FEENS. 



79 



all free between the sori and the margin. The re- 

 presentatiTe of the remaining group {W. areolata) 

 has dimorphous fronds, and the veins everywhere 

 anastomose, or run into eeich other. AH have linear 

 or linear-ohlong sori, sunk in cavities of the frond, 

 placed in single rows parallel with and contiguoas 

 to the midribs of the pinnae and pinnules. For 

 convenience of reference, the species — as in the other 

 genera already treated in this work— aro arranged 

 in alphabetical order, and not in their botanical 

 sequence. 



W. areolata, a rather rare fern, occurs in bogs in 

 the United States from Massachusetts to Florida. 

 The fronds are pinnatifid, the sterile ones (twelve 

 to eighteen inches high) with lanceolate serrulate 

 divisions, united by a broad wing ; the fertile fronds 

 are taller, with narrowly-linear, almost disconnected, 

 divisions. This species is frequently met with in 

 "books and gardens under the name of TT. angustifolia. 

 W. japonica, from China and Japan, is a handsome 

 plant, with dark green fronds. The erect stipes, 

 which are scaiy below, measure from six to twelve 

 inches in length, and the broadly-ovate bipinnatifid 

 fronds are from, twelve to eighteen inches long by 

 nine to twelve inches broad. In W. orientalis, the 

 erect stipe is densely clothed at the base with large 

 linear-lanceolate scales. The fronds vary from fovu: 

 to eight feet long by twelve to eighteen inches 

 broad, and the lanceolate pinnae, sometimes more 

 than a foot in length, are cut down below nearly to 

 the rachis into sinuated or pinnatifid pinnules. Xot 

 unfrequently the upper surface of the frond pro- 

 duces a large crop of gemmiferous buds, from which 

 a stock of young plants is easily and rapidly raised. 

 Jf. radicans — ^the only member of the genus which 

 is represented in the flora of Europe — is wild in 

 IMadeira and the Canaries, Spain, Italy, Sicily, 

 Uorthem India, Java, Califomia, Mexico, and 

 Ouatemala. It has dark green fronds, three to six 

 feet long by twelve to eighteen inches broad ; the 

 pinnae are lanceolate, and are cut iovm below within 

 a short distance of the rachis into finely-toothed 

 lanceolate pinnules. .Like the last-named species, 

 this very often develops young plantlets at the base 

 of the pinnae ; but they are usually fewer in number 

 and larger in size. The tip of the frond, too, it it 

 rests on a damp snr&ce, readily roots, and forms 

 a new plant. W. virginiea has pinnate fronds two 

 to three feet in height, with numerous lanceolate 

 pinnatifid pinnae ; it is a native of Bermuda, Canada, 

 and the United States from Vermont to Florida. 



Cultivation. — In many parts of this country the 

 species above mentioned are quite hardy, and all will 

 thrive in the unheated green-house, particularly if 

 planted out in a moist spot amongst peat and leaf. 

 They are all strong-growing ferns, and practically 



will succeed in good loam, provided drainage suffi- 

 cient is given to guard against stagnant moisture. 

 A copious supply of water is necessarj', and shading 

 is hardly needed. 



The Osmundas. — The genera Oamunda and 

 Todea together form a distinct sub-order of ferns — 

 viz., Osmundacete, Only some half-dozen species of 

 Osinunda are known, and nearly all these are in cul- 

 tivation. The British representative of the genus is 

 the well-known Eoyal Fern, the most stately and 

 beautiful of European members of the fern kingdom ; 

 this, too, is the one which is the most widely dis- 

 tributed — the only Osmunda, in fact, which extends 

 to southern temperate latitudes. Both in a state of 

 nature and under cultivation this varies a great deal, 

 and a, number of natural :tnd artificially produced 

 forms have received from time to time distinctive 

 names. All the species sire quite hardy in this 

 country, with the single exception of O. Javanica , 

 and this too, if imported from its most northern 

 habitats, would, in all probability, prove as hardy as 

 its congeners. 



In 0. einnamoinea — the Cinnamon Fern, so called 

 on account of the cinnamon-coloured sporangia — the 

 fertile and barren fronds are normally quite separate , 

 the latter are simply pinnate, the pinnte being cut 

 down nearly to the lachis into close oblong lobes. 

 The fertile fronds are contracted and twice pinnate. 

 When young every part of the plant is covered with 

 rusty-brown wool, which, however, quite disappears 

 from the sterile fronds when fuUy matured. Under 

 favourable conditions this species will attain a height 

 of about five feet. It grows in large bunches, the 

 fertile fronds in the centre, one to two feet long, 

 perfecting fruit as they unfold, and decaying before 

 the steiile fronds get their growth. The geographical 

 distribution of 0. cinnamomea is from Newfoundland 

 and Canada to Mexico, the West Indies, Guatemala, 

 Xew Grenada, and the Organ Moimtains. 



0. Claytoniana is a somewhat smaller-growing 

 plant than the last-named, rarely attaining more 

 .than two or three feet in height. Instead of the 

 fructification, however, being produced by sepa- 

 rate fronds, it is developed on separate pinnae about 

 the middle or near the apex of the frond. "When 

 young the fronds are clothed with loose, rusty- 

 coloured wool, but become smooth by the time they 

 are fully imfolded, when the colour is a soft, 

 pleasing green. This species is found in Canada, 

 throughout the United States, and in the Himalayas, 

 where it ascends to elevations of 10,000 feet above 

 sea-;level. 



0. javanica is a very distinct species, with simply- 

 pinnate, leathery, smooth fronds, one to three feet 

 long by eight to twelve inches broad; the fertile 



