180 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



brought into view. These roots were an inch 

 and a half in thickness. 



In the published description of a similar case 

 above mentioned, I expressed an uncertainty as 

 to whether the roots and rootlets filling the de- 

 cayed wood, were from the entire inner surface 

 surrounding said decayed wood, or only from 

 the new wood on the margins of the opening. 

 Tree number two made this point clear, — the 

 roots were the product of the new wood only. 

 A second break in the side of this tree, where a 

 large branch diverged from the trunk seemingly 

 caused by insufficient support below, gave rise 

 to another peculiar formation. Here the mar- 

 ginal new wood crossed from one side of the 

 break to the other, forming a sort of Siamese- 

 twins' union of the two sides. Above this cord 

 of union, and quite within the bi'eak, a stout 

 twig had grown from a surface of new wood 

 which was beyond the root-developing action of 

 of the black, heat-absorbing decayed wood. 

 This tree also furnished an instance of the 

 new wood continuing to grow laterally until it 

 formed a circle in section, and breaking away 

 on both sides, became as far below as its junc- 

 tion with the main trunk, a self-supporting 

 lesser trunk. Query : Why is this tendency of 

 rooting from the new wood a peculiarity of 

 Broussonetia papyrifera? My supposition is, 

 that it is the complete decay that occurs within, 

 together with the dark, almost black color of 

 this decayed wood which gives it thus the 

 stimulating properties of rich earth. 



F£RNS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



BY S. B. PARISH, SAN BERNARDINO, CAL. 



The southernmost part of California possesses 

 a great diversity of climate. There are low 

 hills whose sunny recesses are unvisited by frost, 

 and mountain peaks 12,000 feet high, whose 

 summits are white with snow till late in the 

 summer. The waters which descend from the 

 western slope of these mountains find their way 

 through steep and wooded caiions, abounding in 

 water-falls, to fertile valleys ; on the eastern 

 side the scanty streams wind through barren 

 hills, and hardly reach the edge of the thirsty 

 desert whose lowest part is 70 feet beneath the 

 sea level. 



These varied conditions of heat and cold, of 

 moisture and dryness, favor the production of a 

 widely varied flora, extending from the pine 

 and the oak to the palm, the agave and the 



cactus. From the same causes, there are to be 

 found grouped together in the same natural or- 

 der, plants which require very different condi- 

 tions for their growth, as is well seen in the 

 great number and variety of the native ferns. 

 In rapidly passing these in review, it is not pro- 

 posed to enter into any scientific description, 

 but mainly to give a few notes concerning their 

 manner and places of growth, and their general 

 appearance. If we enter one of the many ra- 

 vines, or canons which cut the mountain sides, 

 we soon see some sunny or half shaded bank 

 thinly covered with the common brake, Pteris 

 aquilina, var. lanuginosa ; but even higher up 

 in the mountains it does not show the size and 

 luxuriance it attains in more northern climates. 

 On dryer and poorer soil are found the scattered 

 tufts of the Bird Rock-brake, (Pellsea ornitho- 

 pus), its roots often hidden under a stone or 

 sheltered by the heath-like chimizo bushes, but 

 its stiff fronds thrust out to the sunshine. While 

 young it is graceful, and of a soft glaucous green, 

 but it is soon scorched to a dull olive color, and 

 to a rigidity not at all in accordance with the 

 grace looked for in a fern. Higher up in the 

 hills there is to be found in a few places the 

 rare Pellsea Wrightiana, so like in appearance 

 to the Bird Rock-brake that a close examina- 

 tion is needed to detect the botanical characters 

 which distinguish them. It has, perhaps, a 

 somewhat moi'e elegant appearance than its 

 commoner relative, as it stands shouldering up 

 against a half-buried boulder, and looking like a 

 bunch of little dingy pine twigs. Both of these 

 ferns when cultivated in the shade, acquire a 

 brighter color, and a more graceful manner of 

 growth than they have in their native homes. 

 But before going so high up, let us look for a 

 handsomer member of this genus, Pellsea an- 

 dromedsefolia. It is to be sought in places par- 

 tially shaded and not entirely dry, although it 

 is by no means notional, and will grow under 

 almost any conditions. In cultivation it is very 

 satisfactory, doing well either in the house, or 

 out in the sun among the smaller border plants. 

 Its few long and branching fronds are gracefully 

 curved, or, in the shade, drooping, and the 

 small ovate pinnules, although thick in tex- 

 ture, are of a pleasing green, or sometimes of 

 quite a bright purple. Growing in the same 

 places, is the California Polypod, Polypodium 

 Californicum, its single deeply pinnatifid frond 

 illuminated on the back with rows of bright 

 golden fruit dots. It is a winter grower, shoot- 



