68 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



Lancaster, and Mr. Monkman remarks that it grows in great profusion at the 

 Lancaster station, setting the smoke from the silk mills at defiance. In that 

 locality it flourishes at nearly the sea-level, whilst in the Highlands of 

 Scotland it is found at an elevation of 3450ft. 



The Mountain Parsley Fern is essentially a deciduous plant, losing its 

 fronds about the end of October and starting into growth again about the 

 beginning of May. Its fertile fronds, considerably longer than the others and 

 produced as a second crop of foliage later in the season, are greatly appreciated 

 for bouquets and button-holes. Their spores ripen and scatter themselves, in 

 their native state, about September, after which the fronds soon die down, 

 the barren ones remaining on the plants rather longer than the others. 



Culture. 



Although usually found growing wild in exposed ' situations, the Mountain 

 Parsley Fern delights in a cool, moist, and shady spot, and is especially 

 adapted for a quiet nook in a rockery, where it should be planted in a well- 

 drained place and in a mixture of loam and peat in about equal parts, with 

 the addition of bricks broken into small pieces ; but care should be taken that 

 the compost is free from lime, which is highly injurious to its very minute, 

 fibrous rootlets. It may be propagated by seedlings, but this is a slow and 

 tedious process ; the more so that it is readily increased by the division of 

 the crowns in the spring months, just before growth commences. This little 

 gem also grows luxuriantly in a cold frame, or for two or three years in the 

 greenhouse, or under the shade of vines, where, however, it seldom lasts 

 any longer. The plants should always be well established in pots before being 

 turned out into the border or on the rockery. 



C. crispa — cris'-pa (curled), B. Brown. 



A hardy species, native of Arctic Europe to Lake Baikal, Mount Olympus, 

 Bithynia, Etruria, and Sierra N'evada, with fronds of a pale, dehcate green 

 colour, abundantly produced from a densely - tufted rootstock, which lies 

 horizontally just beneath the surface of the soil and produces a great quantity 

 of very minute, hair-Hke, fibrous rootlets. These fi-onds, of a herbaceous 

 (soft, papery) texture and 2in, to 6in. long, are borne on straw-coloured, 



