16 STOVE FEENS. 



Jamaican Fern are simple, 2 feet long and 4 inches wide in the 

 broadest part, and cut at the edges. They form a circle on an 

 erect rootstock, similar to the well-known Bird's-nest Fern. 

 Slow of increase by division, but grows freely from spores. 



A. YEITCHIANUM (Veitch's). This Fern, which is almost 

 as well known under the name of A. Belangeri, is a native 

 of Java. Its fronds, produced in a cluster from the apex 

 of the rhizome, are somewhat erect, lanceolate in form, and 

 twice-divided ; the ultimate divisions are narrow, and when 

 fertile bearing only one sorus each. The fronds are viviparous, 

 and the plant may be increased by pegging-down an old frond 

 on the surface of the soil. 



A. VIVIPARUM (Viviparous). This is an elegant narrow- 

 leaved, thrice-pinnated Fern, from Mauritius, of a lively green, 

 growing not more than a foot high. It produces living plants 

 at the end of each frond, by which it may be readily increased, 

 in the same way as A. racJiirJiizon, described above. 



A. TJMBROSUM (Shady). This is from Madeira, and is the 

 Allantodia umbrosa of B. Brown, and Asplenium Aitoni of 

 some gardens. It requires a moderate stove, though it will 

 exist in a warm greenhouse ; it is rather a large Fern, growing 

 from 3 to 4 feet high. The fronds are thrice-pinnated. The 

 leaflets are lance-shaped, and rounded at the top. The stalk 

 has a few dark scales at the base ; and the rootstock is short, 

 thick, and creeps close to the soil. 



There are a great many more stove Aspleniums ; for it is, 

 perhaps, the largest genus in all the family ; but we have enu- 

 merated those which are most easily obtainable, and most 

 worthy of cultivation. As almost every species has something 

 to recommend it, we here add the names of others which 

 want of space prevents our describing at length : A. alaium 

 (tropical America) ; A. Ceylonense, small, pretty (Ceylon) ; 

 A. dentafum, frond 2 inches high (West Indies) ; A. dispersum 

 (tropical America) ; A. cJmrneum (India) ; A. fragrans, sweet- 

 smelling after it is dried (West Indies) ; A. fteniculaceitm 



