ASPLENIUM. 



629 



outline tapers to a slender point (Fig. 121), not so long as that of the 

 .Walking Leaf of North America, Scolopendrium (Camptosorus) rhizophyllum, 

 to which it bears a certain resemblance, but very rarely if ever rooting 

 at the point. They are of a peculiarly erect habit, somewhat leathery in 

 texture, smooth above, slightly scaly beneath, deeply pinnatifid (divided 

 nearly to the midrib) in the lower and middle portion and sinuately lobed 

 above, the long terminal portion being undulated on the margins. The sori 

 (spore masses) are mostly simple, and very commonly the lower one is situated 

 on the superior side of the lobe ; when ripe they nearly cover the back of the 

 frond — even the narrow lobes bear a sorus at each undulation of the margin, 

 — Hooker, Species Filicum, hi., p. 91. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 i., p. 133. Eaton, Ferns of North America, i., t. 8. Lowe, New and Rare 

 Ferns, t. 4b. 



A. (Euasplenium) planicaule— Eu-as-ple'-ni-um ; pla-nic-au'-le -(flat- 

 stalked), Wallich. 



A very distinct, greenhouse species, native of the Himalayas, where it . is 

 found up to 6000ft. elevation ; it is also indigenous in Ceylon and on the 

 Neilgherries, and, according to Beddome, is very common in most mountainous 

 tracts on the western side of the Madras Presidency, especially on Myhendra 

 Hill, near Berkhampore. Its fronds, 6in. to If in. long, 2m, to Bin, broad, 

 and borne on erect, greyish, nearly naked stalks 3in. to 6in. long, are 

 furnished with fifteen to twenty pairs of distinctly- stalked, horizontal leaflets, 

 about IJia. long and only Jin. broad, of a leathery texture and sharply 

 pointed, while their edge is often deeply lobed more than half-way down 

 and deeply notched. The sori (spore masses) are abundantly produced and 

 reach nearly to the edge. — Hooker, Species Filicum, hi., p. 163, t. 200b. 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 133. Beddome, Ferns of Southern 

 India, t. 139. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, v., t. 10. 



A. (Diplazium) plantagineum — Dip-laz'-i-um ; plan-ta-gin'-e-um 

 (Plantain- like), Linnosus. 

 A stove species, of small dimensions, found wild from Mexico and the 

 West Indies southward to Brazil. Its fronds, of a leathery texture, 6in. to 

 9ili. long and 2in. to 3in. broad, are borne on firm, erect stalks about 6 in. 



