398 



MY GARDEN. 



handsome fern from the Malay Archipelago. A. macilentum, a variety 

 oi A. aiiritum, is prettily veined. A. attenuatum is a fine stiff fern from 

 Queensland, and forms a handsome plant ; whilst A. formosum is a 

 very graceful one. So is also A. flabellatum, a variety of A. rhizo- 

 phorum, from tropical America. 



The fronds of A. macrophyllum are very dissimilar from those of any 

 species hitherto described ; the plant hardly looks like a fern, and is 

 valuable on account of that dissimilarity, for the sake of contrast 

 A. falcatuin is a graceful fern from Japan, which does better out of 

 doors than in the house. A. dispersum is a very desirable basket fern, 

 from tropical America, with fronds not exceeding nine inches in 

 length. 



A. Serra is a firm, erect, and fine species from tropical America. A . 

 nidus, var. australasicum, or Bird's-nest Fern (fig. 910), is a fine species 

 with large fleshy fronds arranged round a centre ; it may be placed out 

 in summer. A. bulbiferum is a common fern, from New Zealand, which 

 likes outdoor treatment in summer. 



Fig. gio. — Bird's-nest Fern. 



Fig. 9iort. — Camptosoms 

 rhizophyllus. 



Fig. gii. — Actiniopteris 

 radiata. 



The Scale Fern, A. Ceterach — or, as it is commonly called, Ceterach 

 officinarum (fig. 868)— does not grow well in the house, but does per- 

 fectly well in the open ferneries, as has been already described. 



There is a remarkable species, and the only one of a genus called 

 Actiniopteris, which exactly resembles a miniature palm-tree ; this is 

 the Actiniopteris radiata (fig. 911), a native of India. I have a single 

 plant, and have been told that it likes plenty of light, and drought 

 at certain seasons of the year, when it is at rest. 



