THE GENERA AND SPECIES OF CULTIVATED FEENS. 
10. D. data, Swartz. — An exceedingly beautiful evergreen stove Fern, from the East Indies. Frond glabrous 
deltoid, tri-quadri-pinnate, from three to five feet long, bright shining green ; pinnae and pinnules triangularly 
elongate-acuminate, segments oblong, pinnatifid, round at the apex, decurrent at the base, the margin slightly 
crenate-serrate. Fronds nearly all fertile ; lateral, articulated with a thick scandent rhizome, which is densely 
clothed with dark coloured scaly hairs. This elegant Fern was introduced to English collections about five years 
since from Borneo, by Messrs. Low of Clapton. 
11. D. pohjantha, Hooker. — An elegant evergreen stove Fern, from the East Indies. Frond glabrous, 
triangularly elongate, three to four feet long, tri-quadri-pinnate; pinnae and pinnules triangularly elongate- 
acuminate, deeply pinnatifid; segments small, oblong-linear, obtuse at the apex, largest on the upper side next 
the rachis, decurrent at the base, and crenate on the margin. Fronds nearly all fertile ; lateral, articulated with 
a thick decurrent creeping rhizome, densely clothed with soft brown scales. This is the most beautiful species of 
the genus at present in cultivation ; the fronds while young are of a purplish red, subsequently becoming reddish 
green, and, when mature, bright yellow. It was introduced from Java in 1847, by Messrs. Rollisson of Tooting. 
Sect. III. Trichomaneas, J. Smith. 
allnding to the hair-like 
TRICHOMANES, Linnceus. — Name derived from trichos, hair, and mania, excess ; 
receptacles which, in some species, project considerably beyond the indusium. 
Sori vertically oblong ; spore-cases compressed, terminal, sessile, seated round a columnar receptacle, which is 
filiform and exserted. Indusium urceolate or calyciform. Veins simple or forked, direct. Fronds varying from 
one inch to two feet high, and from simple to decompound; pellucid, glabrous, or furnished with simple, forked, 
or stellate hairs. Fertile frond sometimes contracted and spieiform. Rhizome caespitose. — There are no plants 
throughout the whole vegetable kingdom more intractable under ordinary methods of cultivation, than the species 
forming the genera Trichomanes and Hymenophyllum, and hence they are very seldom seen in a living state 
though they are among the most beautiful of all cellular plants. Their texture being very membranous, thev 
are unable to withstand the influence of a dry atmos- 
phere or the scorching rays of the sun, even for a 
very short time. In their native localities they 
are usually found growing in damp caves, on moist 
rocks, or clinging to the stems of arborescent Ferns, 
or the trunks of trees, in humid tropical forests ; 
and they can only be successfully cultivated by 
being kept in a close damp atmosphere, carefully 
shielded from the rays of the sun. Nearly ninety 
species of Trichomanes are described, and among 
them is one indigenous to Ireland. The most 
obvious characters by which they may be distin- 
guished from other Ferns are: the delicate mem- 
branous texture of their fronds ; the sessile spore- 
cases, girt by a more or less oblique or transverse 
ring, and closely seated round a columnar receptacle, 
formed by the free prolongation of the vein, which 
is more or less exserted beyond the margin of the 
indusium. Fig. 73 represents a frond of T. reni- 
forme (nat. size). 
1. T. renifonne, Forster. — An elegant ever- 
green warm greenhouse Fern, from New Zealand. 
Fronds glabrous, simple, stipitate, about six inches 
high, shining dark green, reniform, decurrent on 
the stipes ; lateral, adherent to a slender creeping 
rhizome. Sori contiguous. 
2. T. guercifolium, Hooker et Greville. — A very 
dwarf evergreen stove Fern, from Jamaica. 
Fronds glabrous, sub-pinnate, about one and a half 
inch high, light green ; segments linear-oblong, 
and round at the apex. Sori solitary on the upper 
segments. Fronds lateral, adherent to a creeping 
rhizome. 
3. T. spicatum, R. Hedwig. — A very interesting evergreen stove Fern, from Jamaica. Fronds of two kinds, 
sterile and fertile. Sterile frond glabrous, simple, oblong, three or four inches long, bright green, deeply 
pinnatifid, with linear oblong entire segments, round at the apex. Fertile frond contracted, stipitate, simple, 
erect, five or six inches high, spieiform. Both forms are terminal, adherent to a small fasciculate rhizome. Sori 
sub-contiguous. 
Fig. 73. 
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