304 
THE FERN WORLD 
fibrous rootlets. The fronds — thrown up in clusters — have 
a somewhat short reddish stipes, the reddish colour being 
also continued a little way along the lower side of the 
rachides. They vary in length from one or two to four or 
six inches, are thick and leathery in texture, and on their 
upper side are of a dull green. The general form of the leafy 
part of the frond is oblong — hence the common name of the 
species. It may be described to be lance-shaped or narrowly 
egg-shaped, broadest in the middle, tapering towards the 
base and to a blunt point at the apex. It is pinnate or once 
divided, the lowest pinnae being usually set along the rachis 
in opposite pairs, but higher up in the frond, the pinnae are 
placed in alternation on opposite sides of the rachis. They 
are oblong in shape or somewhat egg-shaped — terminating in 
a blunt point at their apices — and are pinnatifid, or deeply 
cleft into lobes, the incisions reaching down almost to the 
mid-veins of the pinnae. The venation is somewhat in- 
distinct, owing to the thick and almost opaque texture of 
the pinnules. From the mid-veins running along the pinnae, 
there are sometimes single and sometimes branched venules 
proceeding into the pinnules, and bearing the soil near the 
margins of the latter. Over the whole surface of the fronds, 
underneath as well as on the upper side, are scattered a 
number of scales or bristles and white shining hairs. These 
scales and hairs are likewise continued along on both sides 
of the stipes and rachis, and are so thickly scattered on 
the under surface of the frond as to give quite a woolly 
appearance to it, and to form a sort of snug covering under 
which the indusiate spore cases lie. When the frond has 
reached its maturity, the scales and hairs turn from a 
shining white or greenish white colour to a light brown 
colour. A curious arrangement of the stipes must be 
noticed. A little way above the crown of the rootstock, the 
stipes is jointed or articulated, and when the fronds decay 
