i6o 



VARIEGATED HARTSTONGUES. 



Your article in the recent number of the " British Fern 

 Gazette " prompts me to add my experience on this subject. 

 Five or six years ago I secured a division of a variegated 

 cvispum — a wild find, originally, in North Devon — that had 

 to my knowledge been constant for some three or four 

 years. The cultural conditions and habitat of the fern in 

 question previous to my securing a division were all that 

 could be desired — the soil and environment ideal for fern 

 life. 



At the present time the plant in question is in a border 

 under a north wall, one of many other well-grown 

 Scolopendviums characteristic of the best in that section. 

 Previous to this year the fronds have all been of the type 

 of the narrow one accompanying this note, in some seasons 

 not quite so restricted in growth, perhaps, but always of 

 the same pale yellow, or almost white, colour. This year, 

 however, a few only of the fronds have shown that marked 

 characteristic, whilst others have assumed the almost 

 normal growth of an ordinary frilled Hartstongue, as per 

 frond submitted. Close examination, however, reveals 

 distinct traces of variegation permeating the green. The 

 more vigorous growth and almost normal green of the 

 later fronds can be accounted for, I think , by the fact that 

 for the past two months the ferns at the extreme base of 

 the border have been heavily shaded, and the light partially 

 obscured, by a row of chrysanthemums in 12-inch pots. 

 The narrow variegated fronds are those which were exposed 

 in the early summer to the full light and the little morning 

 sun that reached them ; the wider fronds, those matured 

 with an entire absence of sun and the obviously more moist 

 conditions. 



I am sending you at the same time two characteristic 

 fronds of another Scolopendvinm, located in the same border, 

 bearing very pronounced traces of variegation. The fronds 

 sent are typical of the entire plant, and each year show no 

 reversion to the normal type. This fern, though not one 



