104 Ferns for Window Gardeners. 



lanceolate in form. The pinnae or divisions are lan- 

 ceolate and so close and deflexed that they overlap 

 each other. It is a very pretty little fern, constant 

 under cultivation, and of a pleasing dark green colour. 



There is another variety, dentata, midway between 

 the two foregoing kinds, its fronds averaging from six 

 to eight inches in height. It is a very desirable variety.' 



Cystopteris regia, or Alpine Bladder Fern, is 

 another pretty little fern of an elegant tufted diminu- 

 tive growth. Its fronds appear in spring and die 

 down in autumn, and are from four to eight inches in 

 height, of a bright green colour, supported on short 

 smooth stipes, scaly at the base, and rising from a 

 crown. They are lanceolate, and divided ; the divi- 

 sions, nearly opposite each other, are much divided and 

 subdivided, giving the entire fern a very elegant 

 appearance. It is rather tender in constitution. 



This fern is quite a gem for pots or a sheltered 

 rockery. 



Polypodium vulgare, or common Polypody, is a very 

 common fern growing almost everywhere, over old 

 walls, ditch banks, and trunks of trees. No dweller in 

 the country can miss seeing it by the wayside. It is 

 an evergreen fern with a creeping stem about as thick 

 as a pencil, thickly covered with brownish pointed 

 scales. It creeps along by means of this stem, throw- 

 ing up from the upper side its deeply cut lance-shaped 

 fronds, about six or eight inches in length, of a darkish 

 green colour and rigid habit. 



It is an excellent fern for rockwork and does very 

 well in pots. 



