SMALL-GROWING FERNS. 



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some pretty and thoroughly distinct species and varieties of remarkably dwarf 

 habit. If we take first the kinds which rank as species, Ave find foremost 

 among them the very curious and always attractive, kidney-shaped A, reniforme, 

 from Madeira and the Azores, and A. r. asanfolium, from the Bourbon 

 Islands and Madagascar. Although this variety, which requires more heat 

 than the type for its perfect development, produces fronds of the same shape 

 as those of A. reniforme, but nearly as large again, these seldom attain more 

 than 6in. in height. Then there are the gold- and the silver-dusted 

 Maidenhairs, A. cethiopicum sulphur eum and A. ce. scabrum, both natives of 

 Chili, and seldom exceeding a few inches in height ; while the New Zealand 

 A. assimile and its crested form are particularly pretty dwarf Ferns, provided 

 with underground rhizomes, making in the cool-house, and especially when 

 grown in hanging baskets, a most agreeable display of very elegant little 

 fronds. Our own British Maidenhair, A. Capillus -Veneris, is another very 

 fair example of dwarf kinds : when grown in a warm-house, which treatment 

 appears to suit its requirements very well, it attains, it is true, larger 

 dimensions but when planted in the cool-house, and especially when its 

 thick rhizomes cling to the rockwork, its fronds seldom get more than 5in. 

 or Gin. in length. This lovely species has produced several very handsome 

 varieties, and among them two of very dwarf habit, which are respectively 

 named A. C.-V. daphnites and A. C.-V. fissum. These two varieties have 

 been raised in this country, and are remarkably well adapted for growing 

 on small rockwork, or for covering a brick wall in the cool Fernery, 

 as both plants grow from 4in. to 6in. only — the former with erect fronds, 

 whose pinnules, of a glaucous-green, are agglomerated towards the apex, 

 where they become fasciated ; whereas the latter, of a totally different aspect, 

 has very finely-cut fronds, with deeply-lacerated pinnules. It is particularly 

 remarkable, as regards this latter variety, that whereas whole walls in 

 greenhouses are, in some private places in America, completely covered with 

 it, and although it has been in commerce several years, yet it has not 

 become very popular with the majority of amateurs in this country. Among 

 the numerous forms of A. cuneatum which from time to time have been 

 found among seedlings, and which under cultivation retain their peculiarly 

 dwarf character, we note A. e. mundulum and A. c. Pacotti. Both of these 

 are of dwarf habit, and their fronds, which are produced in profusion, are 



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