A Dictionary of Choice Ferns. 
207 
Dicksonias of arborescent habit are invariably 
propagated from their spores, which they produce 
in great abundance,^ and which germinate very 
freely. Those species which are provided with 
rhizomes may be increased by the division of those 
organs, an operation which is best done in March 
or April ; but when required in large quantities, it is 
found more advantageous to propagate them from 
spores in the usual way. 
D. antarctica. 
This magnificent greenhouse species^ native of Eastern 
Australia and Tasmania, is a universal favourite. Though 
it is the commonest of all the arbor.es€ent Ferns in cul- 
tivation, it always attracts special attention, and is much 
admired on account of its trunk, which, although varying 
considerably in thickness, is generally proportionate to its 
height. Although it is said to attain the height of 35ft., 
the handsomest specimens that one usually meets with 
measure from 18ft. to 20ft. high. Its massive fronds, 3ft. 
to 6ft. long, 2ft. to 3ft. broad in the centre, and borne 
on stalks barely 1ft. long, which in their young state are 
densely covered with narrow, fibrous scales of a dark 
purple-brown colour, are tripinnate, spear-shaped, and, 
when fully developed, furnished with thirty to forty pairs 
of fully pinnate leaflets. The central leaflets are 1ft. to 
l^ft. long and 4in. to 5in. broad; their leafits, about ^in. 
broad and of a leathery texture, are stalkless, of a rich 
shining-green colour above, paler beneath, and sub-divided 
into oblong, deeply-cleft segments, the sori being disposed 
six to ten on the lowest only. These sori, globose in 
form and produced on the extremities of the smaller veins, 
are small but numerous, and their covering is of a leathery 
texture. D. antarctica is a large and rapid grower, easily 
cultivated, and requiring very little cultural attention. It 
is admirably adapted for the decoration of the conservatory, 
whether planted out or grown in a pot or tub. 
D. Barometz. 
A handsome greenhouse species, which, on account of 
the singular appearance of its decumbent, massive, hairy 
rhizome, is known under the popular name of Vegetable 
Lamb ; it is a native of Assam, China, and the Malayan 
Peninsula and Islands. The handsome fronds, of a leathery 
texture and 6ft. to 8ft. long, are tripinnate and tri- 
angular in shape. The lower leaflets, 1ft. to 2ft. long and 
Gin. to 12in. broad, have their leafits narrow, sharp- 
pointed, and cut down within a short distance from the 
