624 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



A. o. Lyallii — Ly-all'-i-i (Lyall's), Moore. 



A sub-variety of the preceding, equally native of New Zealand, with 

 fronds ljft. long, 9in. broad, furnished with spear-shaped leaflets 6in. long, 

 3in. broad, and of a thin, papery texture. In the extreme form, the 

 leaflets are cut down into deeply-toothed pinnules (leafits), which are wedge- 

 shaped at the base and distinctly stalked. — Hooker, Flora of New Zealand, 

 t. 77 ; Synopsis Filicum, p. 207. 



A. (Euasplenium) obtusifolium— Eu-as-ple'-ni-um ; ob-tu-sif-or-i-um 



(obtuse-leaved), Linnceus. 

 A stove species, of medium growth, having a wide range of habitat, 

 as it is found from Mexico and the West Indies to South Brazil. Its 

 simply-pinnate fronds, 1ft. to l^ft. long and 4in. to 6in. broad, borne on 

 erect, naked stalks Gin. to 9in. long and of a dark green colour, are 

 furnished with from twelve to twenty pairs of stalked, horizontal leaflets 

 Sin. to 3in. long, Jin. broad, of a thin, papery texture and dark green in 

 colour; these leaflets have their edge slightly undulated and their upper 

 side distinctly eared at the base and then suddenly narrowed. The 

 distant sori (spore masses) are disposed in two regular rows and fall short 

 of the edge. — Hooker, Species Filicum, iii., p. 119, t. 169. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 132. 



A. (Darea) obtusilobum — Da'-re-a ; ob-tu-sil'-ob -um ( obtusely -lobed), 

 Hooker. 



This is a very pretty, stove species, of dwarf dimensions, native of the 

 New Hebrides, and one which, on account of its very peculiar mode of 

 growth, is readily distinguished from all other known Aspleniums. In this 

 case, instead of the proliferation being, as is usual in many Aspleniums, 

 located at the extremity of the fronds, it only shows itself on the slender, 

 flagelliform (whip-shaped) growths which start from amongst the fronds at 

 the base of the plant (Fig. 120). These runners, which have all the 

 appearance of undeveloped fronds and which extend to fully 1ft. long, bear 

 at a distance of about every 3in., where they appear as if articulated, 

 a proliferous bud : this, even without its being brought into immediate contact 

 with the soil, produces a young plant, from the base of which several runners 



