Some horticultural Fern Variations 
R. C. Benepicr 
The variations to be dealt with here exist in the tropi- 
cal fern genus Nephrolepis, of which one or two species 
occur wild in the United States in Florida. Some of the 
variations found in this genus have been found as wild 
forms but the large majority are only known from their 
occurrence under cultivation in florists’ greenhouses. 
They are none the less of interest to students of wild 
forms not only because of their intrinsic interest, but 
because in some cases they show differences similar 
to those existing between distinct species of wild ferns. 
In other words, we have in the variations of N. ephrolepis 
an illustration of one possible way in which species may 
have been differentiated. In about fifteen years more 
than fifty distinct forms have arisen from one species, 
Nephrolepis exaltata. Of course these fifty new forms 
are not all separated inter se by what would be 
considered specific differences. Some of the forms very 
accorded specific rank, It may be added, that, para- 
doxically, the variations of this one species have gone 
beyond the commonly accepted generic limits of Ne- 
phrolepis. 
The variations to be considered here have all arisen 
from the one species, N. ezaltata. Other species of 
Nephrolepis have also given rise to somewhat similar 
