CHAPTER XVII 



PLATYCERIUMS 



THERE are only about seven or eight distinct species of 

 this curious and interesting genus, but we now have 

 several distinct garden hybrids. They may all be treated 

 as epiphytes, that is, they may grow on tree stems or 

 blocks of wood. Yet they succeed better when some 

 peat leaf mould and sphagnum moss is provided for 

 them to root into; the decayed dorsal fronds provide 

 some material for the roots, and if an old plant is pulled 

 to pieces roots will be found spreading between the 

 decayed barren fronds which spread shell-like round the 

 pockets or tree stems to which they are affixed. In 

 their natural habitats they get some assistance from 

 decayed leaves, the excrement from birds, etc. And 

 though they may grow for a long period without any 

 other assistance except that derived from their own 

 decayed fronds and moisture, they succeed better when 

 given some further assistance. It is rather surprising 

 that these curious Ferns do not come into more general 

 use for decorations, for they are most tenaceous of life 

 and will survive under conditions in which most plants 

 would perish. I found on one occasion they were the 

 only plants which had survived in a neglected conserva- 

 tory, and I have a plant before me now which has been 

 in the house a little over a year and is looking as healthy 

 as when it first came. 



P. alcicorne and its varieties are the most generally 

 useful ; this is commonly known as the Stag's-horn Fern, 



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