556 



THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



to give the former process the preference, The Ferns partaking 

 of these characters may be divided thus : (i) plants viviparous over 

 the whole or the greater part of the surface of the leafy portion of 



their fronds ; (2) plants 

 in which the proliferous 

 character instead of 

 belonging to the leafy 

 portion of the fronds, 

 extends only to its 

 rachis or stalks which 

 are covered with adven- 

 titious growths ; (3) 

 plants whose fronds 

 bear one solitary bulbil, 

 situated at or near to 

 their extremity, and 

 whose tailed appendage 

 is formed by the pro- 

 duction of a young 

 plant partaking of the 

 same characters as the 

 parents, as is the case 

 in Fadyena prolifera 

 (Fig. 345); {4) plants 

 which have the base 

 of their stalks pro- 

 vided with either 

 stolons or scales 

 of a proliferous 

 nature, each of 

 these bearing one 

 or more latent 

 buds, which, 

 under favourable 

 circumstanc e s, 

 never fail to re- 

 produce the 

 parent. The pro- 

 pagation of these 

 Ferns is of the 

 simplest descrip- 

 tion, and consists 

 in pegging the fronds or their parts which bear the proliferous 

 growths so that these come in direct contact with the soil, when 

 they will produce roots and soon be able to support themselves. 

 In the species where the buds are disposed on the stalks, or 

 at the base of the fronds, it is most important that these should 

 be encouraged into growth before the stalks begin to decay, for, 



Fig. 345. — Fadyena prolifera. 



