A Dictionary of Choice Ferns. 
ACROSTlCHVyi—coniinued. 
the terminal leaflet, twice as long as the lateral ones and 
frequently longer, is generally rooting at the point. These 
large fronds are borne on firm, upright, scaleless stalks, and 
proceed from a short-creeping, hard, woody rhizome. This 
handsome species appears to be connected witli several 
equally decorative forms which are not possessed of charac- 
ters sufficiently distinctive in themselves to be separated 
from it — A. contaminans, A. costatuin , imd A. crispatulumy 
Wallich; and A. proliferum, Hooker. 
A. viscosum. 
This stove species, of easy cultivation and very distinct 
and ornamental, has a particularly wide range of habitat, 
for it is found from Cuba to Brazil and Peru, also on the 
Himalayas. It is very variable in size, as also in nature, 
according to the influence of the habitat in which it is found, 
and also to the age of the fronds : these are often quite 
naked, and then there is great difficulty in identifying the 
plant, whose foliage is usually scaly, and often of a viscous 
nature — whence the specific name. There are some very 
large-growing forms, from which it is a matter of difficulty 
clearly to distinguish the type — A. curvans, A. dissimile, 
A. Karstenianum, and A. xanthoneuron of Kunze. In the 
commonest form under cultivation, A. viscosum is of medium 
size. Its barren fronds are entire and spear-shaped, 
pointed at their summit, but gradually narrowed towards 
their lower part, from Sin. to 12in. long only, and about 
lin. broad in their widest portion : these are of a leathery 
texture, and both their surfaces are more or less covered 
with very small sticky scales. The stalks on which the 
barren fronds are borne are from 3in. to 4in. long, firm, 
upright, and equally scaly; while the rhizome, from which 
they proceed, besides being densely covered^ with long and 
very fine chestnut-brown scales, show^s very little inclination 
to creep as in most other species. The fertile fronds, though 
smaller, are borne on longer stems than the barren ones. 
ACTINIOFTERIS. 
A small but select genus composed of one 
beautiful and distinct species of Indian origin, and 
an Australian variety of it. Both plants are recog- 
nisable by their habit resembling that of a miniature 
Fan Palm — hence the popular name of Fan Palm 
Fern. These pretty little plants are erroneously 
considered as very difficult to manage ; consequently 
they are not grown as extensively as they really 
