3/6 Azotes and Gleanings. 



attain a length of four or more feet, if well grown. 1 hey are pendulous, bril- 

 liant green, and glossy. A i for everybody, except those who only have cases ; 

 and to these it is useful only when young. 



Asplcnmni niyriophylluni. — A fern for the fairies, and certainly too good 

 for any human being who ever frowned, spoke harshly, or treated a grandmother 

 with disrespect. Its name denotes that it is like the water milfoil, finely cut, and 

 divided into the loveliest of lace-like segments. As the fronds attain a length 

 of nearly two feet, and are proliferous at the apex, a fine specimen affords plenty 

 to look at. A. r-Jiisophylluin, A. dubituit, A. sfnciiim, A. bifissnm, A. clado- 

 lepton, are either the same specifically, or so slightly removed as to be regarded 

 as varieties only. 



Aspleiiiiim prcBinorsum is a general favorite. It is a variable fern, the nor- 

 mal form having arched, thrice-divided, tapering, spare-looking, smooth, dark- 

 green fronds. It forms a splendid fern for a vase, and is first-rate for exhibition. 

 The greenhouse is the proper place for it ; but it will go through a mild winter 

 in an unheated house if it has a little care, more particularly to guard against 

 excess of moisture. 



Aspleniiun rhisopJioniin. — A charming fern with light-green arching fronds, 

 every one of which takes root at the point, and produces a young plant. Its 

 object, evidently, is to cover all the world with itself by this mode of travelling : it 

 only fails because not equal in the struggle for life to some of the circumstances 

 which oppose its progress. A pretty fern for suspending. The proper place 

 for it is the stove ; but Mrs. Hibberd has kept it. and multiplied it largely in her 

 cool-cases during full ten years, and with few losses. 



Asplcniuin viviparutn. — A lovely, small-growing, bluish-green, fennel-like 

 fern, but more sublime than fennel, as a bird of paradise is more sublime than 

 a crow, though both are handsome. The upper surface is freely covered with 

 young plants. It is one of the best possible for the front of a case, where, how- 

 ever, it is the first to die if any thing goes wrong with the drainage. Mrs. Hib- 

 berd tells me she would never care to keep it in a case without the aid of artifi- 

 cial heat in winter, as, in the event of severe weather occurring when the case 

 happened to be slightly more damp than usual, it would be like the tree, the 

 flower, and the "dear gazelle " of the "trembling maid " in "The Fire-Worship- 

 pers." 



Aspleniiiin serra. — The grandest of all the asfileninrns, and adapted only 

 for large ferneries, where it requires stove-heat. It is a first-class exhibition- 

 fern, with rich dark-green, leafy, arching fronds, the pinnae of which are deeply 

 serrated. Being evergreen, it is well adapted to plant on a rockery in the stove. 

 This completes our selection of the most distinct and useful asplenvims, omit- 

 ting Britishers, on which enough has been said in former papers. — 6". H., in 

 Floral World. 



