BY FRED. TURNER. 389 



surrounding vegetation. The genus Adiantum is represented by- 

 five species which are in cultivation and greatly admired for their 

 elegant fronds. The eight species and one variety of the genus 

 Pteris are, with few exceptions, very common both on the high 

 and low lands. The geranium-leaved Pteris, P. geranii folia 

 Raddi, a pretty fern which often grows on little mounds formed 

 by tufts of grass or sedge in swamps, is the smallest member of 

 the genus. On the other hand P. aquilina Linn., var. esculenta, 

 the "Edible Bracken," is the tallest, with fronds ten or more feet 

 high, but generally smaller. Lomaria has three species, usually 

 found in or near water. L. capensis Willd., common in some of 

 the swampy places, is, owing to the reddish appearance of its 

 young fronds, popularly known as the "Red Cabbage Fern." 

 Its trunk is sometimes a few feet high and its pinnate fronds 

 three or four or more feet long. The other two species, L. 

 pater soni Spreng., and L. discolor Willd., may often be seen in 

 cultivation. Several very beautiful species are included in the 

 genus Asplenium. A few of them, such as the well-known 

 " Bird's Nest Fern," A. nidus Linn., and A.falcatum Lam., are 

 epiphytes. The latter, one of the most graceful ferns that adorn 

 trees in the dense forests, has drooping, elegant, dark green 

 fronds sometimes four or more feet long. A. maximum Don, 

 usually grows in swampy places where it forms a trunk a few 

 feet high and produces bipinnate fronds several feet long and 

 about three feet broad. Aspidium has eleven species and a few 

 varieties which grow under widely different conditions. A. 

 cordifoliuia Swartz, is a beautiful epiphyte usually found on 

 other epiphytal ferns. Sometimes it grows in immense masses 

 several feet in circumference. A. ramosum Beauv., climbs trees 

 by adventitious rootlets, completely enveloping the trunks for a 

 considerable distance with its graceful pinnate fronds. The 

 rhizomes of one of the swamp ferns, A. unitum Swartz, often 

 creep beneath the surface of the water, and its fronds are from 

 one to two or more feet long with stipes nearly as long. All the 

 species of Polypodium have creeping rhizomes. Some climb 

 trees by adventitious rootlets, enveloping the trunks with their 

 beautiful and very distinct fronds, and others grow in large 



