534 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



a true natural hybrid of the two. That this view is correct certainly appears 

 probable, but it can only be established by a successful attempt to produce 

 the present plant by artificial hybridising." The fronds, of a soft and papery 

 texture, produced from a short, slowly- creeping rhizome, and borne on very 

 short stalks, are composed, for about one-third of their whole length, of 

 a terminal pinna (leaflet), which ends in a long, slender point about Bin. long 

 and simply notched ; their inferior part shows a number of flattened, sessile 

 pinnas (stalkless leaflets), disposed on each side of the stalk, the upper ones 

 closely placed and connected with it by a broad wing along the midrib, and 

 the lower ones becoming gradually more distinct as they approach the base 

 of the fronds, where the lowest segments are often a little auricled above and 

 below. It is most remarkable that in this singular plant the apex of the 

 frond is often proliferous, as are also a few of the longest segments. The 

 spore masses are disposed in a single row on each side of the midrib of the 

 terminal prolongation, and similarly on the lateral segments or leaflets. — 

 Eaton, Ferns of North America, L, t. 4. Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 198. 



A. (Euasplenium) ebenum — Eu-as-ple'-ni-um ; eb'-en-um (ebony- 

 stalked), Aiton. 



This charming, greenhouse species, although given as from Ecuador and 

 Cape Colony, is a small-growing Fern essentially indigenous in North America. 

 From Eaton we gather that it grows abundantly in Canada and New England, 

 whence it spreads southward to Florida and westward to the Indian Territory 

 and Louisiana ; the same authority adds that it is found commonly on sunny 

 or partially- shaded, rocky hillsides, but that it also occurs frequently in 

 moister places. Its pretty fronds, 1ft. to 1-Jft. long and 2in. to 3in. broad, 

 are erect, and borne on remarkably short stipites (stalks) of a reddish-brown 

 or nearly black colour and polished ; they are simply pinnate (only once 

 divided to the midrib), being furnished with from twenty to forty pairs of 

 leaflets of a papery texture, sessile (stalkless), and placed closely together, 

 so much so that they often overlap each other a little at the enlarged and 

 somewhat auricled bases (Fig. 90). These leaflets are sub-falcate (nearly 

 sickle-shaped), and have, on very small plants, their margins slightly 

 toothed, but in luxuriant specimens these are deeply cut and furnished with 

 toothed lobes. Each leaflet shows a well-marked costa (midvein), close to 



