Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



grows the Scale fern, Ceterach officinarum. The 

 last named is very local, but I have found 

 it in great abundance, and of surprising size 

 in the situation described. Cheilanthes fragrans 

 may be found in walls close to the town, 

 but as it is usually in a dried and withered 

 condition it may easily escape notice. This 

 fern has a great power of retaining its vitality 

 when dry, and a specimen is said to have 

 revived after being mounted for eleven months 

 in a herbarium. At this season of the year 

 banks near the town are green with gymno- 

 gramma leptophyllay a small and pretty annual. 



Ascending to the Mount, two thousand feet 

 above Funchal, and exploring the neighbouring 

 ravines, we may find in abundance the Black 

 Spleen-wort, and a few other interesting ferns, 

 but to reap his full harvest of delight the fern- 

 lover must cross the mountains and traverse 

 the moist ravines which descend towards the 

 north coast. 



The great cushion fern, Dicksonia Culcita^ 

 still grows in damp woods in the north-west 

 of the island. Unfortunately its silky fibres 

 are much used for stuffing pillows, and like 

 other plants which serve human needs it is, 



182 



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