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a horticultural form of the species which is widely distributed 
in tropical regions; the showy Blechnum brasiliense, with its 
plume-like fronds arising from a short erect stalk; Wittbold’s 
sword-fern; a fine large plant of that inhabitant of the Old 
World tropics, the bird’s-nest fern, Neottopteris Nidus; and 
an attractive plant of Selaginella Wallichit, from India. Over 
the walk in this and the next house are many ferns used as 
basket-plants, a use which they serve admirably. The Fiji Island, 
the cut-leaved, and the five-leaved davallias are among these, the 
first from the Fiji Islands, as its mame indicates, the last from 
Malaysia and Polynesia, while the remaining one is from Java. 
On the eastern wall separating this house from the next will be 
found a vigorously growing plant of Monstera deliciosa, not a 
fern but a member of the aroid family, to which belong our 
common jack-in-the-pulpit and the skunk’s cabbage. The fruit 
of this plant is edible, the flavor reminding one much of the pine- 
ap number of other plants of the aroid family will be 
found in the adjoining house climbing on the walls. 
Passing to the next house, the middle one of this transverse 
range, we again find the large tree-ferns occupying the center 
as the most conspicuous objects. Species not referred to when 
describing the first house are Alsophila armata, th 
tree-fern, a native of tropical America; Hemitclia rondo, 
a native of tropical America; and Cibotium regale, found wil 
in Mexico. There are still other species to be seen aie 
cannot be enumerated here. Also in this house will be found 
a number of species of the Marattia family, the Marattiaceae, in 
the genera Angiopteris and bis arattia. These ferns are peculiar in 
at the base of the fronds, a feature most unusual amon 
ferns. The leaves are large and decompound and of a rich green. 
They are found widely distributed throughout tropical regions, 
in both the Old World and the New 
A large swamp fern will also be found here, a native of Florida 
and tropical America. It is Acrostichum aureum, its tall fronds 
forming attractive masses of vegetation in swamps and other wet 
places in the country where it grows. It is common in the south- 
