262 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
beyond description. The young fronds and their 
stems are, when first starting from the root-stock, 
ordinarily light green in colour. But as they 
attain maturity they become — the latter a dark 
rich purple, and the former, in their leafy part, a 
dark shining green. In luxuriant specimens the 
stem of the frond is as long, often longer, than its 
other part. But in small specimens found growing 
on walls the stem is usually much shorter than 
the rest of the frond. The latter, in its leafy part, 
is triangular in shape ; and alternately placed on 
opposite sides of its rachis or midrib are a num- 
ber of triangular-shaped branches, gradually, 
however, as they diminish in size and length 
towards the point of the frond, becoming less and 
less distinctly triangular, until the branches near 
the extreme point of the top are mere leaflets, 
bluntly club-shaped and indented, and finally 
merging in the tip of the frond. The lowest 
branches on each side of the frond, being distinctly 
triangular, are again divided into triangular- 
shaped leaflets, which follow the same arrange- 
ment towards the point of the branch, as the 
