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bery bounds the fernery. One enters it under a huge tree of 

 Xanthophyllum excelsum, five feet in diameter, and probably 

 seventy-five feet high, with very dense fohage. It comes as a 

 decided surprise to the visitor to learn that this giant tree be- 

 longs to the family Polygalaceae, a group represented in America 

 by herbaceous plants of rather less than average height. 



Within the fernery, the smaller species are planted in regular 

 rows, and almost every tree supports one or two epiphytic 

 forms. The most attractive display of epiphytes, however, 

 comes from the hundreds of plants of Asplenium nidus which 

 have established themselves everywhere in the taller trees, not 

 only over the fern collection, but throughout the garden, until 

 they must actually be treated as weeds and cleaned off the trees 

 which they infest. 



Tree ferns are noteworthy by their absence, and the botanist 

 is disappointed to see so few and such poor specimens. Their 

 place is taken in a way by hundreds of magnificent specimens of 

 Angiopteris evecta, whose short stocky trunks are a foot or two 

 high and almost as thick, and whose huge ascending fronds may 

 be twelve feet long. In many places the walks are completely 

 overarched by them. 



There are numerous ferns represented by familiar generic 

 names, but the botanist is most interested in seeing some of the 

 rarer forms. There are two species of Psilotum, related to our 

 Lycopodiiim; an epiphytic species of the latter genus; hanging 

 fronds three feet long of Ophioglossum pendulum; delicate 

 plants of the rare Helminthostachys zeylanica. There are several 

 species of the stag-horn ferns, Platycerium, showing a large 

 variation in the shape and position of the fronds. Of these the 

 largest is perhaps Platycerium coronarium, with drooping fronds 

 six feet long. 



In connection with the fern collection, one must not omit 

 mention of the little epiphyte Drymoglossum heterophyllum, 

 whose specific name indicates the obvious difference between 

 the foliage leaves and the sporophylls. The species occurs wild 

 everywhere through the garden and city, on trees or walls, in 

 deep shade or full sun, and seems to be perfectly adapted to 



