198 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEXIXG. 



are slender and smooth, four to six inclies long, and 

 the lanceolate fronds six to twelve inches long, by an 

 inch and a half to two inches broad. The texture is 

 less firm than that of the two preceding species ; the 

 specific name comes from the fronds being fre- 

 quently terminated by a long entire point. 



D. media, of which there are numerous forms, both 

 wild and of garden origin, is found in the Poly- 

 nesian Islands, Australia, and Xew Zealand. It is 

 very closely allied to the last species, of which it 

 is perhaps merely a variety. 



pale green, firm-textured fronds, rather less than a 

 foot in length, contrasting markedly with the wiry, 

 polished blackish stipes, the bases of which are 

 clothed with fine woolly reddish-brown scales. 



P. atropurpurea has glaucous, somewhat leathery 

 fronds, varjdng both in cutting and outline. In size 

 the}' range from four to twelve inches in length by 

 two to six inches in breadth; sometimes they are 

 simply pinnate, at other times the smooth pinnas are 

 divided into several pinnules. This ranges from 

 sub-arctic Korth America to the Andes of Meco\ a, 



DOODIA CAUDATA. 



The Pellaoas.— In general aspect the Fclheas 

 ■closely resemble the Cheilcaithes ; the habit of growth 

 is the same in both, but the quite continuous invo- 

 lucre, formed of the more or less changed edge of 

 the frond, renders any Pellcea easy enough to dis- 

 tinguish when in fruit from Cheilantlies. The geo- 

 graphical distribution is somewhat alike in both 

 genera; the species occur in both northern and 

 southern hemispheres, many extending into the 

 tropics. Probably hardly more than a dozen of the 

 upwards of fifty species known to science, exist at 

 the present time under cultivation in this country. 

 The glaucous tints of several are especially pleasing, 

 and as they require but little space and — those which 

 are described below at any rate — succeed in a cool 

 house, there are few of the smaller- growing ferns 

 more desirable.. 



P. Alabamensis, a native of Alabama, Georgia, and 

 Tennessee, has ovate-lanceolate, twice or thrice-cut, 



where it has been found at elevations of 8,000 to 

 10,000 feet above sea-level. 



P". consobrina is a strong-growing species, with 

 strong, erect, naked, dark brown polished stipes, and 

 glabrous, leathery, divided fronds six to twelve 

 inches long by four to nine inches broad. It is a 

 native of both North and South Africa, and the 

 Mascarene Islands. 



P. cordata. — The polished straw-coloured stipes of 

 this species form a striking contrast to the heart- 

 shaped segments of the glaucous, firm-textured 

 fronds. The habit is erect, and the plant attains the 

 height of a foot or more. It occiirs from Mexico 

 and Arizona southward along the Andes to Peru. 

 The fcxuosa is of a rather pendulous habit 



of growth, and is better suited than the type for 

 cultivation in hanging baskets. 



P. hastata has wiry, erect, dark chestnut-brown 

 stipes, and twice or thrice-cut fronds, sometimes as 



