138 The Fern Garden. 



moss-like, one of the best. S. denticulata, green, well 

 known, one of the most useful. There is a white- 

 tipped variety which makes beautiful tufts in green- 

 house or stove. 8. Willdenovi, green, fern-like, very 

 hardy; one of the best. 8. lepidophylla, dark green, 

 like a miniature cedar tree. This is the American 

 " Eesurrection plant." S. obtusa, green, moss-like, 

 beautiful. 



Stove Selaginellas. — S. rubricaulis, red-stemmed, 

 tree-like. S. Imvigata, blue, a splendid climbing plant, 

 well adapted for the fern case or to train as a climber. 

 8. jamaicensis, phosphorescent, a delicate little gem. 



Pepper-worts. — These plants are known in botany 

 as the Marsileacea ; they are for the most part insig- 

 nificant and would have no place in this chapter were 

 it not for the peculiar merit of one of the family which 

 many fern-growers would like to possess. This is the 

 Marsilea macropus, the Nardoo plant of Australian ex- 

 plorers, the plant mentioned as the last resource against 

 starvation in the tragic story of the Burke and Wills 

 exploring expedition. This species may easily be taken 

 at first sight for a large-leaved oxalis, or trefoil, owing 

 to the peculiar divisions of its leaves. It may be grown 

 with the greatest ease in a pot of spongy peat kept 

 constantly plunged in one or two inches depth of water. 

 M. quadrifolia, a native of Germany, is also a pretty 

 species, but it has no story to recommend it like the 

 other. 



Horsetails or Equisetums. — There is a rather 

 troublesome weed, of very elegant structure and curious 

 history, met with in undrained clay and loamy soils; 



