364 

 NOTES OX TWO BEAUTIFUL rERI>fS. 



ACEOSTICHUM ATJEEUil. 



IHE first tiling wLicli the mention of this plant suggests 

 is a curious fact in plant distribution — phanerogamous 

 plants. While flowering plants are often found only as 

 the inhabitants of very limited areas, there are numbers 

 of ferns and other non-flowering plants which may be 

 justly called " citizens of the Avorld." We need not go beyond the 

 flora of our own little island for examples of this. A friend of mine 

 has just sent me from Japan a frond of Bcolopendrium milijare, which 

 is perfectly identical with the plants you saw growing by the hedge- 

 bank as you came down the lane. Look at the frond ; you would 

 think I had gathered it there. In fact, the Hart's-tongue fern is at 

 home all through Europe, Asia, and some parts of America. The 

 common Bracken {Pferis aquiliua) has a still wider range. Mr. 

 Moore, one of the best authorities on this subject, as you very weH 

 know, says that this, our commonest fern, " is common over Europe, 

 and seems to be so in most parts of the Avorld — many exotic 

 species, so called, having no satisfactory distinctions. In Asia it is 

 found in China, in Sitka, Kamtschatka, and Siberia ; all over India ; 

 in the Malayan and adjacent islands. In Africa it occurs at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius and Bourbon, Sierra Leone, Sene- 

 gambia, and Fernando Po ; Algiers, Teneritl'e, and Madeira. In 

 America it has been found in California, Guatemala, and north-west 

 Mexico, Veragua (narrower). Sandwich Isles (smaller), and in 

 several parts of North America." I am very much inclined to add 

 to this long list of names, for I have specimens in my herbarium 

 from places still unnamed. It is perfectly cosmopolitan. 



Well, Acrostichuin aureum has a. very wide range within the 

 tropics ; it is found in the far east and the distant west ; it is at 

 home wherever heat and moisture are combined. It dearly loves 

 the margin of a malaria-haunted swamp ; and this gives us the clue 

 as to the way in which we may best grow it. Those who have a 

 warm tank for the growth of the regal Water-lily, or for any of the 

 lovely family of JNymphoea, should half plunge the pot in which 

 this glorious fern is cultivated in the warm water, and they would 

 soon be rewarded by the sight of fronds, which would make the 

 heart of the true lover of ferns to bound within him. It is all bosh 

 to talk about good drainage for ferns, as though it were applicable 

 to every individual species. For the mnjority it doubtless does 

 apply, but there are many to which good drainage means partial 

 starvation and sometimes death. You must not, of course, flood 

 them with water in winter, but when growing fast it would be 

 diflicuit to overdo it. Some people talk about growing Caladiums, 

 and recommend "good drainage" for them. Why, there is nothing 

 they love so much as water, unless, indeed, it is liquid manure. 

 When growing freely, half plunge your Caladium pots in warm 

 water, or, if you cannot do that, stand them in saucers kept full, and 



