1 68 



distribution of the species affords considerable interest, 

 and it seems difficult to understand why some species 

 thrive and others are almost absent, especially in places 

 where the general conditions are quite favourable to fern 

 life. 



OUR NATIVE POLYPODIES {continued)- 



So much for the purely normal side of P. vnlgare, which, 

 however, simple as it is in appearance, has afforded some 

 of the most remarkable and beautiful " sports " among our 

 British kinds, nearly all of which have been picked up as 

 isolated specimens of their kind among masses of the 

 common form from which undoubtedly in some occult 

 fashion they have sprung. Minor forms of variation are 

 common enough, and anyone of an observant turn will 

 very soon find that even the common type is not always 

 the same in different districts. In some places the fronds 

 everywhere finish up with a sort of undivided tail, while a 

 mile or two further, they will taper gradually with shorter 

 pinnae to the top. Then, too, he will find a stretch of 

 plants in which many of the side divisions will fork more 

 or less irregularly, and so on, while in some parts of 

 Wales, the smooth edges of the side divisions are apt to 

 break up into secondary ones, and even become plumose 

 or feathery. P. v, vav. camhrictim may then be recorded as 

 found again, and the finder may literally put a feather in 

 his cap, for the form is a lovely one, and feathery indeed. 

 Some seventy-five distinct varieties are recorded, only ten 

 of which are due to select culture. The forms include a 

 number of beautifully tasselled varieties, as well as various 

 plumose and curious ones, among the best of which we 

 may name P. v. hifido-cvistatiun^ cvistatnni^ Fosteri, glomeva- 

 twn, grandiceps Fox, grandiccps Parker, and rainosum Hillman, 



■'■'• By permission of the Gardeners^ Magazine. 



