114 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
ADIANTUM — continued. 
9in. to 15in. long and 4in. to Sin. broad, are produced 
from a creeping rhizome and borne on strong, upright 
stalks Gin. to 9in. long, which are densely covered with 
short hairs of a rusty colour : they are simply pinnate, 
and consist of a large terminal leaflet and six to ten lateral 
ones on each side. These leaflets are Sin. to 4in. long 
and about lin. broad, nearly equal-sided, slightly dented 
towards the point, wedge-shaped at the base, of a bright 
olive-green colour, and shining on both sides. The lower 
leaflets are sometimes slightly branched. The oblong sori 
are disposed in la continuous row along each side. A lovely 
basket subject. 
A. lunulatum. 
A very distinct and handsome, stove species, found in 
Hong-Kong, in Cochin China, on the Himalayas at an eleva- 
tion of 4000ft., southward to the Polynesian Islands land 
Tropical Australia, Madagascar, Angola, Guinea, in Tropical 
America from Mexico southward to the Organ Mountains 
in Brazil, &c. It is an easily-recognised species, of 
deciduous habit, losing its fronds about December and 
starting into growth again about the beginning of March. 
It has a peculiarly slender, pendulous habit, and is pro- 
liferous at the end of its fronds — ^so much so, that it is not 
rare to see produced from their apiceS' three generations of 
plants. When the fronds are mature, the stalks are of a 
beautiful shining black colour, while those in course of 
development are of a deep pink, and then of a light brown 
tint, quite different from those of all other species. 
A. macrophyllum. 
This elegant, stove species, native of Mexico, the West 
Indian Islands, Brazil, and Ecuador, is one of the most 
distinct Ferns in cultivation. Its large, equal-sided leaflets, 
which in the young and partly-developed fronds are beau- 
tifully tinged with red, change with age to a most pleasing 
bright green. The handsome fronds, borne on erect, nearly 
black stalks Gin. to 12in. long, are produced in great 
abundance from an underground rhizome ; they are of a 
particularly upright habit, 9in. to 15in. long and 4in. to 
8in. broad, and only once divided to the midrib. Fig. 60. 
One of the most decorative of our stove Ferns, but it re- 
quires a liberal supply of water and a shady situation, or it 
soon becomes spotted. ^Z&o-s^rm^i^m is a lovely variegated form. 
A. monochlamys. 
This exceedingly pretty and entirely distinct, dwarf, 
greenhouse species, native of Japan, though closely related 
to the Himalayan A. venustum, is clearly distinct through 
