CHAPTER VII, 



VARIEGATED AND CRESTED FERNS. 



F we consider the many crested, variegated, congested, truncate, 

 depauperated, revolute, cornute, marginate, and other forms 

 found in many genera, we feel bound to acknowledge that 

 there is little, if any, doubt that Ferns are as much addicted 

 to variation as any other members of the Vegetable Kingdom. 

 The creation of new species, especially amongst Ferns, is mostly the result of 

 a slow process of evolution by which Nature produces new types inheriting 

 more or less of the parental characters. To these same variations, or freaks 

 of Nature, we are indebted for the majority of our decorative trees and shrubs, 

 as also for a goodly number of our flowering and foliage plants of an herbaceous 

 nature. 



Variegated Ferns and Selaginellas. 



The most striking of the several variations which naturally affect Ferns 

 are " cristation " and variegation ; and it is noteworthy that this latter form of 

 variation appears to be almost exclusively peculiar to Ferns of exotic origin, 

 and even these are anything but numerous, as they only form a group, 

 which, even including the variegated Selaginellas, numbers barely a score 

 of species and varieties. Some of these, such as Anemia Phyllitidis tessellata 

 and Gymnogramme japonica variegata, can hardly be said to possess the 

 variegated character in a permanent way, for although, when freshly developed, 

 their fronds show unmistakable signs of variegation, these gradually disappear 

 as maturity is attained. It is somewhat singular that Nature, although so 



