GOLD AND SILVER FERNS 659 
a yellow mealiness. Pinne distant, oval, with somewhat rhomboidal 
pinnules, whose edges are ragged, except the outer, which is occupied by 
the kidney-shaped sori. Greenhouse. 
The general directions already given for Fern-culture 
still apply. The soil most suitable to the majority of 
Adiantums is a compost of fibrous peat, loam, and sand. For the more 
delicate sorts the peat should be to the loam in the proportion of two 
to one; the stronger-growing will require the proportions reversed ; 
whilst to those of average robustness equal quantities may be used. They 
should not be stinted for pot room, and particular attention should be 
paid to drainage. A. tenerum, var. Furleyense, will be found specially 
fine for a large, hanging basket in a warm, moist atmosphere, when its 
_ large, beautiful fronds will show to the greatest advantage. A. caudatum 
and A. concinnum are also good subjects for such treatment. A. 
Cultivation. 
pedatum may be grown on outdoor ferneries in most places. Propaga- 
tion is effected by dividing the rootstocks and by raising young plants 
from the spores. 
Description of Plate 310. Adiantum cuneatum, the Maidenhair 
Plates310and311. Hern, natural size. Fig. 1 is an enlarged view of the 
prothallus and the first frond; 2, a pinnule enlarged, under surface, 
showing involucres; 3 is a still greater enlargement of one of the lobes 
of a pinnule, showing the sori under the involuere. 
Plate 311. Adiantum trapeziforme. A frond, natural size, but 
the rachis doubled over to get it in the space. Fig. 1 shows the under 
side of a pinnule, with the sori and involucres along the upper edges ; 
2 is an enlarged view of a sorus and its involucre. 
GOLD AND SILVER FERNS 
Natural Order Fitices. Genus Gymnogramme 
GYMNOGRAMME (Greek, gymnos, bare, and gramme, a line: from the 
form of the sori, which spread in irregular lines, and are not covered by 
any involuecre). A genus of about a hundred species of Ferns, mostly 
stove subjects, with fronds of diverse habit, once, twice, or thrice pinnate. 
The sori are oblong, united into narrow irregular lines. They are 
situated on or between the veins, on the under surface of the frond. 
The involucre is not present in any of the genus. The species are 
distributed chiefly over the warm regions of the Globe, one extending 
into the British Islands as far as Jersey. 
Sa a a 
