128 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
ALtSOPHlLt A— continued. 
perfectly smooth, at other times slightly covered with short, 
hard excrescences, is furnished with spear-shaped leaflets 9in. 
to 15in. long and Sin. to 4in. broad; the leafits, cut about 
half-way down to the midrib, are nearly stalkless, of a 
somewhat leathery texture, dark green on both sides, and 
without scales ; their ascending and entire segments are Jin. 
broad, and blunt. The small and numerous sori are disposed 
on the forking of the veins but close to the midrib. 
Fig. 64. Alsophila aspera, a West Indian species having 
large, glossy, spear=shaped scales. 
A. australis. 
Undoubtedly one of the handsomest Alsophilas in cultiva- 
tion. It is a greenhouse species, native of Tasmania and 
Australia, especially in the South. A trunk of 15ft. or 
18ft. high generally measures from 2ft. to 2Jft. in circum- 
ference, and produces a somewhat flat or spreading head of 
numerous fronds, 8ft. to 13ft. long and borne on naked stalks 
about IJft. long. Their principal leaflets, spear-shaped, about 
IJft. long and Gin. to lOin. broad, are furnished with 
numerous leafits, light green above and bluish below. Sin. to 
4in. long, sharply pointed, and divided nearly to their midrib, 
or towards the base even sometimes pinnate. The stalk and 
rachis, although not exactly spiny, are very rough to the 
