17 



Small white growths finally appear over the surface of the frond- 

 base, and these develop under close culture into young ferns. Shield 

 ferns are similarly raised from old pieces of caudex ; the Lady Fern 

 from axils of frond-bases joined to a piece of old caudex ; the Sweet 

 Mountain Fern very plentifully from caudex portions ; and lastly, 

 the occurrence of dormant frond-base buds in the Male Fern is of 

 very ancient mention in plant-lore. 



Several lovely wild variants appear to have a great capacity in the 

 way of mutation, and special " strains" have been developed under 

 culture. Probably the three best instances are (1) AtJujiium var. 

 pliiiiioHitm-axminHtereaHc, found by Mr. J. Trott, in 1860, near 

 Axminster. This was the parent of Parsons' '' plnniosiiiti-elefians," 

 which in its turn gave rise to the unique " plumose" and " super- 

 bum " types raised by Mr. Druery. (2) Aspidimn annulare var. 

 ilecomposituiii ab. s/deiKleiin, discovered in 1875 in S'. Devon, by Mr. 

 Moly, originated the extraordinary series of " plumosums " asso- 

 ciated with the na ■ es of Col. Jones and Mr. Fox. (3) A farm 

 labourer named Bevis, in 1876, found in a hedge the fern known 

 as Asjiidiidii aculeatniii var. /ndcherriiiiuni, and gave it to Dr. Wills. 

 Until the last few years ^' piilv/ierriiinini " was considered to be quite 

 barren, and slowly propagated by offsets only. The quite recent 

 discovery of solitary sporangia, with no indusial covering, gave 

 Messrs. Druery and Green the chance of more rapidly propagating 

 the fern, and in time a sensation was created by the exhibition at 

 the Royal Horticultural Society's shows of a new group of this 

 species, the glorious " graiillimums " and "plumosums." From 

 these three main groups of " mutants," and from a multitude of 

 lesser examples the student of British fern variation must neces- 

 sarily believe in the possibility of sudden great advance in Nature, 

 as well as in the slow move forward by innumerable small accretions 

 of " character " ; probably, indeed, will tend to be a confirmed 

 " mutationist " lor preference. 



Many of these ''varieties" of our ferns might almost lay claim 

 to be called true " species," so readily can they be bred "true" in 

 quantity, as the trade lists of our fern nurseries easily ohow. To 

 this may be opposed the question; " Do they maintain themselves 

 in a wild state ?" and here, it must be admitted, few instances can 

 be quoted. One telling example is that of a long-tailed form of the 

 Black Maidenhair Spleenwort {Aspleniiuit adiantum-mgrum var. 

 caudifoliiiin). This was found by Mr. Druery, in 1888, so well 

 established on a stretch of stone dyke on Dartmoor as to have quite 

 displaced the normals, which only survived at either end of the 

 dyke. Its permanence was attested when the British Pteridological 

 Society held its annual meeting at Totnes, in August, 1913, a visit 

 to the moor enabling the members to re-identify this fern " in pro- 

 fusion." Near Faygate, in Sussex, grew many acres of a heavily 

 crested bracken, and similar great masses of named varieties of 

 Pteris aquilina have been recorded from the Lake District and else- 



