FEENS AS DECORATIVE OBJECTS. 99 



ASPIDIE.E. 



47. Pohjstichum aristatum. — Tliis is a native of Norfolk 

 Mand, and requires a greenhouse climate; it, however, does 

 well in a fern-liouse. The fronds grow in a tuft, a foot high, 

 and are ovate, lengthened out into a long narrow point; they 

 are bipinnate, at least at the base of the pinnae, which are each 

 lengthened out into a point similar to the apex of the frond. 

 Tlie texture is thick, and the colour a shining green, so that 

 they are well adapted for bouquets. 



DlCKSONIE^. 



48. Davallia canariensis. — The well-know^n Hare's-foot Fern. 

 It is a very elegant species, suitable for cutting for large bou- 

 quets, but also well adapted for pot culture. The fronds are 

 broadly pentangular, decompoundly pinnate, with very narrow 

 ultimate divisions ; they are of a durable texture. It requires 

 the climate of a greeniiouse, being a natural inhabitant of tlie 

 Canaries. It is the slowly-creeping caudex which resembles a 

 hare's foot. 



ScHIZiEACE^. 



49. Anemia tenella. — A very pretty little plant, with slender 

 fronds growing in a tuft. Tlie fronds are 6 or 8 inches 

 high, and consist of a slender stipes three or four inches long, 

 bearing a barren or leafy branch two or three inches long, 

 pinnate, willi oblong laciniate-pinnatifid pinnules, and a pair of 

 fertile spikes, which appear almost cylindrical, but in reality are 

 branched on the same principle as the leafy branch : these fertile 

 spikes look not unlike the close inflorescence of some kinds of 

 grass. It is from tropical South America, and requires a 

 tropical climate. 



II. The species which admit of the entire plant being grown 

 and employed for decorative purposes are more numerous. 

 Those already enumerated, if cultivated in a superior way, are 

 amongst tlie most beautiful of the whole group ; but there may 

 be added to them many others, which are naturally of too large 

 a size for use in the construction of bouquets. 



Thus enlarged, this group will consist of plants that may be 

 managed in two ways : they may either be grown in pots, to be 

 removed when in perfection to those situations which it is re- 

 quired to decorate ; or they may be planted on any kind of 

 artificial substitute for the tree-trunks and rock-surface to which 

 many of the kinds are found affixed in a state of nature ; and 

 that, according to their constitution, either in structures in 



