50 



THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



a fruiting state it is one of the most 

 beautiful, and well deserves to be 

 carefully cultivated. It has a creep- 

 ing rhizome, ordinarily as thick as a 

 common lead pencil, which, when 

 voung, is clothed with rust-coloured 



but usually form a dense mat near 

 the surface. The proportion of the 

 stipes to tlie length of the frond varies 

 considerably ; in localities eminently 

 favourable to the growth of this fern, 

 always longer than the frond as re- 



P. TULGAEB, VAE. CAMBEICCM. 



scales, but at length becomes smooth 

 and shining, and of a rich, lively, 

 tawny tint, here and there flecked 

 with dull green. From the rhizome 

 proceed numerous wiry roots, which 

 never penetrate deeply into the soil, 



presented in the cut which accom- 

 panies this. Mr. Moore (" Handbook 

 of British Ferns ") says : — " Stipes 

 usually nearly equal in length to the 

 leafy portion of the frond, at the base 

 distinctly articulated with the cau- 



