CLIMBING, TRAILING, AND DROOPING FERNS. 69 



Drooping Ferns. 



Ferns with or without running rhizomes, but having pendulous foliage, 

 constitute a special group of plants adapted for growing in hanging baskets. 

 Most of these Ferns, either large or small growers, are provided with rhizomes, 

 the size of which is generally proportionate to that of the' fronds which they 

 produce. In most cases these rhizomes are underground, preferring to be 

 slightly covered with soil to being thoroughly exposed. The small-growing 

 kinds are very useful for planting in Fern -cases ; while the others, which 

 produce fronds from 6ft. to 10ft, long, and even more, are found of the 

 greatest value for covering Tree-Fern trunks or for growing in hanging 

 baskets of large dimensions. Cultivated in either way, they show themselves 

 to perfection ; their pinna?, are, in many cases, rendered handsome, and of 

 striking appearance, through being beset with sori of a beautiful brownish- 

 yellow colour when the spores are ripe. Foremost among these are the 

 Polypodiums, especially those belonging to the Goniophlebium group, of which 

 P. subauriculatum is the largest representative. As a basket Fern for the 

 warm-house it has hardly any equal : its graceful fronds, which are abund- 

 antly produced from creeping rhizomes, are pinnate, with pinna? deeply cut, 

 and in young plants rather dentate and broad ; whereas, in the mature fronds, 

 they are set further apart, are much narrower, and have smooth edges. The 

 sori, as in several other species of the same genus, are sunk in the pinna?, 

 forming little protuberances on the upper surface. Planted in the centre of a 

 spacious warm conservatory, this species surpasses all others in elegance, and 

 where there is plenty of height to allow the fronds to droop as they like, 

 a specimen (as may be seen in the house of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, 

 at Ferrieres, near Paris, with fronds 12ft. to 14ft. long) is a sight never to 

 be forgotten. P. lach?iopus, although of smaller dimensions altogether, is 

 just as interesting, but adapted only for baskets of smaller size ; while 

 P. apijendiculatum is quite distinct from any other member of the genus, 

 owing to the deep crimson colour with which its handsome and gracefully- 

 pendulous fronds are ornamented. They grow to about loin, long, and 

 their midribs and veins, which are of a deep crimson, form a brilliant 

 network, nearly covering their entire surface, the colour being intensified 

 by the exposure of the plant to the action of strong light. 



