THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 113 



nlba, An thy His montana (an exquisite dwarf plant), Astragalus 

 Monspessulanus, Vicia cracca (makes a fine border plant), Qiltiothera 

 niacrocarpa and acaulis, Morina longifolia, Liatris spicata, Doronicutn 

 (•aucasicum. Lobelia, the herbaceous kinds in variety (they perish 

 in winter on wet soils, and in such places should be stored in shallow 

 boxes under stages, or any such place) ; Platycodon grandiflorum, 

 Asclepias tuberosa, a good thing in good soil, and when well esta- 

 blished ; Onosma taurica, Anchusa italica, Phygelius capensis (best 

 against walls, etc.). Euphorbia cyparissias, Helonias buUata (moist 

 place). 



POLYSTICHUM ANGULARE. 



[OLYSTICHU:\I ANGULAEE is the most generally 

 useful of this genus of British ferns, both because of its 

 sportiveness and ready adaptation to garden culture. 

 It is beautiful in all its forms, and a few of them are ex- 

 quisitely beautiful, and as well adapted for the green- 

 house or the fern-case as any ferns we possess. In its normal form 

 this is a rather robust habited fern, with a tufted scaly caudex, and 

 numerous lax, spreading, lanceolate fronds of a full bright green 

 colour, varying in length from two to four feet, of which the densely 

 scaly stipes extend to about one-sixth of the entire length. The 

 fronds are twice-divided, with numerous narrow pinnae, the pinnules 

 of which are almost crescent-shaped, with a distinguishing anterior 

 lobe ; they are more or less serrated, the serratures tipped with a 

 slender bristle. The fructification is plentifully disposed on the 

 upper part of the frond, the sori are small, numerous, brown, and 

 add much to the beauty of the under sides of the fronds. 



This fern is strictly evergreen, the old fronds retaining their 

 form and fine colour till long after the new growth has overspread 

 them, so that sometimes it is advisable to cut away the whole of the 

 old fronds when the crowns begin to push in spring. It is widely 

 distributed, and appears to range over cold and warm climates with 

 indifference, being found in Sweden and Norway, Spain, Italy, 

 (xreece, the Canaries, Azores, in Abyssinia, in many parts of North 

 and South America, in India, Java, China, and Singapore. In 

 Britain it is plentiful in the south and west, scarce in the north ; it 

 attains its highest luxuriance of growth in districts where both the 

 soil and the atmosphere are humid, and though one of the hardiest 

 ferns known, it is much influenced by temperature, and its warmer 

 habitats present us with far finer examples than the colder ones. 

 To cultivate it is a most easy matter, in which respect it differs from 

 P. lonchitis, which is unquestionably a difiicult fern to manage. 

 P. angulare requires a soil in which mellow loam predominates ; but 

 it will grow well in peat or leaf-mould, or in common garden soil, 

 improved by an admixture of cocoa-nut fibre refuse. The smaller 

 kinds, when grown in pots, require the compost to be prepared for 

 them with more care than the robust forms ; and the best mixture 



TOL. IT. — >'0. IT. 8 



