15 



The finest of the Royal Fern group is Osnnmda refialu var. ciistata, 

 brought unsuspectingly to a Fulham nursery in winter-time, over 

 50 years ago, by a hawker, who had gathered a batch of common 

 ones. The nurseryman did not realise what treasure he. possessed 

 when its fronds appeared in the spring, but Mr. G. B. Wollaston 

 saw it thpre and promptly offered £25 for the plant. His ofter was 

 refused, the nursery owner scenting a bargain ; but the plant has 

 been freely propagated since, and no garden need lack a specimen 

 now. It is easily grown in a damp hollow, or an earthenware pan 

 can be sunk in the soil to create a miniature bog for it ; the same 

 treatment also ujakes the Marsh Fern happy. 



Pdli/pniliiiiii calcareinii, or robertianion, the Limestone Polypody,, 

 and the Beech Fern, P. phe(fopteris, have little variation ; but the 

 Oak P'ern, P. dnjopteris, has in quite recent times given a wonderful 

 plumose beauty found in the Lake District, on Whitbarrow Scar, 

 by an elderly fern-lover known as " Owd Tom Christopherson," 

 locally. The many crested and plumose types of the common Poly- 

 pody, P. Dihjare, make this fine evergreen group of great importance 

 to gardeners. To botanists perhaps its most interesting form is the 

 Welsh Polypody, P. v. coiiibriciiiii, which was classed as a species by 

 LinnfBus, although we now know it to be a quite barren plumose 

 fern. A great many of the beautiful " (v/^/rt;r" sports have been 

 found wild. 



It would be hopeless to attempt a description, in a short lecture, 

 of the multitude of fine " Shield Ferns," Aspidium ouf/nlaie being 

 responsible for most of these. Fern fanciers rapidly tend to 

 specialise on these lovely evergreen gems. Asp. acideatmii, though 

 its number of " sports " or " mutations " is less, is almost as note- 

 worthy in its results. The " Holly Fern," A. loncliitis, has little 

 variation. 



Psei(datfn/riii)ii alpestre, the Mountain Lady Fern, must be re- 

 corded, with its two or three wild finds, and then we reach the 

 Brackens, which have given us seven or eight good forms. Tricho- 

 vuDU's radicans, the " Killarney " filmy-fern, has several ; the 

 Woodsiac of our mountains have none. 



I have left the " Harts-tongue " (Scolopendriiim vtd(jare) to the last, 

 as it has been credited with anywhere up to six hundred distinct 

 variations. Many are of great beauty and interest, but the few 

 fronds exhibited must suffice in lieu of an endless descriptive 

 account. 



Many phases of the propagation of our ferns are of great botanical 

 im,portance. It should, therefore, be expected that observant horti- 

 culturists would occasionally make discoveries that the research 

 worker proper had missed. This happened when Mr. C. T. Druery 

 first noted the phenomenon known as " Apospory," or the produc- 

 tion of prothalli directly on the frond of a fern, instead of from a 

 spore. The paper on this subject was read at a meeting of the 

 Linntean Society on June 19th, 1884, and can be found in the 



