251 



The Journal of Heredity 



of the Boston fern itself is not at hand. 

 That it arose from the wild sword 

 fern, N. exaltata, (See Fig. 7) can 

 scarcely be doubted. That it is an 

 improvement horticulturally over the 

 wild form is also certain. The cultural 

 excellence of the Boston fern is pro- 

 nounced. It produces more leaves 

 to a given size pot; the leaves are less 

 stiff, and more graceful; they are less 

 "seedy," that is, less fertile than the 

 wild forms, in which the leaves are 

 heavily laden with the brown fruit dots, 

 and their spore product is deposited 

 upon lower leaves as a disfiguring dust. 

 Furthermore, the Boston fern is quicker 

 in growth and reproduces much more 

 rapidly than the sword fern. 



It is interesting to note that even 

 among the wild forms there are varia- 

 tions in growth habits and leaf char- 

 acters like some of those in the Boston 

 fern series. Two plants of the wild 

 sword fern are shown in Figure 7 ; 

 both came originally from Florida. 

 They had exactly the same culture in 

 the greenhouse, having been grown 

 side by side, but there are evident dif- 

 ferences in the shape of the whole plant, 

 in the length and carriage of individual 

 leaves, and in the conformation of the 

 leaf divisions or pinnae. Ruffling of 

 the leaflets which distinguishes the 



Harris and Roosevelt varieties of Bos- 

 ton fern also occurs in the wild type. 

 Both plants shown were originally 

 collected in Florida, one by Dr. John 

 K. Small of the New York Botanical 

 Garden; the other was obtained through 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry. 



With respect to the other varieties 

 illustrated, attention may be called 

 to the fact that two of these, "Teddy 

 Jr.," and "Randolphi," (Fig. 8) exhibit 

 excellence in the production of numer- 

 ous leaves to form symmetrical, com- 

 pact plants. Both are deservedly 

 popular as quick growing types and 

 also because a full-grown plant is 

 smaller in size, and often more con- 

 venient for store purposes as well as 

 for the home. Mentioning them in this 

 connection is not in any way an 

 attempt to answer the question asked 

 in the title, but, merely to call atten- 

 tion to certain characteristics that 

 make them especially appropriate 

 for particular uses. 



It will be noted that the largest 

 plant, a specimen of the wild sword 

 fern from Florida, shows a spread of 

 leaf of practically six feet, with individ- 

 ual arched leaves four feet long. Leaves 

 of wild plants in Florida have been 

 measured over twenty feet in length. 

 The second plant, called Teddy Jr., 



Ferns included in the present Experiment at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden 



Name of Fern 



Boston 



Childsi 



Dreyeri 



Dwarf Boston 



Edmonton 



Falcata 



Giatras 



Gretna 



Harris 



McCaw 



New Jersey 



New York 



Randolph 



Roosevelt 



Schubert "dwarf Boston" 



Scott 



Splendida 



Sword 



Teddy, Jr. 



Victory 



Viridissima 



Wagner 



Wanamaker 



Home Locality 



F. C. Becker, Cambridge Mass. & others. 



J. L. Childs, Floral Park, L. I. 



Dreyer Bros. Whitestone, N. Y. 



F. R. Pierson, Tarrytown, N. Y. 



H. B. May & Sons, Upper Edmonton, Eng. 



Peter Wagner, Brooklyn, N. Y. (There is also an Englishlfalcata) 



George Giatras, West Hoboken, N. J. 



B. M. Wichers & Co., Gretna, La. 



Wm. K. Harris & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 



McCaw Bros., Norwood, Pa. 



George Giatras, Hoboken, N. J. 



George Giatras, West Hoboken, N. J. 



Randolph & Sons, Verona, Pa. 



American Rose & Plant Co., Springfield, Ohio. 



Schubert Bros., North Bergen, N.J. 



John Scott estate, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Good & Reese Co., Springfield, Ohio. 



Florida (wild) 



Am. Rose & Plant Co., Springfield, Ohio. 



F. R. Pierson, Tarrytown, N. Y. 



F. R. Pierson, Tarrytown, N. Y. 



Peter W'agner, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Robert Craig, Philadelphia, Pa. 



