CHAPTER IX 



TINTED AND VARIEGATED FERNS 



IT is usual to regard Ferns as having only sombre 

 hues of green, yet it is remarkable what bright tints 

 may be developed under proper treatment. Before 

 enumerating the varieties, it may be remarked that 

 with almost all which give colour, light and exposure are 

 essential. Observation will prove that those which are 

 of a deep green like more shade, while those with the 

 red, or bronzy tints, may be exposed to the sun ; and it 

 is only when well exposed that they develop the brightest 

 hues. Take the beautiful Adiantum Farleyense. Under 

 shade it will grow and make fronds of a deep green, yet 

 when started and grown on with little or no shade the 

 young fronds will have a soft salmon pink shade, and 

 the plants may be used for decorations and will not 

 suffer so much as those grown under shade. One of the 

 brightest tinted Ferns is Adiantum tetraphyllum gracile. 

 This requires stove treatment, and is rarely seen, but it 

 is one of the most beautiful Ferns we have. A, Veitchi 

 is another which colours well, the young fronds being 

 almost as bright as Dracaena terminalis. A. macrophyllum 

 colours well, and the variegated variety is remarkably 

 bright. A. macrophyllum bipimatum has rather more of a 

 bronzy-brown shade, though when quite young it is very 

 bright. A. scutum roseum, A. rubellum, A. tinctum, and 

 A. cyclosorum colour well. The colour of all the above, 

 though very bright when the fronds are young, gradu- 

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