^2>7 



and Green plumosiim ; so that a second and equally 

 promising hatch of '*gems" is practically secured. To 

 give an idea of the wide diversity exhibited by the young 

 plants, we have taken nature prints'^' of three fronds by way 

 of illustration, No. i representing probable reversion 

 toward the normal species, No. 2 a promising foliose form, 

 and No. 3 an example of the true " gracillimum " or 

 *'plumosum" type, which invariably stands out very 

 distinctly from the others by its acute and long divisions. 

 It is noteworthy that owing to the precautions taken to 

 ensure a pure sowing and protect from subsequent stray 

 spores, only two strays [cystopteris] made their appearance 

 in the whole batch. C. T. D. 



THE PEDIGREE OF ATHYRIUM F.F. 



KALOTHRIX. 



By Dr. F. W. Stansfield. 



The origin of this lovely fern is involved in some 

 obscurity. The only facts certainly known are that, as a 

 modern and living plant, it dates from 1870, when a ]\Ir. 

 Howlett, an amateur grower at Oxford, raised a plant, or 

 plants, from the spores of a form of A. f.f. plumosum 

 which was then growing in the Oxford Botanic Garden. 

 Stimulated by this result Mr. Sim, Foots Cray, then a 

 prominent nurseryman, obtained a division of the Oxford 

 plumosum and also one of a plumosum raised by J\Ir. 

 Howlett from the same source. From one of these plants 

 (he was not sure which) Mr. Sim raised in 1874 ^ batch of 

 some hundreds of seedlings of which ten or twelve per 

 cent, were kalothrix, the rest being plumose, subplumose, 

 and normal forms of Athyrium f.f. The oldest known 

 ancestor of kalothrix was then this plumosum in the 

 Oxford Botanic Garden. Col. Jones (from whose notes 

 accompanying his nature-prints the above records are 



'•' Simply with copying ink. 



