56 American Fern Journal 



such marshy places here as in America. I well remember 

 a marsh near New Britain where this adder's tongue 

 grew in thousands, and I compare the place mentally 

 with a dryish field in England where it was also abundant. 

 But my experience of it in either country is limited. 



We have no representative of Lygodium, Dicksonia, 

 Onoclea, Woodwardia,- Pellaea or Camptosorus. Adian- 

 tum capillus-veneris is British, growing scarcely on the 

 cliffs of the south of England and Wales. Pteris aquilina 

 is everywhere. Cystopteris fragilis cannot be called 

 common, while C. bulbifera is absent, 



Scolopendrium vulgare, so desirable a find in the States, 

 is plentiful in most parts of this country; in places it 

 literally occurs in thousands. The larger forms are 

 found in hedges and woods, but smaller forms are found 

 abundantly growing with the mortar-loving spleenworts 

 on old walls. 



I was interested to note the stress laid in the States 

 upon hybrids. Before I left, I believe I could recognize 

 such forms as Nephrodium cristatum x marginak when 

 I saw them, and I must confess I was quite convinced of 

 the true hybrid character of these. Here, however, 

 authenticated cases of hybridization between different 

 species are considered to be extremely few and one gets 

 little encouragement to discuss them. What the British 

 fernists do love are the natural variations of the ferns, 

 the crested and the tasselled forms, which inspire no 

 enthusiasm in the States. We have a wonderful selec- 

 tion of varieties now in cultivation. 



fern 



espec 



, ^. iv/ »""-V XV ill, l/HV llcUVO wvii^v.^ 



and the prickly shields. Somehow these variations 

 seem to occur much more frequently in our country than 

 in yours, though you can, I believe, lay claim to having 

 produced the only variety of Nephrodium thelypteris 

 (.polydactyla) that has hoon fr»,«rl ;« « „;u .t«t 



