FERNS. 



201 



often he selected from a single crop of spores. 

 Some of the more remarkable of these have received 

 distinctive names, and are in many respects prefer- 

 able for general decorative effect to the ordinary and 

 ■widely-grown type. Amongst these may he espe- 

 cially mentioned maxima, angustata, cristata, Leyi, 



general aspect ; it is, however, a much larger plant, 

 vrith a conspicuously-winged rachis, and several 

 compound pinnaa. When planted out in the open 

 herder of the cool conservatory, it makes a fine 

 specimen, and requires no attention heyond a good 

 supply of moisture to the roots during the growing 



fTBRIS SBBKDU.TA CKISIiLTA. 



if>:^ ^'^'' 



and polydactyla. P. straminea, a comparatively 

 recent introduction of Chilian origin, is a very 

 beautiful species, with moderately firm naked fronds 

 of an intense bright green colour. Perhaps it is 

 better known under its garden name of P. erispa, 

 a descriptive title which alludes to the wavy or 

 crisped maj^ins of the pinnatifid pinnae. P. tremula, 

 a native of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, 

 has bright green fronds, sometimes as much as five 

 feet long, the bright, chestnut-brown, polished 

 stipes being a foot or more in length. Grown in 

 pots, however, it rai-ely attains the dimensions just 

 given. 

 P. umirosa somewhat resembles P. Cretica in 



season. In a wild state, it is found in tropical and 

 temperate Australia. 



HARDY KINDS. 



Perhaps the only Pteris which can fairly claim to 

 be considered absolutely hardy in t.bia country is our 

 native P. aquilina, which is found all round the 

 world, both within the Tropics and in the North 

 and South Temperate Zones. In Lapland it just 

 passes within the Arctic Circle, ascending in the 

 Highlands of Scotland to 2,000 feet, in the Cameroon 

 Mountains to 7,000 feet, in Abyssinia to 8,000 or 

 9,000 feet, and in the Himalayas to about 8,000 feet 

 above sea-level. In the Andes, Dr. Spruce has seen 



