1 7 1 
NOTHOL/ENA. 
this genus we have two representatives in Europe, which may at once be 
roughly distinguished from any other European fern by their soft dense woolly 
or scaly covering. The genus is not a large one, comprising between thirty 
and forty species, which range over the tropical and warmer temperate regions 
of both hemispheres. It is characterised among European ferns by linear or 
long-oblong dorsal sori, coupled with the dense scaly clothing of the fronds ; 
the latter character separates it from Gymnogr amnia, to which it is otherwise 
nearly allied, and with which it is united by Milde. The species have tufted 
rhizomes, with small pinnate or bipinnate fronds, which are often, as in the 
European examples, hairy or woolly, and in other cases covered beneath 
with a farinose or silvery-white powder, as in some of the species of 
Gyntnogramma. Many of them, although small, are very ornamental : among them may be 
noted N. Hookeri, a plant with bright-green bipinnate fronds, covered beneath with a shining 
white powder ; N. tomentosa, which, as its name denotes, is woolly, the segments of the pinnules 
being very small and fringed with brown hairs ; and N. argentea, the silvery back of which is 
made more striking by the margin of dark-brown fructification with which it is bordered. 
The name Notholcena is often written Nothochlcena. This is an error ; Robert Brown, the 
founder of the genus, wrote Notholcena. Mr. C. B. Clarke regards it as derived from V/i/o?, 
“pseudo-wool,” in reference to the scales on the back of the fronds.* Mr. Bentham says “the 
contraction of 'gKalva into Icena, after the example of the Romans, has been too generally 
sanctioned by botanists in many other cases, such as Diplolcena, Eriolcena, Microlcena, etc., to be 
here rejected.” f 
NOTHOLzENA MARANTzE, Br. 
This is a plant with a densely scaly stout woody rhizome, the scales being of a bright 
reddish-brown. The stout stipites, from three to six inches in length, grow closely together, 
and, like the rachis, are densely hairy ; the bipinnate fronds vary from four to ten inches, or 
even to a foot, in length ; they are bipinnate and narrow — from an inch and a half to three 
inches across — with lanceolate pinnae composed of small entire pinnules. The fronds are 
somewhat leathery in texture, pale-green and smooth upon the upper surface, but bright-brown 
below, owing to the ferruginous scales with which they are densely covered. The sori form a 
broad border extending some way from the margin, and much concealed by the scaly covering 
of the fronds. 
N. Marantce is found upon the continent of Europe throughout the Mediterranean region, 
extending to Botzen in the Tyrol, and Hungary, and to Ardeche and Portugal ; in Spain it 
ascends upon the mountains to the height of three thousand feet, growing among stones and in 
the fissures of rocks in shady places. It occurs also in North Africa (Barbary) and Abyssinia, 
as well as in several of the African islands, such as the Cape de Verde Islands, the Azores, Madeira, 
* Trans. Linn. Soc. 2 nd series (Botany), i. 567. 
t “Flora Australiensis,” vii. 773. 
