140 



Fig- r 43- G. leptophylla. 



BRITISH FERNS 



proper. It is a very small Fern, of com- 

 paratively simple make, as shown in Fig. 

 143, and, like the rest of the genus, a 

 large one, boasting many very beautiful 

 silver and gold exotics, the spores are 

 simply scattered along the lines of the 

 veins on the under side of the frond, 

 eventually covering the backs entirely. 

 The Fern, as found at one or two stations, 

 occurs in moist places, associated with 

 moss and lichens, but we have found it 

 in the Orient, in company with Ceterach 

 officinarum, a Fern of exactly opposite 

 tastes, to which the conditions approached 

 far more closely. It is one of the rare 

 Ferns which are annuals, only lasting one 

 season, and springing anew the next from 

 the spores produced. Under culture, 

 therefore, a bell glass or close case must 

 be used, and moist conditions maintained, 

 in which event it may re-establish itself 

 season after season by self-sown spores. 

 No varieties. 



HYMENOPHYLLUM TUNBRIDGENSE 



(The Tunbridge Filmy Fern) 



(Plate XXXIX ) 



This is a very small and moss-like Filmy Fern, so named because 

 first noticed at Tunbridge, in Kent, which grows also in moss-like 

 masses in mountain glens on the rocks by 

 stream sides, and is very generally distributed 

 in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and 

 adjacent islands where suitable habitats exist. 

 Its slender fronds (Fig. 144) are nearly twice 

 divided, and arise from almost threadlike 

 creeping and branching rootstocks, which in 

 favourable situations form dense mats on the 

 rock faces, but only in such situations where 

 the fronds are constantly bedewed with mois- 

 ture. The spores are borne in receptacles, 

 cup-shaped, with saw-toothed edges, as shown H ' Tunbrld s en ^, 

 in Fig. 414. For culture see Wardian Case Cul- (pinna and s P° ra ngium). 

 ture (page 45). Forms have been found in which the fronds branch 

 on somewhat cristate lines, but this adds nothing of decorative 

 value to Ferns of this diminutive and massed class. Quite evergreen, 

 the fronds lasting for years. 



Fig. 144. 



