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I 
THE GENERA AND SPECIES OF CULTIVATED FERNS. 
TOEPHROLEPIS, Schott (Aspidii sp. of Authors).— -Named from ncphros, a 
X\ kidney, and lepis, a scale ; alluding to the kidney-shaped indusium. 
Sori round, transversely uniserial, attached to the apices of the venules. 
Indusium reniform or sometimes nearly orbicular. Veins forked ; venules 
direct, free, the exterior one soriferous. Fronds pinnate, from two to six feet 
long, smooth hairy or scaly, with the pinnae entire, articulate with the rachis, 
and usually auriculate on the superior base. — One of the features for which 
Ferns are preeminently esteemed, is the diversity of their foliage, which is 
elegant, graceful, and attractive, even to an ordinary observer ; and although 
there is little of this diversity among the species belonging to the genus 
Nephrolepis, yet they are very elegant 
plants, and possess some remarkable 
peculiarities, their rhizome being abso- 
lutely without a parallel among culti- 
vated Ferns. The mass of the species 
of Ferns are either annual, deciduous, or evergreen fibrous-rooted herbaceous 
plants, or of arborescent habit ; but some of the species of this genus pro- 
duce tubers at the end of very slender rhizomes, and, during the season of 
rest, not a vestige of the plant remains, save these subterraneous scaly 
tubers, which are about the size of a common nut, and from each of which 
issues a plant in the following spring. The species belonging to Nepbro- 
lcpis are of uniform habit, and are easily known from all others by their 
long slender wiry creeping rhizome, by their pinna) being articulated 
with the rachis, and by their sori being terminal. Fig. CG represents a 
portion of a frond of V. cxaltata (nat. size). 
1. JV. pectinatdy Schott (Aspidium, Willdctww ; A. trapczoides, Sehkuhr). 
— An evergreen stove Fern, from the West Indies. Frond glabrous, narrow 
linear-lanceolate, one to two feet long, and one to one and a half inches 
wide, dark green, pinnate; pinna? oblong, imbricate, round at the apex, 
auriculate at the upper base, truncate below, and bluntly dentate on the 
margin. Fronds terminal, adherent, forming a fascicle on a wiry creep- 
ing rhizome. 
2. N. undulata, J. Smith (Aspidium, Sicartz). — A very elegant deciduous 
tuberous-rooted stove species, from Sierra Leone. FVond glabrous, narrow 
lanceolate, one to two feet long, pinnate, lightish green ; pinna? cordato- 
oblong-acuminate, sub-imbricate, and crenate on tho margin. Fronds ter- 
minal, adherent, forming a small fascicle on a creeping wiry rhizome. This 
species forms tubers beneath the surface of the earth, from which issue the future plants the following spring. 
3. y. iiihrmsn, Preal (Aspidium, Sori/). — A tuberous-rooted evergreen stove Fern, from the Bast Indies and 
Fig. fiR. 
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with the rachis, which is pubescent. Sori round, biserial, medial. Indusium peltate. Fronds terminal, 
adherent to a short thick scaly somewhat tufted rhizome. 
WlIDYMOCHUENA, Desvaux. — Name derived from didi/mos, double, and chlaina, a cloak; from the circuru- 
i^J stance of the indusium being double. 
Sori elliptical, uniserial, situated on the apex of a venule. Indusium oblong, longitudinally attached along 
the centre. Veins forked, radiating ; venules direct, free, the exterior one fertile. — The genus is founded on a 
solitary species, a native of South America and the Philippine Islands. It is an exceedingly handsome Fern, 
with an erect arborescent caudex, attaining the height of two feet or more, and having large fronds from three to 
five feet long, of a bright shining green. Its very distinct and marked habit 
readily distinguish it from the other Aspidiea? ; and it is easily known by 
having elliptical sori, and a double centrally attached indusium. Fig. 6.5 
represents the upper part of a pinna of D. truncatitla (full size). 
1 . D. truncatula, J. Smith (Aspidium, Swartz ; D. sinuosa, Desvaux ; D. 
pulcherrima, Mori.). — A very elegant evergreen stove Fern, from the tropics 
of South America, the West Indies, and the Philippine Islands. Fronds 
broadly lanceolate, three to five feet long, bipinnate, bright green ; pinna? 
linear-lanceolate 8-10 inches long, sessile; pinnules sub-rhomboidal oblong- 
obtuse, coriaceous, imbricate, truncate- dimidiate at the base, slightly crenulate 
at the margin, and articulate with the rachis. Stipes, rachis, and midrib of 
pinna?, densely clothed with ferruginous tomentum, and long narrow brown 
scales. Fronds terminal, adherent to an arborescent caudex. 
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