56 FERNS 



are pale green; the former likes the sun, but 

 the latter thrives only in the shade. 



Very unlike any other of its genus is the 

 wall rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria), the shy 

 cliff dweller with sea-green fronds, which is 

 as much at home in a rockery on the lawn as 

 the walking leaf (Camptosorus rhizopbyllus)* 

 which fastens its tapering points on every 

 side. 



The pretty little rusty woodsia (W. Ilvensis) 

 is excellent for rockwork, requiring little soil 

 and thriving best in the sunniest corner. 

 There is no mistaking this, for rusty indeed 

 it is in dry weather, but it freshens up in a 

 shower. The obtuse woodsia (Woodsia ob- 

 tusd) requires more shade. Nearly all of the 

 genus ar-e cultivable. 



Nature is over lavish with her favourite 

 pattern of lacework, as seen in the bulbifer- 

 ous bladder fern (Filix bulbifera), graceful 

 and fragile looking, yet the first to fling a 

 mantle of green over rock and stone, and, 

 as a natural sequence, the first to pass. The 

 only remedy for this is to break away the old 



