536 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



A. 



wild 



(Euasplenium) ensiforme— Eu-as-ple'-ni-um ; en-sif-or'-me (sword- 

 shaped), Wallich. 



A greenhouse species which, although growing also in Ceylon, is found 

 on the Himalayas at 10,000ft. elevation. It is also to be found on 



the Anamallay Mountains, on the 

 banks of the Toracadoo River, at 

 4500ft., and in the Sholas of the 

 Kudra Mukh (5500ft.), near Man- 

 galore. Its fronds, which are 

 lft. to Ifft. long and about fin. 

 broad, are borne on firm, erect 

 stalks lin. to 3in. long and scaly 

 below ; they taper gradually to- 

 wards their lengthened point, 

 have their edge nearly entire, and 

 their lower part very gradually 

 narrowed into the stalk, and are 

 of a coriaceous (leathery) tex- 

 ture. The comparatively broad 

 sori (spore masses) reach nearly 

 to both midrib and margin. See 

 Fig. 91 (reproduced from Col. 

 Beddome's " Ferns of Southern 

 India," by the kind permission 

 of the author). — Hooker, Species 

 Filicum, iii., p. 90. Beddome, 

 Ferns of Southern India, t. 125. 



Fig. 91. Asplenlum ensiforme 



(i nat. size) 



A. erectum— e-rec'-tum (up- 

 right). Synonymous with 

 A. lunulatum. 



A. (Euasplenium) erosum — Eu-as-ple'-ni-urn ; e-ro'-suin (bitten), 

 Linnceus. 



A stove species, native of the West Indies, with fronds 6in. to 12in. 

 long, 4in. to Sin. broad, and borne on firm, erect stalks 6in. to 9in. long 



