84 FERNS 



whose fronds without exception would root 

 at the tips if unlimited space could be given. 



Nature is capricious and fails to please 

 herself sometimes. Tired of the stiff pretti- 

 ness of the very correct little ebony spleen- 

 wort, she took the step aside which entailed 

 the long controversy over the origin of the 

 unique product called Asplenium ebenoides. 

 No appreciable beauty was thus added to the 

 genus, but much of interest. 



This mystery was hardly brushed away 

 when another "sport" possssing desirable 

 attributes which the type and its hybrid 

 lacked posed before the botanical world. 

 Asplenium platyneuron var. Hortoncd is a valu- 

 able acquisition as a cultural fern on account 

 of its greater gracefulness. Asplenium platy- 

 neuron is frequently off-colour and the ebenoides 

 too light, but the newer acquisition is a bright, 

 rich, medium shade of green, so pronounced 

 that a single plant in the midst of an abun- 

 dance of the type instantly attracts attention. 

 Cultural conditions are the same for the 

 entire group. 



