316 



CASSELL'S POPtJLAH GARDENING. 



genus belong, are included. There are about sixty 

 species, distributed over almost all countries. The 

 name Shield Fern is a translation of the Greek root 

 from which the name Aspidium was coined, and was 

 given on account of the form of the involucre. 



STOVE SPECIES. 



Comparatively few of the numerous Aspidiums in 

 cultivation do not succeed imder green-house treat- 



sembles in texture and appearance our native Holly 

 Fern. It has stout erect stipes, two to four inches 

 long, densely clothed with large, reddish-brown, lan- 

 ceolate scales; the very leathery evergreen fronds are 

 pinnate throughout, and measure from twelve to 

 eighteen inches in length, by an inch and a half to 

 two inches in breadth. 



A. trifoliatum, a variable plant, widely distributed 

 throughout tropical America, has tufted brownish 



WOODSIA ILVENSIS. 



WOODSIA ilPlHA. 



iment ; even the three mentioned under this heading 

 •will thrive in a cool house, but as they grow more 

 freely in the warmer temperature of the stove, they 

 iare given by themselves. 



A. anomalum, a curious Cingalese species, is per- 

 haps, as suggested by Mr. Baker, an abnormal con- 

 dition of our native A. aculeatum. It has tufted 

 stipes, one to two feet long, densely clothed with 

 large, lanceolate, pale brown scales, especially the 

 lower portions, and fronds two to three feet long by a 

 foot or more in breadth. The texture is firm, and 

 the fronds, which are naked, both above and below, 

 are dark green in colour. This species belongs to 

 ■the group in which the lower pinnae are only once 

 jiivided. 



A. mucronatum. from the West Indies, closely re- 



stipes a foot or more long, scaly only at the base, 

 and thin-textured fronds, twelve to eighteen inches 

 long, by six to twelve broad. 



The var. heracleifolium is a handsome form, with 

 bright green fronds, with the pinnae pinnatifid on 

 both sides at the base. 



GREEN-HOUSE SPECIES. 



A. amahile. — ^In this, the lower pinnae of the fine 

 fronds are only once pinnate, the rachis and both 

 surfaces being naked. The fronds themselves mea- 

 sure a foot or more in length, by six to nine inches 

 in breadth; the slender polished stipes are six to nine 

 inches long. A native of India, Ceylon, Malacca, 

 Formosa, and Japan. 



A. aristatum has a creeping rhizome, and deep, 



