WOODWARDIA. 401 



LoEiNSERiA (Lor-in-se'-ri-a), Presl. In outward appearance the plants 

 belonging to this section are totally different from those of the two foregoing 

 sections : their fronds are dimorphous, the barren and the fertile ones being 

 quite distinct, and their veins anastomosing throughout. 



Culture. 



Woodwardias are indigenous to the North Temperate zone, extending 

 but very slightly within the tropics. They all possess a decorative character 

 for either the cool greenhouse, the conservatory, or the hardy Fernery, 

 according to their requirements. Few Ferns are as effective as W. radicans or 

 W. orientalis, grown either on the rockery or in a hanging basket in the 

 conservatory ; while W- areqlata (or, as it is usually called in gardens, 

 W. angustifolia) and W. virginica are very ornamental when planted in 

 a marshy part of the hardy Fernery. The compost in which Woodwardias 

 thrive most luxuriantly is a mixture in equal parts of fibrous loam, peat or 

 leaf-mould, chopped sphagnum, and silver sand, with abundance of water at 

 the roots all the year round. It is of the utmost importance that these 

 plants should be strictly kept under cool treatment, as when subjected to 

 heat they soon become a prey to thrips and scale, whereas when grown in 

 a cool atmosphere they are usually very clean plants. 



Although Woodwardias may be, and sometimes are, propagated from 

 spores, they are usually increased by means of the young bulbils produced 

 either towards the end of their fronds, as in W. radicans and its varieties, 

 or over the whole of their surface, as in W. orientalis. The hardy kinds are 

 also easily multiplied by the division of their rhizomes — an operation which 

 is more successfully performed from November to March than at any other 

 time of the year. 



Principal Species and Varieties. 



W. angustifolia — an-gus-tif-oF-i-a (narrow-fronded). Synonymous with 

 W. areolata. 



W. (Lorinseria) areolata — Lor-in-se'-ri-a ; ar-e-ol-a'-ta (areolate), Moore. 



Though not very widely distributed, this handsome species (see Coloured 



Plate), of essentially North American origin, is, according to Eaton, plentiful 



* VOL. III. 2 D 



