242 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



The variety Dickieana is a lovely little fern of a much dwarfer 

 habit than the usual form of the species, varying only from three to 

 six inches in height, and lanceolate in form. The pinna; or divisions 

 are lanceolate and so close and deflexed that they overlap each other. 

 It is a very pretty little fern, constant under cultivation, and of a 

 pleasing dark green colour. 



There is another variety, dentata, midway between the two fore- 

 going kinds, its fronds averaging from six to eight inches in height. It 

 is a very desirable variety. 



Cystopteris regia, or Alpine bladder fern, is another pretty little 

 fern of an elegant tufted diminutive growth. Its fronds appear in 

 spring and die down in autumn, and are from four to eight inches 

 in height, of a bright green colour, supported on short smooth stipes, 

 scaly at the base, and rising from a crown. They are lanceolate, and 

 divided ; the divisions, nearly opposite each other, are much divided 

 and subdivided, giving the entire fern a very elegant appearance. It 

 is rather tender in constitution. 



This fern is quite a gem for pots or a sheltered rockery. 

 Polypodium vulgare, or common polypody, is a very common fern, 

 growing almost everywhere over old walls, ditch banks, and trunks 

 of trees. No dweller in the country can miss seeing it by the way- 

 side. It is an evergreen fern with a creeping stem about as thick as 

 a pencil, thickly covered with brownish pointed scales. It creeps 

 along by means of this stem, throwing up from the upper side its 

 deeply cut lance-shaped fronds, about six or eight inches in length, 

 of a darkish green colour and rigid habit. 



It is an excellent fern for rockwork and does very well in pots. 

 The Welsh polpody, or Pohjpodium Cambricum, is a remarkable 

 variety of the above, having the lobes of the fronds broader and 

 irregularly lobed a second time into sharply toothed lobes. 

 It is a pretty fern either for pots or rockeries. 

 Polypodium pliegopteris, or beach fern, differs considerably in 

 habit and form from the last. It is not evergreen, the fronds appear- 

 ing in spring and dying away in autumn. It has a slender creeping 

 stem, slightly scaly, from which the fronds are thrown up, supported 

 by very long fleshy brittle stipes. The fronds are from six inches 

 to a foot in height, triangular in form, rather hairy, and of a delicately 

 pale green colour, divided, the lower divisions opposite and lanceo- 

 late in form, and deeply lobed or divided again. The lowest pair of 

 pinnae are much smaller than the pair above, and reflex backwards in 

 a peculiar manner, which is a very distinct feature of this species. 



It is a good fern for a Wardian case or for pot culture, requiring 

 plenty of water and good drainage. 



Polypodium dryopteris, or oak fern, is a lovely little slender pea- 

 green fern, appearing in spring and dying down in autumn. It has a 

 slender creeping stem from which the fronds rise, supported on brittle 

 dark coloured stipes, much longer than the fronds, which vary from 

 four to eight inches in height, and are triangular in shape, each frond 

 being divided into three nearly equal parts, each part triangular 

 divided and subdivided. No other polypody has the fronds so equally 

 divided. It often forms into dense tufts and is quite a gem. 



