A Dictionary of Choice Ferns. 
259 
^KPHRODIVM— continued. 
(Fig. 104), and sometimes 1ft. long and pinnate, with 
similarly pinnatifid leafits, are of a soft, papery texture 
and of a bright green colour. The sori, copious, and 
generally disposed at a little distance from the edge of the 
leafits, are covered by a flat involucre. 
N. erythrosorum. 
This greenhouse species, native of Japan and China, 
produces from a thick, underground-creeping stem, broadly 
spear-shiaped fronds, 1ft. to l^ft. long and Sin. to 12in. 
broad, borne on stalks 6in. to Din. long, and more or less 
Fig. 104. Nephrodium diss^ctum, a strong=growing, handsome 
widely=distributed species. 
densely clothed with narrow scales of a dark brown or 
blackish colour. The leaflets are spear-shaped, and the 
lowest, which are also the largest, frequently measure 6in. 
long and l^in. broad; they are cut down to the stalk below 
into oblong, bluntish leafits 2in. to Sin. broad, and with 
slightly-toothed edges. The texture, though of a papery 
nature, is firm, and both surfaces are naked. The sori are 
disposed near the midrib, six to nine to a pinnule, and are 
covered by flat involucres of a bright red hue when young — 
hence the specific name. It has proved perfectly hardy in 
London; but it becomes deciduous. When treated as a cool 
indoor subject, its magnificent fronds, of a beautiful bronzy 
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