DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SPECIES 
24 7 
gardener to J. E. Wood, Esq., of Grahamstown. It was found 
in the mountains in the district of Bedford by Miss Paradise, 
and is named after that lady at Mr Juby’s request. Of the 
numerous new forms nearly allied to A. aethiopicum , venustum , 
and cunecitum, its nearest ally is the Himalayan A. Wattii 
Bkr. (_ Journ . Linn. Soc., vol. 18, 381.);” 
A specimen named A. Paradiseae Bkr in the Albany 
Museum Herbarium from Bedford Mts appears to be A. 
capillus-veneris, small and fertile, and plants shown me in 
1892 by Mr Juby as being what he had sent to the Gardeners' 
Chronicle also had that appearance. 
A. Wattii Bkr., referred to above by Baker, has been 
placed under A. capillus-veneris by Christensen, who still 
maintains A. Paradiseae Bkr, but I doubt its distinctness. 
137. Adiantum Poiretii Wilkstr. 
Plate 123. Fig. 1. Nat. size, fertile, b Pinna, barren. 
Fig. 2. Variety, nat. size, and magnified. 
Rhizome very long and slender, subterranean, slightly 
branching, and set with grey or afterwards nearly black 
lanceolate scales. Frond three-pinnate, ovate-deltoid, thinly 
herbaceous, light green, but not glaucous, six to nine inches 
long, three to five inches broad, with four to five pairs of 
alternate, rather distant pinnae, which are compactly deltoid, 
two-pinnate, or occasionally three-pinnate. Pinnules small, 
shortly stalked, widely cuneate, one to three lines broad and 
long, broadest at the top ; entire or two lobed, each lobe 
bearing a crescent-shaped sorus sunk into a deep hollow. 
When not fertile the pinnules are larger, more rounded below, 
and finely serrated round the outer edge. Stipe three inches 
long, at first thickly set with chaffy scales, afterwards like 
the rachis and petioles, chestnut brown and shining, but very 
herbaceous in texture, and fragile. 
On the pinnae the rachis is almost hid from below by the 
overlapping first pinnule on the upper side of each ultimate 
pinna. 
A variety differs from the more usual form in having 
rather larger pinnules, with the sorus quite reniform, and 
