292 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
PELL ^ A — contimced, 
greenhouse Fern, has s-omowhiat extensive habitat, being 
found from Cape Colony northward to Natal, Ziambesi Land, 
the Mascarene and the Cape de Verde Islands, and Abys- 
sinia. The fronds, 1ft. to 2ft. long, are borne on wiry, 
erect, dark chestnut-brown, highly-polished stalks 6in. to 
12in. long; they are obiong in shape and bi- or tripinnate, 
their leaflets varying from simply pinnate to copiously 
Fig. 113. Pellaea hastata, a strong=growing and highly 
decorative species ; barren fronds only are shown. 
bipinnate. The leafits, of a soft, papery texture and yel- 
lowish-green colour, are egg-shaped when barren, except the 
terminal ones, which usually are distinctly halbert-shaped 
and undulated on their margins : these characters are much 
more conspicuous when the plant is fertile (Fig. 113 shows 
barren fronds only). The fronds are smooth on both sur- 
faces, and the sori, disposed in a continuous, marginal line, 
are provided with a somewhat narrow, thin involucre, nearly 
or quite hidden when the spores are ripe. 
