A Dictionary of Choice Ferns. 
209 
DICKSO^IA— continued. 
long again as their leafy portion. The lower leafits 
are deltoid, and have egg-shaped divisions, cut down to 
the stalk in the lower part, with oblong, unequal-sided, 
deeply-toothed segments of a leathery texture and wedge- 
shaped at the base. The fertile fronds are so much 
contracted that there is very little membrane left between 
the sori, which are one line across and have a singlar 
covering somewhat resembling a purse. D. Culcita (usually 
called Balantium culcita), although a very strong grower, 
produces comparatively few roots ; these are of a tough, 
wiry nature, and seem to delight in an open compost 
made of two parts peat and one part chopped sphagnum, 
without any sand. The soil should at all times be kept 
very moist. Although spores are produced in great abun- 
diance, we hiave no knowledge of lany young plants having 
ever been artificially raised in this country. 
D. Lathami. 
This noble greenhouse Fern is the only instance known 
at present of an artificially-produced hybrid of arborescent 
habit. It was raised at the Birmingham Botanic Gardens 
by Mr. Latham, who states that it is the result of a 
cross effected between D. antarctica and D. arhorescens. 
It certainly possesses all the characters of a plant inter- 
mediate between these two species, and appears to have 
retained the exceptionally robust nature of the latter, 
combined with the elegant character of the former. 
D. Schiedei. 
One of the most beautiful of all known Tree Ferns, 
and very distinct. Though it thrives fairly well in a 
conservatory, it prefers stove temperature, being a native 
of Guatemala and of Mexico. The very elegantly-drooping 
fronds, oblong-triangular in shape, are frequently seen 
measuring from 6ft. to 10ft. in length. They are tri- 
pinnate, are borne on stout, brownish stalks of a very 
hiairy nature, and rise from a crown that is densely 
covered with long, silky, shining brown hairs. The oblong- 
spear-shaped leaflets, 1ft. to 2ft. long and ending in a 
very narrow point, are furnished with short-stalked, narrow 
leafits cut down quite to the stalk below ; these are again 
sub-divided into closely-set, somewhat sickle-shaped, toothed 
segments, upon each of which four to six spore masses 
are disposed parallel with the edge. The sori are peculiar, 
inasmuch as the inner valve of the involucre overtops the 
outer one. This species is highly decorative, and all the 
more attractive as its fronds, of a somewhat leathery 
texture, are of a pale yellowish-green above and beneath 
P 
