants. The sori (spore masses) are abundant on 

 the superior pinnae, and are placed mostly near the midveins of the lobes ; 

 they are covered by round involucres centrally affixed in the middle of 

 each sorus to the back of the fertile vein. — Eaton, Ferns of North America, 

 ii., t. 80. Hooker, Species Filicum, iv., p. 26. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, i., p. 127. 



A. (Polystichum) mueronatum — Pol-ys'-tich-um ; mu-cro-na'-tum 

 (sharp-pointed), Swartz. 

 This lovely, dwarf, close-growing, evergreen, easily- cultivated, stove 

 species is a native of Jamaica, and through the coriaceous (leathery) texture 

 of its fronds, their dark colour, and their stiff habit, somewhat resembles our 

 Holly Fern (A. Lonchitis), though more graceful in habit (Fig. 69). Its 

 elegantly-cut fronds, 1ft. to 1 ^ ft. long and I'm. to 2in. broad, are borne 

 on erect stalks 2in. to 4in. long, densely clothed with large, spear-shaped 

 scales of a reddish-brown colour. They are simply pinnate (once only 

 divided to the midrib), and furnished with numerous shortly petiolate 

 (stalked), unequal-sided, sharp-pointed pinnas (leaflets), the edges of which 

 are either entire or slightly lobed, according to the vigour of the plant. 

 These pinnas, which are distinctly auricled (eared) at the base on the 



