CHAP. V. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 331 



ornamental purposes a few would suffice. Their tender stipes 

 resemble black horse-hair, to which the delicate green pinnae 

 are prettily attached. 



A. lunulatum, a lovely species found about Calcutta growing 

 out of old walls. Sterile fronds a foot or more long, with the 

 pinnae sessile, form loops over the spot where they grow by 

 inserting their ends and taking root in crevices. The plant 

 with fertile fronds has much larger pinnae, and might easily be 

 taken for a distinct species. 



Worthy of note for grace and beauty are A. pedatum ; 

 cuneatum ; formosum ; hispidum ; Capillus Veneris, a British 

 species; concinnum, perhaps the most beautiful; villosum ; 

 cristatum. Lately introduced are A. Farleyense and A. fulvum. 



Pteris. 



P. amplectens. A common weed about Calcutta ; fronds pin- 

 nate with the pinnae five or six inches long, of the form of a 

 blade of grass. A spare dark corner in the garden should 

 always be assigned to this handsome Fern, as a frond or two 

 inserted in a bouquet has a delightful effect. 



Among many of this genus of little interest may be mentioned 

 for their beauty, P. semipinnata ; leptophylla; Cretica, var. albo- 

 lineata; quadriaurita, a. var. argyrea, /6. var. leucophylla; y. var. 

 multifida; podophylla ; aspericaulis, var. bicolor; serrulata, a. var. 

 cristata, 8. var. polydactylon. 



Asplenium. 



A very extensive genus of Ferns, varying much as to aspect, 

 some having their fronds entirely simple, and some finely 

 divided. 



A. nidus, var. Australiacum BIRD'S-NEST SPLEENWORT, A 

 truly noble and most ornamental Fern, with fronds a yard or 

 more long, somewhat like those of a Plantain, but tapering to a 

 point ; of purest pale apple-green, against which their dark 

 chocolate ribs and bases form a handsome contrast ; long culti- 

 vated about Calcutta, where it thrives well in a pot or in the 

 border under shade. 



Amongst those most remarkable for dwarfness and the ex- 

 quisite beauty of their finely-divided fronds are A. cicutarium ; 

 umbrosum; Fabianum; laserpilifolium ; viviparum; Belangeri ; 



