April 14, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



488 



Acrostichum and Platycerium 



ACROSTK.'HUM LEPIDATHM 



Al'KIJSTICHI'M (HvllEMiIiIl'M) CRINITUM 



A. SQUAMOSUM A. LATIFOLUJM 



A. VILLOSI1I 



Acrostichum on tree fern 



These are not precisely plants for all-round decora- 

 tion but are useful and effective when the curious 

 forms of their fronds can be shown to advantage. They 

 are certainly the two most interesting genera of the 

 fern family, long, and in some places yet grown under 

 the same generic name of Acrostichum. The spore- 

 eases are set near together covering the entire under 

 surface of the fertile fronds, or the upper leaflets of the 

 once-divided fronds or in patches at the top of the 

 fronds and sometimes on both sides of the three-times 

 divided fertile fronds. 



Most of them are epiphytical, growing on tree trunks 

 or rocks. Some grow in loose soil, a few on the edge 

 of salty creeks and some climb on trees, and when 

 grown in conservatory in the manner they grow in 

 nature, they are the most curious things to look at. 

 Being nearly all tropical plants they like a warm and 

 moist atmosphere. 



If they can not be patched on old half-rotten tree 

 trunks or dead fern trees the most picturesque way to 

 grow them is in cork-bark baskets or simply against a 

 piece of cork bark, like orchids, and hang them around 

 on the conservatory walls or on a wire from the roof. 

 They can be grown in pots too, but never grow as well. 

 In all cases they want a mixture of good fibrous, rough 

 peat, half-decomposed, chopped sphagnum and coarse 

 sand. They do not want much soil, except a few, and 

 when grown in pots, the pots should be half-filled with 

 broken sandstone or bricks. The epiphytal species 

 must be sparingly watered ; better soak them once in a 

 while and let them dry out between times. They are 

 propagated by division, or, in Platyceriurns, by young 

 plants growing from adventitious shoots on the roots; 

 can also be propagated by spores but are very slow In 

 make plants of size. 



The genus acrostichum contains over one hundred 

 different species, classified in different sections after the 

 form of their fronds, the way they are divided and after 

 the way the spore masses cover the fertile fronds. 



Acrostichum muscosum from West Indies and Cen- 

 tral America has long entire narrow pendulous fronds 

 of leathery texture, scaly underneath ; the fronds are 

 numerous and make nice bushy plants. 



Acrostichum villosum from Mexico and West Indies 

 is a dwarf prostrate species; the numerous entire fronds 



about eight inches long, of a light green, are covered 

 on both sides with brown hairy scales. 



Acrostichum (Elaphoglossum) latifolium from West 

 Indies and Central America, has entire fronds over one 

 foot long and broad, pointed on both sides, long 

 stalked, of a very hard texture, dark green and glossy; 

 the fertile fronds are more narrow. There are a few 

 other species much like that one with fronds larger, 

 longer, or narrow. 



Acrostichum (Elaphoglossum) lepidatum from trop- 

 ical America and West Indies, has narrow, not very 

 long, entire fronds covered on both sides with downy 

 scales; the fertile fronds are larger and very narrow. 



Acrostichum (Elaphoglossum) squamosum from 

 West Indies is found also in the South Sea Islands; 

 has long stalked entire fronds about one foot long and 

 broad, covered on both sides with velvety silvery 

 scales, brown at the edges; the fertile fronds are much 

 longer and narrow. All the elaphoglossum are found 

 growing mi trees. 



Acrostichum (Hymenodium) crinitum. the "ele- 

 phant's ear fern," from West Indies, is a well-known, 

 very interesting fern. The long oval shaped, entire, 

 long-stalked fronds, of a thick spongy nature, are all 

 covered with black hairy scales; the fertile fronds are 

 of the same shape but smaller and contracted. 



Acrostichum (Chrysodium) aureum and lomarioides. 

 both from the West Indies, and all over the tropics, are 

 also found in Florida where they grow in brackish 

 swamps and on the edge of streams where the salt water 

 i ide comes in: they are the only ferns that grow near 

 -all water. Both have once divided fronds that grow to 

 a great dimension as high as ten feet and one foot 

 broad. They look alike except in the fertile fronds: 

 in aureum the spore masses cover the top leaflets and 

 in lomarioides all the leaflets of the fertile fronds are 

 covered and are narrow. Both ought to be grown in 



S I sized pots and the pots standing half in water to 



get good growth. 



Acrostichum (Stenochlsena) sorbifolium is another 

 which has been found lately in Florida. It grows all 

 over the tropics in both hemispheres. The once-divided 

 fronds which are not very big, grow from a thick creep- 

 ing stem to growing on trees, like ivy, to a great height. 



Acrostichum (Olfersia) cervinum from West Indies 

 and Central America. The fronds of this species are 

 once-divided, two to three feet long, pendulons and 



