112 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



divisions, and the Tree Fern would probably bear thirty to forty fronds every 

 season. A little calculation, therefore, will show that really inconceivable 

 numbers have to be dealt with. Notwithstanding this marvellous fecundity 

 in point of numbers, it has been demonstrated that it does not end here, each 

 spore being capable of producing, under certain circumstances, not merely 

 one, but several plants, so that there is, practically, no limit to the repro- 

 ductive powers of the Fern family. 



" On the other hand, this wonderful fertility as regards numbers would 

 appear to be very nearly counterbalanced, in a general way, by the minuteness 

 of the spores handicapping them severely in their first stages of development. 

 As an illustration of this, we recently gathered, in the winter, six dead, 

 shrivelled fronds from a plant of the Victoria Lady Fern (Athyrium [Asplenium'j 

 Filix-foemina Victories), and which had, presumably, shed their spores ; yet, 

 on placing these between paper, in a warm room, in a few days a heap of 

 remaining spores was shed, sufficient to fill a teaspoon. Our first impression 

 naturally was that this heap consisted merely of the empty capsules, but, to 

 our surprise, the microscope revealed spores in abundance — in such abundance, 

 indeed, that, by careful subdivision, we were enabled to make a fair estimate, 

 and found that there were at least eighty millions, a number which, enormous 

 as it is, was, beyond a doubt, far exceeded by that of the spores which had 

 been shed broadcast in the Fernery where the plant was growing. Yet, though 

 the plant has occupied its position for five years, and there are a thousand 

 chinks and crevices around it, which should give the spores a fair opportunity 

 of development, it is a remarkable fact that not a single chance-sown plant 

 has made its appearance amongst the innumerable seedlings of other Ferns which 

 spring up in profusion under identical circumstances. Again, this Fern, 

 which, from its unique and unmistakable form, is fitted admirably for our 

 illustration, was found wild as long ago as 1861, shortly after which, being, 

 as we have demonstrated, a remarkably fertile plant, it was propagated from 

 its spores, and distributed all over the country, so that, at the present date, 

 plants as fertile as the parent exist in every collection, even the most humble. 

 This being so, we would naturally expect that escaped spores from some of 

 these cultivated plants would have yielded apparently wild ones ; yet, in the 

 course of twenty-seven years, not a single new find of that form has been 

 recorded. 



