1008 PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS 



Pseudotsuga Douglasi Stairi, p. 1001. Cupressus lawsoniana, p. 978. 



Taxus baccata aurea, p. 986. „ macrocarpa, p. 979, 



„ „ fastigiata argentea, p. 986. Larix europsea, p. 1005. 



„ „ „ aurea, p. 986. Picea exoelsa, p. 997. 



Thuya dolabrata variegata, p. 976. „ sitohensis, p. 998. 



„ oocidentalis aurea, p. 976. Pinus Cembra, p. 990. 



„ orientalis elegantiasima, p. 977. 



„ „ aurea, p. 977. 



inaignis, p. 991. 

 Laricio, p. 992. 



„ nigricans, p. 992. 

 monticola, p. 993. 

 Strobus, p. 994. 

 sylvestris, p. 995. 



VI. A list of the most valuable Conifers 



for timber trees, woods, and forests 

 Abies grandis, p. 1003. 



„ nobUis, p. 1008. Pseudotsuga Douglasi, p. 1000. 



„ nordmanniana, p. 1004. Sequoia sempervirens, p. 984. 



„ peetinata, p. 1004. Thuya gigantea, p. 976. 



Cedrus atlantica, p. 995. Tauga mertensiana, p. 999. 



CXXXI. FILICES— Fern Order 



This beautiful group of plants, in conjunction with Mosses, Lichens, Fungi 

 (including Mushrooms), is placed in the 'flowerless ' or ' oryptogamie ' division of the 

 vegetable kingdom, chiefly because the plants belonging to it are destitute of what are 

 commonly known as flowers having stamens and pistils, as in all the plants described 

 in the preceding pages of this work. 



The Ferns or FUices proper are usually herbaceous or shrubby plants, sometimes 

 attaining the dimensions of trees in tropical countries and parts of the South temperate 

 hemisphere. They have either fibrous roots or creeping rhizomes. The leaves are 

 usually called ' fronds,' and are tufted or alternate, simple or more or less divided, and 

 usually circulate, or curled inwards from the apex like a crosier, when first developing, 

 except in the Adder's Tongue Perns (Ophioglossum) and the Moonworts (BotrycMum) , 

 in. which they are straight. The stalk of the frond is called a ' stipes,' and the midrib 

 a ' rachis.' There are no flowers as usually understood, but what is usually called 

 the ' fructification ' takes their place, and consists of minute helmet-like capsules, borne 

 in clusters, called ' sori,' on the under edge or siorface of the fronds, or sometimes on 

 separate fronds, as in Ophioglossum, Botryahium, and Osmunda. The clusters of sori 

 vary in shape and size, being sometimes round and about the size of a pin's head, 

 and sometimes in long streaks on the mider surface or edges, but always of a golden 

 or brownish colour. Sometimes they are covered with a membranous coat called an 

 ' involucre ' or ' indusium,' roundish as in the Prickly Shield Fern {Aspidium 

 acJtZeaiMTO), kidney-shaped as in the Male Fern (Neplirodium Filix-Mas), oblong as in 

 the Spleenworts (.AspZeramw) and Hart's Tongue (ScoZojjendrmj)i.), but often they are 

 quite naked as in the Polypodiums, or borne in little cups, as in the Killarney Fern 

 (Trichomames) and the Tunbridge Fern (Hymenophyllum). The capsules, or 

 ' sporangia ' as they are termed, are either stalked or sessile, and each one contains a 

 number of microscopic seed-like bodies known as ' spores.' These spores are popularly 

 called seeds, but their functions partake more of the character of the stamens and 

 pistils in ordinary flowers. 



Reproduction of Ferns 



When the spores or ' seeds ' are set free by the bursting of the capsules and fall on 

 to a damp surface in a suitable temperature, they very soon germinate. Mr. Britten 

 says : ' The result is — not a young ascending plant and descending roots, as in flowering 

 plants— but a' very small green body which lies flat on the gromid and sends out 



