546 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



This is a most accommodating plant, succeeding under either stove or 

 greenhouse treatment. It does well either grown in a pot or planted out in 

 the rockery, where it forms a capital background, showing off to advantage 

 other and choicer Ferns, and in which position it soon multiplies, as 

 it is readily propagated from spores. Several varieties of N. molle have been 

 produced under cultivation, the most distinct being the following : 



N. m. COrymbiferum— cor-ymb-if'-er-um (corymb-bearing), Moore. 



A really interesting and highly-decorative plant, of more upright habit 

 (Fig. 133) than the species from which "it originated. It produces from 



a single crown and in great abund- 

 ance fronds l^ft. to 2ft. long, which 

 are repeatedly branched and furnished 

 with singularly - contracted leaflets 

 that are much shorter than in the 

 species and crested at their ex- 

 tremity ; the summit of the frond 

 itself is adorned with a similar crest 

 of larger dimensions. 



On account of its curious form, 

 its rapid growth, and its pleasing 

 green colour, this variety has taken 

 a leading place among the Ferns 

 specially grown for decoration. When 

 subjected to cool or intermediate treatment it is never, to our knowledge, 

 attacked by any insect ; it is only when grown in too warm a house that 

 the plant is seen covered with mealy bug, which pest is only eradicated with 

 great difficulty, as the texture of the fronds is very soft, and they do not bear 

 fumigating or dipping in any insecticide. 



N. m. grandiceps — gran'-dic-eps (large-headed), Moore. 



In this pretty and very distinct variety, also of garden origin, the fronds 

 bear at their summit a large, terminal crest, and the extremities of their leaflets 

 are also consi)icuously crested (Fig. IM).— Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, 

 ii., p. 442. 



Fi^. 133. Nephrodium molle corymbiferum, showing 

 (/) Habit, (2) Summit of Frond, (5) Leaflet. 

 (1 and 2, much reduced; 3, i nat. size.) 



