Ferns for Window Gardeners. 105 



The Welsh Polypody or Polypodium Cambricum is a 

 remarkable variety of the above, having the lobes of 

 the fronds broader and irregularly lobed a second time 

 into sharply toothed lobes. 



It is a pretty fern either for pots or rockeries. 



Polypodium Phegopteris, or Beach Fern, differs con- 

 siderably in habit and form from the last, It is not 

 evergreen, the fronds appearing in spring and dying 

 away in autumn. It has a slender creeping stem 

 slightly scaly from which the fronds are thrown up, 

 supported by very long fleshy brittle stipes. The 

 fronds are from six inches to a foot in height, trian- 

 gular in form, rather hairy, and of a delicately pale 

 green colour, divided, the lower divisions opposite and 

 lanceolate in form, and deeply lobed or divided again. 

 The lowest pair of pinnae are much smaller than the 

 pair above, and reflex backwards in a peculiar manner, 

 which is a very distinct feature of this species. 



It is a good fern for a Wardian case or for pot cul- 

 ture, requiring plenty of water and good drainage. 



Polypodium Dryopteris, or Oak Fern, is a lovely 

 little slender pea-green fern, appearing in spring and 

 dying down in autumn. It has a slender creeping 

 stem from which the fronds rise, supported on brittle 

 dark-coloured stipes, much longer than the fronds, 

 which vary from four to eight inches in height, and 

 are triangular in shape, each frond being divided into 

 three nearly equal parts, each part triangular divided 

 and subdivided. No other Polypody has the fronds 

 so equally divided. It often forms into dense tufts 

 and is quite a gem. 



