ASPLENIUM. 



663 



of its dark green fronds, 1ft, to 2ft. long, Gin. to 8in. broad, borne on firm, 

 erect, greenish stipites (stalks) 6in. to 9in. long. The many closely-placed 

 leaflets, 4in. to Gin. long, l^in. to 2m. broad, are cut down to numerous 

 pinnatifid pinnules, the lower segments of which arc again forked and hardly 

 thicker than a thread : these being of a somewhat erect nature give the 

 plant a very feathery, light appearance (Fig. 134), which is enhanced 

 by the presence of young plants, 

 with which the upper surface of 

 its fronds is entirely covered, and 

 which, when pegged down to the 

 soil, root very freely. The abundant 

 sori (spore masses) are solitary and 

 disposed on the margins of the 

 segments. This is one of the few 

 Aspleniums which do best in a 

 mixture of peat and sand without 

 any addition of loam. — Hooker, 

 Species Filicum, iii., p. 215. Nichol- 

 son, Dictionary of Gardening, i., 

 p. 135. Lowe, Ferns British and 



Fig. 734. Asple nium viviparum 

 ExOtW, V., t. 9. (much reduced). 



A. Y. nobile— no'-bil-e (noble), Henderson. 



This varietal name, for which we cannot find any authority, is used in 

 gardens for what appears to be a beautiful and more vigorous form of the 

 foregoing species, and it also requires stove treatment, It was accidentally 

 imported from New Guinea by Messrs. E. Gr. Henderson, who distributed it 

 simply as A. nobile. It is a much easier plant to cultivate than A. viviparum, 

 and it beautifully-feathery fronds, of a much more open and flat nature, 

 about l|ft. long, are of a bright, shining green and produced from a thick, 

 fleshy rhizome (prostrate stem). They are quadripinnate (four times divided 

 to the midrib), and are furnished with broad leaflets which are subdivided 

 into narrow pinnules (leafits) and thread-like segments three times as long- 

 as those of .4. viviparum and elegantly pendulous. These fronds are of 

 a pleasing, arching habit ■ their feathery appearance, as is the case with the 



