)> JFernerg. 265 



frequency with which it throws out suckers from 

 its rambling rhizomes, it is best placed by itself. 

 Planted numerously with other species it soon 

 crowds them, unless the suckers are checked. 

 Few plants have a more tropical effect than this, 

 a mass of it forming a grand feature of any gar- 

 den. It is well and tersely described by Gray 

 " a fern of noble port." This does best in shade, 

 but it may also be grown in sun. 



The royal fern (Osmunda regalis), which be- 

 longs to the class of flowering ferns, is rarely 

 seen to good advantage under cultivation. It is, 

 likewise, one of the most robust of the genus, 

 occurring naturally both in open sun and dense 

 shade, but always in wet or moist situations. 

 Perhaps there are none of the large species 

 whose color varies so much, the young plants, 

 more especially in sunny situations, assuming 

 varied shades of reddish-green. In rich, marshy 

 places it frequently grows to a height of five 

 feet. It is pre-eminently a bog-garden plant, 

 where it may be grown as vigorous as it occurs 

 naturally, the bronze and copper hues showing 

 more boldly in open situations. A smaller form 

 (O. gracilis) occurs, with broader foliage and 

 more urn-shaped than the type. 



A very common fern, found in dry places, is 

 another of the same species, the interrupted 

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