116 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



in tiie South of Europe, Madeira, the Canaries, and the adjacent islands, the 

 most popular species of all, and the one which gave its popular name to the 

 section {J). canariensis\ is found in abundance. In consequence of their 

 being scattered over such a large area, and of their being found growing 

 wild in such totally different habitats, many beautiful forms can be used to 

 decorate either the cool or the tropical Fernery. Many of these may be 

 grown with great advantage as basket plants, in which way they make 

 charming objects, especially those species provided with slender and flexuose 

 rhizomes, such as D. hullata, D. canariensis, D. dissecta, D. Mariesii, 

 D. pentaphylla., and D. Tyermmmi, whose habit is to twine round and 

 cover anything on which they are allowed to grow. In Japan, D. Mariesii 

 is made use of in a very peculiar way. Some sticks being tied together, so 

 as to form various designs, such as crosses, wreaths, &c., and covered all 

 over with moss, the slender and very pliable rhizomes are tied to them, 

 several together ; the sticks are then hung up in rooms or in the 

 gardens under trees, and all the plants then require to produce their elegant 

 fronds in profusion is a constant supply of moisture, which they get by an 

 occasional dipping in water ; by these means an enduring mass of verdure 

 can be produced in a very short space of time. 



If grown in either pots or pans, the Davallias that are provided with 

 rhizomes require to be a little elevated above the rim of the pot, as nothing 

 is more injurious to them than to have their rhizomes buried in the soil, 

 especially the species whose rhizomes are clothed with large, chaffy scales. 

 Besides being highly decorative plants as specimens, their fronds possess 

 another equally desirable quality — that of lasting a very long time when 

 severed from the plant, which renders them very useful for bouquet-making, 

 and most valuable for the decoration of ladies' hair. Most of them are 

 averse to heavy or close soil, and delight in a compost of light materials, 

 made of three parts of fibrous peat, one part of chopped sphagnum moss, 

 or, better still, of good leaf mould, if procurable, and one part of silver sand, 

 with thorough drainage and an abundant supply of water at the roots during 

 the growing season ; while during the winter they must be watered only 

 sparingly, never allowing them, however, even those that are deciduous, to 

 become quite dry. This is a very important point, as, if the rhizomes are 

 allowed to shrivel, the ensuing growth will be much weaker. The plants 



