304 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
P O L Y PO D I \JM— continued. 
by their conspicuous venation; they are produced from a 
woody rhizome clothod with egg-shaped scales of a dull 
brown colour, and are from 1ft. to 3ft. long, 3in. to 4in. 
broadj and stalkless. The low^er part of the fronds is 
broadly winged to the very base; their extremity is some- 
times sharp-pointed, but more generally bluntish; they are 
mostly simple, though occasionally pinnatifid or deeply lobed 
and crowded together, of a leathery texture, and pale green 
in colour. The very numerous dark, reticulated veins ter- 
minate before they reach the edge of the fronds. The 
small and very abundant sori sometimes cover the whole of 
the under-surface, upon which they are irregularly scat- 
tered. In gardens this species is frequently. confounded with 
P. Heracleum. 
P. pectinatum. 
One of the prettiest stove species' in cultivation, this 
Fern is also know^n as P. Wageneri. It is a native of the 
West Indies, Mexico, Brazil, &c. The usual dimensions of 
the fronds, which are produced from a stout, scaly, under- 
ground rhizome, are 1ft. to 2ft. in length and 2in. to Gin. in 
breadth ; they are cut to the rachis into numerous closely-set, 
horizontal, entire leaflets, lin. to Sin. long, of a soft, 
papery texture, and of a deep, dark green colour. The 
rich yellowish-brown sori are disposed in long rows, midway 
between the midrib and the edge. 
P. persicsefoUum. 
Thiis handsome, strong-growing, stove species, native of 
Java, is the P. cuspidatum of Blume. It closely resembles 
the better-known P. suhauriculatum, from which it is readily 
distinguished by the leaflets being narrowed at the base and 
the lower ones distinctly stalked. The abundant and pro- 
minent spore masses are distinctly immersed. 
P. Phegopteris. 
This handsome and interesting, hardy species, botani- 
cally known as Phegopteris polypoclioides, is the common 
" Beech Fern,'' a species with a range of habitat extending 
from Iceland and Lapland to Japan, Etruria, and Greece, 
and from Greenland southward to the United States of 
America. It is difficult to understand why this Fern should 
bear a popular appellation so singularly inapplicable, for 
the name has no reference to either its shape or it® haunts. 
The fronds are 6in. to 9in. long, 4in. to Gin. broad, and 
somewhat deltoid in shape; they are borne on slender, 
naked stalks Gin. to 9in. long, and are cut down, nearly to 
the rachis into close, blunt, entire or slightly-toothed lobes. 
The lowest or basal pair of lobes of each frond are suddenly 
