156 Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
ASPLiEiSlXJyi— continued, 
A. caudatum. 
A very interesting and highly-decorative stove species, 
native of India, Polynesia, Java, Brazil, Ecuador, &c. Its 
fronds, l^ft. to 2ft. long, 4in. to Sin. broad, and borne on 
firm stalks 4in. to Gin. long, densely clothed with fine, small, 
brown scales, are composed of from twenty to thirty pairs 
of leaflets Sin. to 4in. long and comparatively narrow, sel- 
dom lin. broad, elongated, spear-shaped, usually opposite, 
and pinnatifid; these leaflets are broadest at the base and 
attenuated at their extremity, with their edge deeply 
toothed and their two sides unequal, the upper one being 
eared and narrowed suddenly, and the lower one very 
obliquely truncate at the base. The fronds are of nearly 
the same breadth throughout, except near the apex, where 
they suddenly become narrower and terminate in a tail-like 
appendage, usually bearing one solitary bulbil, or some- 
times two, from which the plant may be readily propagated. 
Its sori are of a bright reddish-brown colour when mature, 
disposed on either side of and parallel to the midvein, along 
the whole length of which they form a close double row; 
besides these, one or more, usually not so bold, run longi- 
tudinally along the segments and at a slight angle to those 
near the midvein. 
A. Ceterach. 
This species, of dwarf habit, generally known as Ceterach 
officinarum , and popularly called Scaly Ceterach, Scaly 
Spleenwort, or Scale Fern, is of a very cosmopolitan charac- 
ter, for, besides being essentially a British Fern^ it is also 
known to bo indigenous throughout Europe, Northern Asia, 
British India, &c. The ''scales'^ giving rise to the popular 
names are situate on the under-surface of the leathery 
fronds. The fronds, 4i.n. to Gin. long and lin. 
or less broad, lare cut down nearly or quite to the 
rachis into alternate^ blunt, nearly entire, roundish lobes, 
with a rounded depression between them. These fronds are 
produced in great abundance from a close, central crown, 
and, although they frequently shrivel up completely during 
the dry weather, as also during the winter, they spread out 
afresh as soon as the plant is exposed to a certain degree of 
moisture. Fig. 4, p. 7. 
A. C. aureum. 
This charming Fern, also known as Ceterach canariensis 
of Willdenow, although usually termed a species, is un- 
doubtedly only a large variety of A. Ceterach; it differs 
in its much more vigorous habit and also in the disposition 
