VARIEGATED AND CRESTED FERNS. 



45 



most satisfactory results. The numerous crested forms of Pteris, Gymno gramme, 

 Adiantum, Nejjhrodkim, &c, are illustrative of our theory. For instance, in 

 the case of seedlings of Adiantum cuneatum grandiceps, the first plant of 

 which originated in England about 1878, there never is any variation ; 

 thousands upon thousands of young plants of this crested variety are raised 

 yearly, and all partake to about the same extent of the characters of the 

 first accidental seedling. Pteris cretica Mayi, also a home-raised crested form, 

 follows the same rule, and yields nothing but true representatives of the plant 

 originally raised at Edmonton about 1884. The same may be said of the 

 beautiful P. cretica ?iobiIis, and of several forms of P. serrulata cristata which 

 have become fixed, and which are, as a rule, reproduced without any striking 

 variations. Exception must, however, be made in favour of the splendidly- 

 crested form of P. sermdata known as the Chiswick variety. This is the 

 strongest-growing of all home-raised forms of the Ribbon Fern, but up to this 

 time it has not proved amenable to propagation by means of spores ; these 

 are yielded abundantly, but have rarely, if ever, been known to reproduce 

 plants partaking of the same robust characters as the one originally raised in 

 the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, at Chiswick, about 1867. 



The above remarks bear exclusively upon the reproduction of crested 

 exotic Ferns Avhich have been artificially or accidentally produced under culti- 

 vation in Europe. Crested exotic Ferns found in their native habitats are 

 comparatively few in number, and it is that scarcity of spontaneous production 

 which prompts us to say that European species have a much greater tendency 

 to cristation than exotic kinds. Indeed, should the latter be addicted to the 

 same variations, it would be most difficult to explain how the collectors have 

 not ere this discovered and sent home crested Ferns in quantities : as a 

 matter of fact, these same sorts, spontaneously produced in their various 

 native habitats, may almost be counted upon the fingers. 



We have amongst the first exotic crested Ferns introduced, the remarkably 

 handsome Neplirolepis davallioides furcans, a plant which, as a decorative 

 subject, can hardly be surpassed. This useful and interesting variety reproduces 

 itself fairly well from seedlings, although a few of these give variations or 

 forms which are crested in the same manner as the parent, but with pinnae 

 a trifle narrower and more denticulate than those of the original ; in any 

 case these occasional variations are not of sufficient importance to allow even 



