FERTILISATION AND PROPAGATION. 



123 



plants are propagated in any other way. Take, for instance, the brilliantly- 

 coloured Adiantum rhodophyllum, which emerged from a batch of seedlings of 

 A. Victoria, itself a freak of nature or a natural hybrid, found amongst a 

 quantity of A. Ghiesbreghti (scutum) seedlings ; or the equally graceful 

 A. Collisii, a gigantic-growing kind in the way of A. tenerum, but with 

 fronds finely divided, almost like those of A. gracillimum, a form selected from 

 among a lot of seedlings of the common A. cuneatum. Many other forms of 

 Maidenhairs, such as the crested A. cuneatum grandiceps and A. c. Luddemann- 

 ianum, the drooping A. Bausei and A. cuneatum deflexum, the singular 

 A. Capillus- Veneris fissum and A. cuneatum Pacottii, and a host of others, 

 might also be mentioned here. Variations from seedlings, however, are not 

 limited to that genus, for we have in Nephrolepis Bausei a most beautiful 

 Fern, said to have originated amongst a batch of seedlings of N. pluma, from 

 which it is totally different, and on which it may be considered a very decided 

 improvement, being, in fact, a delicately plumose form. In Davallias we have 

 at least two good home-produced forms — namely, D. elegans polydactyla and 

 D. Mariesii cristata. By repeatedly sowing the delicate Gymnogramme 

 schizophylla, the vigorous form known as G. s. gloriosa was obtained. Forms 

 of our own native Ferns, too, raised from spores, are so numerous as to almost 

 defy description. Again, we have endless varieties of Pteris — crested forms of 

 P. serrulata and P. cretica of dwarf habit, such as P. serrulata cristata 

 compacta, P. s. c. Dixonii, &c, as well as gigantic-growing varieties such as 

 P. s. cristata major and P. Ouvrardi, the fronds of which frequently attain 

 4ft. in length. There is also the beautiful P. cretica nobilis, a lovely form 

 of erect habit ; but the most striking of all the known forms of Pteris is 

 undoubtedly P. tremula grandiceps, a finely-crested seedling of P. tremula, in 

 which not only are the bold and massive fronds terminated by a large and 

 regularly-produced tassel, but every pinna has its extremities ornamented by 

 a conspicuous and very pretty crest of smaller dimensions than the terminal 

 one. Its habit is equal, and somewhat similar, to that of the popular species ; 

 its vigour is all that can be desired ; and, as it reproduces itself in true 

 characters, it will prove a striking illustration of what may be raised in the 

 way of Ferns from spores, especially as P. tremula is apj)arently the least 

 sportive species in the whole genus, and one which, until now, had not 

 produced a single variation of any importance. 



