498 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



A. (Darea) appendiculatum— Da'-re-a ; ap-pen-dic-ul-a'-tum (having 

 an appendage), PresJ. 

 This greenhouse species, native of Australia and Tasmania, is closely 

 related to the popular A. bulbiferum. Its fronds, of a dull, heavy green- 

 colour, are from 1ft. to l|ft. long, lanceolate (spear-shaped), sub-tripinnate 

 (nearly three times divided to the midrib), and furnished with oblong, 

 pointed pinnae (leaflets), the extremity of which is usually proliferous. The 

 stalk and its ramifications are winged and clothed with scales, which round 

 the rhizome (prostrate stem) are very dark. The bold and oblong sori 

 (spore masses) are disposed one on each pinnule (leafit) ; they eventually 

 become confluent, and cover the whole under-surface of the pinnules. — Lowe, 

 Ferns British and Exotic, v., t, 18. 



A. (Diplazium) arborescens— Dip-laz'-i-um ; ar-bor-es'-cens (tree-like), 

 Mettenius. 



This is a gigantic, stove species, native of the Mauritius, Bourbon, and 

 Madagascar Islands. Its large and comparatively finely-divided fronds, 3ft. to 

 4ft. long and 2ft. to 3ft. broad, are borne on strong, erect, smooth stipes 

 (stalks), which are produced from a caudex (stem) growing in an oblique 

 direction. They are furnished with numerous pinnee (leaflets), the lower ones 

 usually being from 1ft. to lift, in length and from 4in. to 6in. broad ; 

 these in their turn are subdivided into pinnules (leafits) fully 3in. long and 

 -fin. broad, and terminating in a tapering point. The leafits are of a soft, 

 papery texture, and have their edge cut down two-thirds of the Avay to the 

 stalk into nearly entire lobes ^in. deep and Jin. broad. The lower sori 

 (spore masses) are fully Jin, in length.— Hooker, Species Filicum, hi., p. 256. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 128. 



A. (Euasplenium) arcuatum — Eu-as-ple'-ni-um ; ar-cu-a'-tum (bent 

 like a bow), Liebmann. 

 A very pretty, greenhouse species, native of Mexico, and closely related 

 to the better-known A. monanthemum, of which it has all the appearance of 

 being a smaller form, for its fronds are simply pinnate (once divided to the 

 midrib) and are furnished with leaflets of the same shape as those of that 

 species, and the stalks on which they are borne, though of much smaller 



