POLYPODIUM 



HABDY FEBNS 



HYMENOPHYLLUM 1021 



P. vulgare (Common Polypody). — This 

 is an evergreen native species found 

 grovsdng freely on old tree trunks, mossy 

 banks, moist rooks and walls &o. in 

 various parts of the British Islands. It is 

 readily distinguished from other species 

 by its densely scaly rhizomes which creep 

 on the surface of the soil, and the alternate 

 linear oblong fronds 6-12 in. long, pin- 

 nately cut into linear oblong entire or 

 crenate-serrate segments. They are deep 

 green and leathery in texture, the tinder 

 surface having lines of golden spore-cases 

 which look very handsome andoonspicuous. 

 There are many forms of the Common 

 Polypody, among which may be noted, 

 cambricum, a fine feathered form ; 

 comubiense (or elegantissimum), cris- 

 tatv/m, glomeratum, gramdiceps, with 

 heaving terminal and lateral crests to the 

 fronds ; multifido-cristatum, all crested ; 

 omnilacerum, phi/mosum, Prestoni, a 

 pretty congested form of canibricum ; 

 pulcherrimv/m, ramosum, semi-lacerum, 

 and trichomomoides, a handsome form in 

 the way of comubiense. 



Culture and Propagation. — The com- 

 mon Polypody and its varieties flourish in 

 rich sandy loam and peat with plenty of 

 leaf-soil, and are very useful for planting 

 beneath trees or on and around old tree- 

 stumps. Indeed they may be placed in a 

 variety of situations — ^moist rocks, walls, 

 mossy banks, old ruins &c., and as long as 

 they are given plenty of water in summer 

 they require little attention. Some of the 



garden varieties mentioned above require 

 a little more care perhaps in their culti- 

 vation, otherwise they may be found to 

 revert to some of the commoner forms. 

 When only a plant or two of a fine variety 

 exist, it is safer to grow them in pots in 

 cold frames or greenhouses until the in- 

 crease of stock will permit them to be 

 planted in the outdoor garden. See also 

 p. 1009. 



Among exotic species hardy enough 

 for outdoor cultivation in favourable parts 

 of the country may be mentioned the N. 

 American P. hexagonopterwm, with fronds 

 8-12 in. long, and P. Lingua, from N. 

 India, Japan &c., easily recognised by its 

 leathery strap-shaped fronds covered with 

 a rusty tomentum beneath. 



GYMNOGRAMME. — This genus 

 contains mostly tropical species, among 

 them being the well-known Gold and 

 Silver Ferns grown in hothouses. G. 

 leptophylla is scarcely worth growing, 

 but is interesting as being one of the few 

 annual Ferns known. It is found chiefly 

 in Jersey on moist banks, and requires to 

 be raised from spores sown every autumn 

 under glass, or in warm sheltered places 

 in the south of England and Ireland. 

 They will produce mature Ferns the 

 following year, each plant consisting of a 

 tuft of about half a dozen fronds, the 

 largest of which are about 6 in. long, and 

 bear spores. They are very slender and 

 broadly ovate oblong in outline, and twice 

 or thrice pinnate. 



Tribe II. HYMBNOPHYLLBa:. — Bootstock creeping. Fronds very delicate and almost 

 transparent, net-veined, oircinate in vernation. ludusium 2-valved, m-n-shaped or 

 2-lipped. Spore-cases sessile on a club-shaped or thread-like receptacle surrounded 

 with a complete oblique or transverse ring. 



HYMENOPHYLLUM (Filmy 

 Fbkn). — A genus of delicate ferns with 

 creeping thread-like rootstocks and pellucid 

 fronds and marginal sori, with the indu- 

 sium free or sunk in the midrib. 



H. tunbridgense. — A pretty native 

 Filmy Fern growing in matted tufts on the 

 surface of damp rocks in moist sheltered 

 localities. Its membranous fronds are 

 3-6 in. long, and of a dull brownish-green 

 when fresh. They are pinnate with once 

 or twice pinnatifid segments. 



Cultu/re a/nd Propagation. — Perpetual 

 shade and moisture are the main things 

 required for Filmy Ferns — which include 

 the Hymenophyllums and Trichomanes, 

 and it is practically impossible to find a 



suitable situation for these out of doors. 

 If any grotto or other place can be devised 

 where frost can be excluded in winter, 

 and the temperature ranges from 40° to 50° 

 Fahr. throughout the year, and the 

 atmosphere can be kept close and tho- 

 roughly saturated with moisture, there it 

 is possible to grow Filmy Ferns. A small 

 glass case with a few pieces of rock stuck 

 up here and there in the sandy peaty soil 

 -may be used to grow these plants success- 

 fully if the other conditions are kept. 

 Provision should be made so that no stag- 

 nant moisture will remain about the 

 plants, but care must be taken to avoid 

 draughts pf dry air which speedily shrivel 

 the delicate fronds. 



