Ip^ 
THE GENERA AND SPECIES OF CULTIVATED FERNS. 
i) evergreen, stove Fern ; native of the West Indies. Fronds from three to six feet high, covered with glandulous 
hairs; lateral, adherent to a creeping rhizome; decompound, three to four times pinnate, pinnules lanceolate- 
acuminate, with oblong-linear, rather obtuse pinuatifid segments, which are somewhat convex, the lower pair 
distant ; margin crenulate. Sori round, terminal, and partly concealed by a reflexed marginal crenule. 
S. repens $. dijforme has a peculiar rugose appearance, being somewhat curled, which character is constant 
under cultivation : it is not, however, a very interesting form, but singular. Fronds evergreen, two feet high, 
tripinnate, with irregular pinnae, and lacerated pinnules. Sori round, and very few. 
(JvlTRUTHIOPTERIS, WdMenow. — Name derived from struthios, an ostrich, and pteris, a fern ; in allusion to the 
t2) resemblance of the fronds to Ostrich feathers. 
Fronds of two kinds : the fertile with contracted, revolute margins, forming, as it were, an universal indusium ; 
pinna; linear, revolute, moniliform, each segment producing five sorifer- 
ous veins, the margin becoming replicate and lacerated, and wholly 
occupied by rouud confluent sori. Spore-cases lateral ; base of the 
pedicels concrete, forming an elevated, thickened receptacle. Veins 
pinnate, free. — The habit of this genus separates it from Polypodium, 
more than any technical distinction. Fig. 4 represents a pinnule of the 
sterile, and a portion of the fertile, frond of <S'. pennsylvanica (nat. size). 
1. S. germanica, Willdenow. — A hardy, deciduous, ornamental Fern ; 
from the south of Europe. Sterile fronds arranged in a circle on the 
outside of the plant, reclining, from two to three feet long, pinnate, 
with pinnatifid-acuminate pinna;. Fertile fronds few, occupying the 
centre, erect, about a foot long, dark brown and resembling a bunch of 
feathers ; terminal, adherent to an erect (caudiciform) rhizome ; they 
are contracted, pinnate, the pinnae crowded, linear, revolute, and monili- 
form. Sori round, confluent. 
2. S. pennsylvanica, Willdenow. — A hardy, deciduous, ornamental 
species ; from North America. The sterile fronds commonly attain the 
height of two feet, and are pinnate, the pinnae acuminate, pinnatifid, 
with rounded blunt segments. The fertile ones are about a foot long, 
contracted, pinnate, with linear, crowded pinnae, which are revolute and 
moniliform. Sori round, confluent. Rhizome erect ; fronds adherent. 
£1 LLOSORUS, Bernhardt. — Name derived from alios, various ; and 
iC\ soros, a heap ; in allusion to the altered appearances presented by 
the sori during the different stages of their development. 
Sori round or oblong, becoming confluent and ultimately occupying 
the whole under surface of the 
frond ; spore-cases attached on or tig. i. 
near the apex of the veins, forming broad, intramarginal, compound, 
transverse sori, concealed by the revolute margin of the pinnules. Veins 
forked, free, elevated, terminating within the indusiform margin. 
Fronds of two kinds : sterile — bi-tripinnate, generally smooth, with 
pinnules dentate, crenate, or laciniate : fertile — contracted, segments 
oval or oblong, elliptical, revolute and plaited. Rhizome creeping, 
somewhat eaespitose. Fig. 5 represents the upper portion of a sterile 
frond ; the upper portion of a fertile frond (nat. size) ; and a segment 
of fertile frond (magnified) showing the position of the veins and sori, of 
Allosorus crispus, 
1. A. crispus, Bernhardi (Uteris crispa, Liiintrtts ; Cryptogramma 
crispa, R. Brown). — Sterile frond bipinnato, pinnules bi-tripinnatifid, 
segments oblong, often bi-dentate. Fertile frond contracted, lupinnato, 
tripinnate below, pinnules linear-oblong, rather obtuse, revolute, entire, 
narrow at the base. Sori round intramarginal, subsequently confluent, 
concealed by the revolute margin of the frond. Veins simple, forked 
where they are sorifcrous. Fronds from llnve to „i\ im-hos high, 
adherent to a short creeping rhizome. Only a single species of this 
genus is at present in cultivation ; it is a very elegant Fern, of dwarf 
habit, found in rocky or stony places and on old walls in Britain ; and is 
one of the more interesting of the small-growing species. 
There are two or three distinct-looking tonus of this plant 
sionally met with ; but they are not sufficiently constant to be considered 
Fig, 5. 
Wi as permanent varieties, either in a botanical or cultural point of view. 
