FENUGREEK 



FERNS 



1207 



the power of obtaining nitrogen from the air by means 

 of root-tubercles. For description of the plant, see 

 Trigonella. M. G. KAINS. 



FfeNZLIA: Gilia. 

 FERDINAND A: Podachxnium. 



FERN-BALLS (Fig. 1481) are the dried rhizomes of 

 ferns, imported from Japan. Dealers often start them into 

 growth, and sell them when the mass is well covered 

 with its delicate vegetation. To start them into growth, 

 the balls are drenched in a tub of water and then hung 

 in a warmhouse, not in direct sunlight. When the 

 plants are well started, gradually expose them to more 

 light and to a copier air. Give liquid manure if they 

 do not grow satisfactorily. The species are mostly 

 Davallias, apparently D. bullata and D. Mariesii. 



Fern-balls (Davallia bullata) are of Japanese origin. 

 They are natives of deep mossy forests (the mosses 

 on trees as well as on the ground), with abundant 

 humidity in the air, as in Kiso or some parts of 



1482. Ferns in formal shapes. 



Fukushima districts. Toward the end of every 

 winter, an expert goes into these forests and gathers 

 the vines of such ferns. They should be carefully kept 

 in the bamboo baskets in which a large quantity of 

 mosses are contained, which must be sprinkled with 

 water on the way to the metropolis. The people out- 

 side of large towns or cities do not care much for this 

 plant. When the plants arrive in the cities or towns, 

 they fall into the hands of gardeners who make many 

 shapes with the vines (Fig. 1482). This is done before 

 any leaves appear. Then the balls or other shaped 

 articles are hung from the ceiling beam quite near to 

 its end but not exposed to rain or hot sunshine. The 

 ferns should not be subjected to pouring rain or showers, 

 although they like dew. They should have some 

 sprinkling of cool water once every day after sunset. 

 The plant dislikes dust or warm impure water. The 

 best fertilizer is the extract of fish-meal or cake ("abura- 

 kasunazumi"). Prices run from 20 cents to 50 cents 

 United States money according to the shape of balls 

 and general excellence. (Issa Tanimura.) 



1483. Sporan- 



FERNELIA (Jean Francois Fernel, 1497-1558, 

 physician to Henry II of France). Rubiacex. Four 

 small evergreen trees or shrubs of the Mascarene Isls., 

 rarely grown in choice warmhouse collections. Lvs. 

 small, opposite, coriaceous, short-stalked, ovate-oblong 

 or nearly orbicular : fls. small, solitary or in 2's, provided 

 with a 4-toothed calyx-like involucre; corolla short- 

 tubed, salver-shaped, with 4 spreading lobes; stamens 

 2, affixed in the corolla-throat; disk annular; ovary 

 1-celled below and 2-celled above: fr. a small berry. 

 F. buxifblia, Comm., is the species likely to be in cult. 

 It is a much-branched shrub 4-5 ft. high, with pbovate 

 or oblong Ivs. }^in. or less long, and many whitish fls. 

 in the axils of the Ivs.: berry dry, size of a pea, red, 

 borne inside the involucre. Mauritius. L H B 



FERNS. The plants included under this name com- 

 prise an entire order, made up of several distinct fami- 

 lies. They include plants varying in size from a hair- 

 like creeping stem bearing a few simple, moss-like 

 leaves, to tall trees 80 or more feet in 

 height, with a stem or trunk nearly a 

 foot in diameter. Singularly enough, 

 the extremes in size are both found in 

 tropical regions, in which most of the 

 species abound. Most of the ordinary 

 native species, as well as the larger part 

 of those in cultivation, consist of an 

 erect underground stem or rootstock 

 with leaves, often called fronds, clustered 

 in dense crowns, or in the cases of creep- 

 ing stems with scattered leaves. In 

 gardening parlance, other plants are 

 sometimes called ferns, as species of 

 lycopodium and selaginella, as well as ^ t s f > a fem 6 " 

 Asparagus plumosus. 



In the life of an individual fern plant, two distinct 

 phases occur, represented by two separate and unlike 

 plants. The ordinary fern plant represents the asexual 

 phase of growth (sporophyte), producing its spores 

 normally in spore-cases (sporangia, Fig. 1483), which 

 are borne in masses (son, Fig. 1484) on the back or 

 margin of the leaf, or in a few cases are grouped in 

 spikes or panicles, or in rare cases spread in a layer over 

 the entire under surface of the leaf. The sexual stage 

 (gametophyte) develops from the germinating spore, 

 and consists of a tiny usually scale-like green heart- 

 shaped prothallus (Fig. 1485), which bears the sex- 

 organs (archegonia, female, and antheridia, male) on the 

 under surface. After fertilization in the archegonium, 

 the egg develops directly into a young fern plant (Fig. 

 1485). Many ferns also propagate vegetatively by 

 runners or offsets, by bulblet-like buds, and in certain 

 species the tips of the leaves bend over and take root, 

 as in our common walking-leaf (Camptosorus, which 

 see).- 



Ferns frequently hybridize. The crossing takes place 

 naturally in the prothallium stage. They are not 

 crossed by hand, as are the seed-plants, but from the 

 accidental mixing when prothallia of allied species are 

 growing together. Fig. 1486 (G.F. 9:445) is a hybrid 

 between two native species; it has been found in the 

 wild in several parts of New England. 



Great diversity has existed in the matter of the 

 separation of the ferns into 

 genera. Hooker, relying mainly 

 on artificial characters drawn 

 largely from the sorus, recog- 

 nized about seventy genera 

 only, many of them heterogene- 

 ous groups of plants with little 

 resemblance in structure, habit 

 or natural affinities. John 

 Smith, relying on stem charac- 



1484. A sorus or fruit- ters, Presl on variation in vena- 

 dot of a fern. tion and habit, Fe"e, Moore, 



