EXOTIC FERNS 125 



The artistic value of the brake (Pteris) 

 tribe is rapidly gaining recognition. As a 

 class they are excellent foils for the maiden- 

 hairs (Adiantums) and for all other ferns with 

 finely cut fronds. No professional thinks 

 of filling a fern dish without commingling 

 the two. There is considerable beauty as 

 well as individuality in the genus. The 

 Cretan brakes {Pteris Crettca and its variety 

 albo-lineata) are perhaps most often seen 

 outside the greenhouse. The fronds are 

 unique in design, and in colour, too, in the 

 white-lined variety. They are all especially 

 strong in texture, hence their indifference to 

 varying temperatures and other conditions dis- 

 astrous to more delicately constituted genera. 



Another sub-tropical pteris, known in the 

 trade as P. adiantoides, is a larger-growing 

 sort, sending out long, gracefully drooping 

 fronds which bear no resemblance whatever 

 to the former species. It is only moderately 

 successful as a house plant, but bears heat 

 well and requires little water. 



One of the most desirable of all ferns for 



