614 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



texture of its ample fronds, by their black stalks, and by the shorter 

 spore masses. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 240. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, i., p. 132. 



A. (Athyrium) Michauxii — Ath-yr'-i-um ■ Mich-aux'-i-i (Michaux's), 

 Sprengel. 



This very handsome, hardy species is a native of North America. 

 Its fronds, which are deciduous (die down in the winter), are from 

 lft. to 2ft. long, Sin. to 9in. broad, and borne on stalks 4in. to Sin. long 

 and of a light claret-colour; they are of erect habit and twice or three times 

 pinnate. The leaflets, of a thin, papery texture and deep green colour, are 

 spear-shaped and divided into oblong, sharply-pointed leafits that are again 

 cleft into deeply-toothed segments. The abundant sori (spore masses) are 

 sub-lunate (half-moon- shaped) and their indusium (covering) is fringed on the 

 free margin. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 132. Lowe, Ferns 

 British and Exotic, v., t. 37. 



A. (Euasplenium) monanthemum — Eu-as-ple'-ni-um ; mon-anth'- 

 em-um (one -flowered), Linnams. 

 This exceedingly pretty, greenhouse species is a native of the temperate 

 regions of both hemispheres, being found abundantly in Madeira, the Azores, 

 Cape Colony, and also along the Ancles of Chili. Its simply-pinnate fronds, 

 lft. to Lift, long and barely lin. broad, borne on polished, chestnut-brown 

 stalks seldom more than 2in. long, are of erect habit and furnished with 

 twenty to thirty pairs of stalkless leaflets of a leathery texture, of 

 a brilliant green colour, and disposed horizontally. These leaflets, about Jin. 

 long and Jin. deep, are of a peculiar dimidiate form, being fully developed 

 on one " side of the mid vein and scarcely at all on the other ; they are 

 rounded at their extremity (which, like their upper side, is notched), suddenly 

 narrowed at the base, and often eared ; their lower side is more or less cut 

 away in a straight or, in the lower ones, decurved line, and they are so 

 closely placed as to be in some cases almost overlapping. Instead of being 

 proliferous at their extremity or on their upper surface, the fronds of this 

 species possess the peculiarity of producing little bulbils at the axils of the 

 basal pair of leaflets only (Fig. 117), being in that respect different from most 



