CLASSIFICATION FOR DECORATIVE PURPOSES. 



9 



siderable that it gives ready means for producing, without much trouble, very 

 pleasing contrasts and combinations. Some colours almost equal in brightness 

 to that of many flowering plants are noticeable among Ferns, especially in 

 the earliest part of their growth. The young and partly-developed fronds 

 of Adiantum Veitchii, A. macrophyllum, A. tinctuni, A. fulvum, and others, for 

 instance, are endowed with most gorgeous hues ; while the chameleon-like 

 nature of the foliage of A. rubellum, which, from the most delicate pink, turns 

 to a bright magenta, and finally changes to a glaucous -green tint of exquisite 

 softness, shows us an interesting as well as extraordinary natural phenomenon 

 most worthy of our closest observation. The beautiful bronzy and metallic 

 tints which are peculiar to the young fronds of Doodia media, D. aspera, and 

 its elegantly-crested form multifida, of the magnificent and vigorous Adiantum 

 polyphyllum (cardiochlama) , A. Sanctce- Catharines, and A. (tetraphjttum) Hen- 

 dersoni, or of the specially striking Didymochlama truncatida, or the charm- 

 ingly dwarf Lomaria V ' Rerminieri, as well as those which distinguish the 

 early vegetation of the superb Davallia divaricata {D . polyantha of commerce), 

 are indeed among the most magnificent products of Nature. It is all the 

 more interesting when we note that, before assuming the uniform green colour 

 which they retain afterwards, the noble fronds of the last-named species 

 invariably change from a bright claret to the deepest shade of crimson, a 

 colour which also forms a natural network of a most pleasing nature, and 

 entirely covers the young fronds of Polypodia, in appendiculatum, a species of 

 South American origin which, with the exception of the colouring of its 

 fronds, possesses the greatest analogy to our own native Polypody, P. vulgare. 

 It may, to a certain extent, be objected that all these variations in colour 

 belong to the early part of the vegetation only ; but, considering that ever- 

 green Ferns grow nearly all the year round, this objection is of very little 

 consequence, as there is always a variety of colour among them. 



Independently of the various tints above enumerated, the fronds of Ferns, 

 when fully developed, exhibit a most extensive variety of shades of green, 

 ranging from the dark colour of Aspidium (Polystichum) setosum to that of 

 the soft, pea-green tint of the lovely Adiantum cethiopicum (A. venustum of 

 commerce) ; while others remain all the year round beautifully glaucous, as in 

 certain Pellasas (Platylomas), such as P. cordata, P. calomelanos, and P. 

 (cordata) flexuosa, or as in the case of that popular and vigorous Polypody, 



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