70 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



All Nephrolepis are also particularly useful for growing in suspended 

 or hanging baskets, the more so that they all have a curious propensity for 

 taking possession of the outer surface of the basket and of growing all around 

 it, thus making a perfect ball of gracefully-pendulous foliage, which, provided 

 the plants are well supplied with water at the roots, remains in perfect 

 condition for a very long time. For large baskets, few Ferns are more effective 

 than N. acuta (e?isifolia), JY. davallioides furcans, and N. exaltata ; while for 

 baskets of small or of medium size, N. cordifolia pectinata, N. pliilippinensis, 

 and N. Bausei have no equals. N. cordifolia pectinata is a form so prolific that 

 there is nothing uncommon in finding in a lOin. basket as many as 120 of its 

 most gracefully-pendulous, slender fronds, which seldom exceed 1ft. in length. 

 N. cordifolia (popularly known as N. tuber osa, and probably the commonest 

 kind in cultivation) is particularly useful for covering walls ; for, although all 

 Nephrolepis possess, to a very great degree, the power of reproducing 

 themselves by means of stolons, or thin, flexible, wiry rhizomes, provided with 

 bulbils, and growing on the surface of the ground, no other is known to 

 propagate so rapidly as this particular one. Besides these reproductive organs, 

 a few species are likewise provided at the roots with small, roundish tubers, 

 of a succulent nature, which also produce young plants in a very short time. 

 N. plwma and N. Bausei are entirely deciduous, and, from want of knowledge 

 respecting their habit, it frequently happens that they are lost during their 

 resting season ; for, if kept dry while they are deprived of their fronds, their 

 tubers, by the time vegetation should commence again, will be found to have 

 ceased to exist. For securing a healthy, strong spring growth, it is essential 

 that the soil which contains them when at rest should be kept all through 

 the winter in a moderately moist condition, so as to prevent them from 

 entirely shrivelling up. 



When grown in pans or in baskets, or planted in the Fernery, 

 Nephrolepis thrive apace in a mixture of coarsely-broken peat, chopped 

 sphagnum, and silver sand, in about equal proportions. In this open 

 compost the rhizomes run very freely and produce young plants, which 

 may be safely severed from the parents when they have produced two or 

 three fronds j but the most natural way of growing them is, undoubtedly, 

 on partly-decayed wood, or on Tree-Fern stems, in which positions they 

 are even more effective than Davallias. 



