FERNS. 



373 



of the shorter fertile ones. The latter have bead or 

 uecklace-hkc pinnie, whilst in outline the former are 

 broadly-lanceolate, the narrowly-lanceolate deeply 

 pinnatifid pinna3 being very numerous, the lowest ones 

 gradually much smaller. The name Ostrich Fern is 

 given in allusion to the plume-like arrangement of 

 the divisions of the fertile fronds. 0. Germanica was, 

 it is said, introduced to British gardens by Peter 

 Collinson in 1760, and is a native of Northern and 

 Eastern Europe, North Asia, and North America. 

 The only remaining species, 0. orientalis, hails from 

 Sikkim— where it ascends to 12,000 feet above sea- 

 level — and Japan. It has ovate- oblong fronds, not 

 attenuated towards the base as in the last-named 

 species, the contracted fertile 

 ones often attaining a length 

 of two feet. 



All the Onocleas Hke a rich 

 alluvial soil and plenty of 

 moisture ; under these condi- 

 tions they attain their maxi- 

 mum development. They 

 wiU, however, grow well in 

 almost any garden soil. 



has netted veins, and 

 some pteridologists 



The Lygodiums.— The 



genus Lijcjodium belongs to 

 the Schizmicece, a sub order 

 which comprises not a few re- 

 markably handsome and ele- 

 gant ferns : one of its allies, 

 Anemia, has already been de- 

 scribed in these articles. Not 

 more than a score of species 



of Lygodium are Imown to science, and of these 

 perhaps not more than half are in cultivation. They 

 are readily recognised by their widely - scandent, 

 slender, twining stems, some of which attain a length 

 of twenty feet or more. The capsules are solitary 

 (now and then in pairs), in the a.xils of large imbri- 

 cating clasping involucres, which form spikes either 

 in separate pinnae or in lax rows along the edge of 

 the leafy ones. 



STOVE KINDS. 



L. clichotomum. — A strikingly beautiful plant in 

 all its stages ; a native of Chusan, Hong Kong, the 

 Philippines, Ceylon, and the Malayan Peninsida and 

 Islands. It is one of the most robust of the species 

 hitherto introduced, the main rachis in fully -growTi 

 specimens being about twenty feet in length. The 

 emerald-green leathery pinnules are digitate, with 

 five or six narrow lobes — sometimes once or even 

 twice forked — reaching nearly do'vs'n to the base. 

 In L. lanceolatum, from Madagascar, the pinnules are 

 a fine glossy-green, both above and below, and 

 their textui'e leathery ; they measure from four to 



OXOCLEA SENSIBILIS. 



six inches in length, and each has fi-om three to six 

 somewhat lanceolate, never cordate, segments. Z. 

 pinnatifidum resembles the first-named species in 

 habit, and is nearly as vigorous ; the pinnules 

 clothing the lower portion of the rachis are often 

 pinnate, with five to seven oblong, alternate, shortly- 

 stalked segments. The rachis is a reddish-brown 

 colour, and forms a pleasing contrast to the dull 

 light gi-een of the leathery pinnules. It occurs in 

 Hindostan from the Himalayas to Cejdon, the 

 Philippines, the Malaccas, North AustraHa, Angola, 

 and G-uinea. L. reticulatum (like L. laneeolatum) 

 on this account is placed by 

 in a genus apart. Mr. J. 

 Smith, the veteran ex-curator 

 of the Eoyal Gardens, Kew,. 

 raises it to the rank of a genus 

 under the name of Lygodic- 

 tyon, and not unfrequently it 

 will be found under this name 

 in gardens. The piimules are 

 six to nine inches long by four 

 to six inches broad, with a 

 terminal segment, and from 

 four to six nearly uniform ones 

 on each side ; in texture these 

 are not so leathery as those of 

 the foregoing species ; they 

 are dull light green above, and 

 bright green below. The rachis 

 is naked or sh ghtly hairy, some- 

 times polished. It is a native 

 of the Pol}Tiesian Islands and 

 eastern tropical Australia. 

 L. venKstum differs from the species already de- 

 scribed, in having the rachis and both surfaces of the 

 pinnules densely clothed with hairs. The pinnules 

 measure from six to twelve inches long by four to 

 six inches broad, with a terminal segment, and fi-om 

 four to twelve simple ligulate-oblong ones on each 

 side, the lower ones usually spear-shaped or pinnate 

 below. It is a native of the West Indies and 

 Mexico, to Brazil and Peru. L. voluhilc has pin- 

 nules six to twelve inches long by six to ten 

 inches broad, somewhat leathery in texture, and 

 with both surfaces either naked or slightly hairy. 

 The tenninal segment is stalked, three to six inches 

 long by one inch to one and a quarter broad, imcut 

 and ligulate-oblong in outline ; there are from thiee 

 to five similar segments on each side of the central 

 one. 



GREEX-HOrSE KIXBS. 



Perhaps the most widely-known species of the 

 genus is L. japonicum, a native of Jaj^an, Hindostan, 

 from the Himalayas to Ceylon, Java, the Philippine 

 Islands, Hong Kong, and North Australia. It may 



