CLIMBING, TRAILING, AND DROOPING FERNS. 05 



deprived of some of its nutritious qualities ? This we cannot tell. All we 

 can say is that Gleichenias which, at different times, have been grown in a 

 compost made with a view to imitate the soil in which they grow naturally, 

 have proved to be hopeless failures ; whereas the most satisfactory results 

 have been obtained by growers who, regardless of the dangers incurred by not 

 following Dame Nature in all her ways and fancies, have sternly adhered to 

 good fibrous peat, roughly broken up and mixed with at least one-third of 

 coarse silver sand. In such a compost, and with an abundance of water at the 

 roots at all times, but particularly during the growing season, there need be 

 little anxiety about their welfare, the more so if they can be grown in a light 

 and airy house, which position will suit most of them. 



In this section of Gleichenia there are but few acknowledged species — 

 G. Boryi, G. circinata, G. dicarpa, G. polypodioides, and G. rupestris ; but 

 numerous kinds are cultivated and commercially accepted as species. The 

 latter are really simple forms differing from one or other of the above-named 

 species by outward appearance only, but showing no real distinction so far 

 as botanical characters are concerned. The lovely G. Mendeli, G. microphylla, 

 G. spelunccB, and G. semi-vestita, are only forms of G. circinata ; while 

 G. alpina, G. hecistophylla, and G. vulcanica, must only be considered as 

 so many forms or variations of G. dicarpa. G. polypodioides, from South 

 Africa, is a somewhat more delicate-looking species than most of the others 

 belonging to the same section, and is highly interesting and thoroughly 

 distinct in appearance, owing to the lovely pea-green colour of its elegant 

 little fronds. 



Entirely different in general appearance from the above-named species 

 are the plants belonging to the section of Gleichenia generally known 

 as Mertensia. Their fronds, disposed in whorls, are of a more coriaceous 

 nature ; they are also broader, generally dichotoinously branched or fan- 

 shaped, and borne on much stouter stems, which show no inclination to 

 become scandent. Their pinna?, instead of being, like those of the plants 

 belonging to the preceding section, small and beaded or orbicular, are larger 

 and linear in form ; the same differences are also apparent in their rhizomes, 

 which, instead of being slender and smooth, are thick and of a fleshy nature, 

 and have a predilection for growing several inches below the surface of the 

 ground. In nearly all cases, too, their stipes, or stalks of the fronds, instead 



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