POLYPODIUM. 91 



home in the mossy bark of old trees, and among the debris which collects 

 in their forks and other hollows." 



Those species which are provided with underground rhizomes may be 

 either grown in pots or planted in any part of the stove, the cool Fernery, 

 or the outdoor rockery, according to their jiative habitats ; and for these, a 

 mixture composed of two parts fibrous loam, one part leaf mould, and one 

 part sharp silver sand, answers all requirements. This treatment also applies 

 to the species in which the fronds are produced from a single crown. The 

 epiphytal species (those provided with rhizomes of a thickness varying from 

 that of a quill pen to that of a man's thumb), which do not burrow, but 

 keep near, or even on, the surface of the soil, require a different material to 

 grow luxuriantly. In their case, good fibrous peat, or, better still, half-decayed 

 leaf mould, should form the best part of their compost, in which silver sand 

 is not needed, but to which a fourth part of fibrous loam may be added to 

 give it cohesion. Whether grown in pots or planted in the rockery, these 

 species should have good drainage and comparatively shallow pots or pockets. 

 The epiphytal species are particularly adapted for covering Tree-Fern stems 

 and for growing in hanging baskets, in which positions their rambling habit 

 is shown to great advantage. 



The majority of Polypodiums are propagated by division of their rhizomes, 

 which operation may be carried out at almost any time of the year ; but a 

 few species grown extensively for decorative purposes are more rapidly propa- 

 gated by means of their spores, which are abundantly produced, germinate 

 freely, and produce better-shaped plants than those obtained from division of 

 the rhizomes. 



Principal Species and Varieties. 



P. (Phymatodes) accedens— Phy-mat-o'-des ; ac-ce'-dens (approaching), 



Blume. 

 This pretty and singular, stove species, which Beddome gives as a 

 Pleopeltis, is a native of Malaysia and the Philippines. It is readily 

 distinguished by the thread-hke nature of its very wide-creeping rhizome, 

 which is scarcely scaly. Its fronds, which are of two distinct forms, are 

 borne upon very short stalks ; the barren ones are oblong and blunt, while 



