XJT. AD1A3TOI. 
is; 
in May, and retain their freshness through the winter, if 
duly sheltered ; they are more or teas drooping, and are 
lateral and adherent to the candex. The stipes is slender, 
dark purplish-black shining, with a few narrow pointed 
scales attached to its 
extreme base, and from 
a half to two-thirds of 
its lower extremity des- 
titute of pouue. The 
fronds are of irregular 
outline, sometimes ap- 
proaching a triangular 
form, sometimes nearly 
ovate, or elongate- 
lanceolate, varying from 
six to twelve inches in 
length, twice-pinnate. 
The piniMB and pinnule^ 
are both alternate. The 
shape of the pinnules L> 
variable, but few bar- 
ing the same form ; they 
are, however, usually 
irregularly fan-shaped, 
with a wedge-shaped 
base, the fertile ones 
being more or leas 
deeply cut on the mar- 
gin, and the barren ones 
sharply serrated. The 
rachis both of the 
fronds and of the pinna- 
is slender and hair-like, 
rAdiantmn Capfllos-Veneris.] but most especially so 
are the little stalks by which the pinnules are attached : 
and when after the period of maturity the pinnules fall off. 
these capillary divisions of the rachis remain persistent 
