16 THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
ADIANTUM. Including Hewardia. This genus 
includes upwards of eighty species, ‘most of which are 
recognisable from all other Ferns but the typical Lindsayas 
by the texture, as also by the one-sidedness of their 
segments, and by the absence of an apparent and distinct 
midrib in their segments” (Schneider). Stipes and 
rachises usually black and glossy. Fronds varying from 
simple to decompound; pinne usually truncate, wedge- 
shaped at base, or dimidiate and soriferous only on the 
upper margin ; veins simple, radiating, forked, anastomosing 
only in four species (section Hewardia). 
Adiantums are, as a rule, easy to manage. Plenty 
of light should be allowed all of them, but, as with 
nearly all other Ferns, the full rays of the sun should 
be carefully avoided. A mixture of fibrous peat, or of 
partly-decayed leaf-mould, loam, and silver sand, in about 
equal parts, will suit most of them. None of them like 
to be potted very hard, and watering or syringing over- 
head, unless it be in a very airy, light, and warm house, 
is injurious to most of them. 
The propagation of all kinds of Adiantums provided with 
running rhizomes may with advantage be effected by the 
division of the same, an operation which is best performed 
from February to April. Species with tufted crowns 
may also be increased by division, but in their case, and 
especially when quantities of plants are required, it is 
safer and more advantageous to depend on spores, which 
germinate freely, and which usually produce stronger and 
more shapely plants than those resulting from the di- 
vision of the crowns. The spores may be sown with 
perfect safety at all times of the year, although the 
most favourable season is from January to April, as in 
that case the seedlings have ample time to produce 
crowns sufficiently strong to withstand the effects of the 
following winter. 
There is scarcely any need to enlarge upon the many 
ways in which the Maidenhair Ferns may be utilised for 
bouquets, wreaths, &c., to refer to their value as decora- 
tive subjects, or yet again to their diversity of form and 
tint, though the last-named are not so well known as the 
other characteristics. There are numerous dwarf-growing 
forms of A. cuneatum and of A. Capillus-Veneris, all very 
pretty, and equally useful for edgings in the Fernery. 
Then there are, besides the light-coloured A. polyphyllum, 
with its gigantic fronds, the deservedly-popular A. trapezi- 
forme, A. peruvianwm, A. Seemanni, and others too 
numerous to be mentioned here. Again, we have some 
whose shape and general habit are totally different from 
ordinary Adiantums: such, for instance, as the curious 
A. reniforme(see 
Fig. 20), with its 
kidney - shaped 
fronds borne on 
slender, shining 
stalks; or the 
lesser-known 
A. asarifolium, 
with broad, en- 
tire fronds per- 
fectly round,and 
measuring some- 
times as much 
as 3}in. across. 
Very strange, 
also, is the 
general appear- 
ance of A. Féei, 
whose climbing 
fronds expand 
to very great 
dimensions, and whose stalks are quite hairy and of a 
peculiarly ferruginous colour. There are also kinds whose 
fronds are of a metallic hue, and numerous others, such 
as A. macrophyllwm (see Fig. 21), A. tinctum, &e., which 
Fic. 20. ADIANTUM RENIFORME 
Adiantum—continued. 
are exceedingly interesting because of the beautiful rosy 
colour of their splendidly-tinted young fronds. Then there 
are the golden and silvered forms of A. xthiopicum, which 
of late years have become exceedingly rare; as well 
as the pendulous 
A. caudatum and 
A. lunulatum, so 
well adapted for 
basket - culture. 
With plants so 
diverse in charac- 
ter, a collection 
composed exclu- 
sively of Adian- 
tums would be 
most interesting. 
Mention has 
already beenmade 
of one or two 
kinds specially 
useful for basket- 
culture; there 
are, however, 
several others 
quite as desirable 
if their require- 
ments are under- 
stood. A. luci- 
dum is considered 
one of the best 
basket Ferns. 
The fact of it 
being deciduous 
accounts for its 
disappearance in 
many cases, as 
care must be taken 
during the winter 
that it does not 
become thorough- 
ly dry, or it will 
never start into growth again It does much better if 
kept moderately moist at the roots all the year round. 
Although by this system of culture it does not get 
so much rest as if treated as a deciduous plant, it 
usually starts much stronger into growth in the spring. 
A, Williamsii is essentially a basket-plant, and it is 
especially for that purpose that it is most valuable; the 
more so that it is one among the very few Adiantums 
which really make a good, effective basket for the green- 
house. 
A. palmatum, again, by reason of the flexuose character 
of the rachis, most marked towards the terminal end of 
the frond, is particularly well adapted for basket culture. 
Grown in that way it soon makes a very handsome plant, 
specially attractive through the pale-green colour of its 
foliage. Though deciduous, losing its fronds about 
November and starting into fresh growth about March, 
it should not at any time be allowed to get quite dry at 
the roots. 4 
Hints as to the treatment that Adiantums generally 
should receive have been given. There are some few 
species which are notoriously difficult to grow. These 
it will be better to refer to specifically. First, as to 
A, reniforme. By most growers this species is considered 
difficult to manage; but it is generally when kept in too 
warm a house, or when potted in too loamy a soil, that it 
gives trouble. To be grown successfully it only requires 
greenhouse treatment, and it thrives best in a mixture of 
two parts peat, one part fibrous loam, and one part 
coarse silver sand (or, when procurable, one part of old 
lime rubbish, of which its roots are very fond). A. cristatum 
is seldom seen in perfection. It requires less water at 
Fic. 21. 
ADIANTUM MACROPHYLLUM. 
