98 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
ADIANTUM — continued, 
thread-like, short stialks. Th.e lower sides of the leaflets are 
entire, and usually slightly concave; the upper, or outer, 
margin is more or less incised or lobed; and the lobes 
in the American form are usually tootbed, and sometimes 
very sharply so, especially in those from Utah and Cali- 
forniia. In the fertile fronds, the teeth either disappear 
or are seen only on the upper part of the sides of the lobes, 
Fig. 54. Adiantum Capillus= Veneris daphnites, a distinct form 
having a semi=crested appearance. 
while the ends or summit-s of these lobes are occupied by 
the crescent-shaped or oblong sori, which vary in length 
according to the width of the lobe. The fronds are borne 
on stalks of a ratber slender nature, 4in. to 9in. long, 
polished, of a purplisb-black colour, and furnished ^ with a 
few scales near the base, whereas the rest of them is quite 
naked and smooth. The kidney-shaped sori are placed in 
the roundish depressions of the crenations. Whenever it 
grows luxuriantly, this Fern is more or less pendent in 
