152 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



FEE 



Fern. Adder's. Polypodinm vulgare. 

 Adder's Tongue. Ophioglossum valgatum. 

 American Grape. Botrichium lunarioides. 

 Australian Tree. Dickftonin antartica. 

 Beech. Polypodinm Plifi(](>plrri><. 

 Bird's-nest. Thavinopliris nidus (Asplenium). 

 Brake, or Bracken. Pteris aquilina. 

 Bristle. The genus Trichomanes. 

 Buckler. The genus Lastrea. 

 Chain. The genus Woodioardia. 

 Chignon. Cibotium regale. 

 Christmas Sliield. Aspidium arroHtichoides. 

 Cinnamon. Osmimda cinnamomea. 

 Climbing Snake's-tongue. Lygodium scandens. 

 Deer. Lomaria spicant (Blechnum). 

 Elk's Horn. Platycerium alcicome. 

 Filmy. A name applied to those kinds which 

 have pellucid or transparent fronds, as Hy- 

 menophyllum, Todea and Trichomanes. 

 Haresfoot. The genus DavalUa. 

 Hartford. Lygodium palmatum. 

 Hart's- tongue. The genus Scolopendrium. 

 Japan Climbing. Lygodium scandens. 

 Japan Haresfoot. Davallia Mariesii. 

 Killarney. Trichomanes radicans. 

 Lady. Athyriuin FilLv-fodmina. 

 Maiden Hair. Many of the genus Adiantum. 

 Maiden Hair. American. Adiantum, pedaium. 

 Moon. Botrychium Lunaria. 

 Oak. Polypodinm Dryopteris. 

 Oregon Cliff-Brake, Pellcta densa. 

 Oregon Rock-Brake. Allosorus achrostichoides. 

 Parsley. Allosorus or Cryptogramma crispus. 

 Pod. Ceratopteris thalictr aides. 

 Sensitive. Onoclea sensibilis. 

 Shield. The genus Aspidium. 

 Stag's Horn. Platycerium grande and other 



species. 

 Sweet. Myrrhis odorata and Comptonia asplen- 



ifolia. 

 Tree. Various species of Dicksonia, Alsophila, 



Cyathea, etc. 

 Virginian Rattlesnake. BotrychiumVirginicum. 

 Walking-leaf. Camplosorus rhizophyllus. 

 Water. Osmunda regalis. 

 Fernery. See Wardian Case. 

 Ferns. From their extreme beauty and diver- 

 sity as well as from their general adaptability 

 in arrangements with flowering and orna- 

 mental-foliaged plants. Ferns, when well- 

 grown are indispensable and possess peculiar 

 attractions. As their management gets better 

 understood, their popularity increases, and 

 the now almost universal use of plants, and 

 especially of cut fronds, intermixed in floral 

 decorations, has led to the production of a 

 few of the most suitable species in immense 

 quantities. The earlier modern botanists 

 knew little about ferns, and Linnteus, who is 

 regarded as the father of modern botany, 

 seems to have supposed that in one sense 

 they had flowers as other plants had, the 

 little brown dots on the back of the fronds 

 being supposed to be seeds of the same char- 

 acter as ordinary flowering plants. During 

 the last fifty or more years, many discoveries 

 have been made about Ferns, most notably 

 that these little dusty brown dots are not 

 really seeds but little bud ferns. When they 

 fall or are sown in damp places they open and 

 form little flat green membranes, and in this 

 membrane the real flowers appear, and all the 

 processes common to flowering plants are car- 

 ried out. 



FER 



In scientific treatises on ferns, all these pro- 

 cesses of fern-growth and their functions, are 

 given different names from what they would 

 have in other plants ; thus the germinating 

 green blade is called a prothallium, and the 

 mass that would be the stamens in a flowering 

 plant is the anthevidia, while the pistil is the 

 archegoniura. There is this difference, how- 

 ever, that while flovrering plants after fertili- 

 zation retain the germ, in what we call a seed, 

 for some time before it grows, in the fern the 

 germ commences at once to grow and make 

 a little plant. This has some bearing on the 

 raising of hybrid ferns. New varieties are 

 obtained by sowing the spores of different 

 forms of the same species together, for as in 

 flowering plants it is only in case of very 

 close relationship that intermixture is possi- 

 ble. Those who ha.ve experimented and ob- 

 served closely, tell us that the cliances of in- 

 termixture is not great, still this is the only 

 way to get new varieties. By taking the 

 spores from the crested portion of "Crested 

 Ferns " the certainty of getting crested 

 seedlings is much increased. 



Raising Ferns from spores is a very inter- 

 esting operation requiring considerable care 

 and attention to accomplish successfully. 

 They are best sown in pots or shallow pans 

 that have been half filled with broken rubble, 

 the remainder being filled to within half an inch 

 of the top with a finely sifted compost of 

 loam, peat and sand. As the fern spores are 

 extremely minute the soil should be watered 

 and allowed to drain before sowing as by 

 watering afterwards the spores might be 

 washed away. Scatter thinly over the sur- 

 face, pieces of glass being placed over the 

 tops of the pots which should then be stood 

 in saucers of water thus obviating the 

 necessity of watering overhead. They should 

 be kept well shaded at all times, and when 

 the spores are sufficiently grown to be visible 

 as very minute plants, they should be taken 

 up in small patches, and pricked off carefully, 

 these in turn when they get established and 

 fit to handle should be divided and potted off 

 singly. The most popular species Adiantums, 

 Pteris, etc., are raised from spores in immense 

 quantities. Many others as Nephrolepis, 

 Davallia, etc., that form several crowns or 

 have creeping rhizomes are easily increased 

 by division. A few species produce small 

 bulbils along, or at the end of the frond, and 

 these, if removed and placed on the soil 

 eventually form plants. 



Trunks of Tree Ferns are imported in large 

 numbers, both from the West Indies and 

 Australia, and a large proportion generally 

 succeed. Young plants may be raised from 

 spores, and such quick-growing species as 

 Dicksonia, Alsophila, etc., soon make elegant 

 plants for decorative purposes. Hard}" Ferns 

 succeed best when planted on rock- work or in 

 a shady situation sheltered from high winds ; 

 as there is so much diversity both in their 

 size and habit, particular attention should be 

 directed to their arrangement, placing the 

 evergreen and deciduous species at irregular 

 intervals, so that the whole may be more or 

 less furnished at all seasons. 



Fero'nia. The Wood-apple or Elephant-apple 

 of India, closely allied to the Orange. F. eie- 

 phantum, the only species of this genus ot 



