ADIANTUM. 



257 



Although classed among our native Ferns, the British Maidenhair is of 

 too tender a nature to bear a very cold temperature : the least frost injures 

 it, and a severe frost kills it. It is a very accommodating plant as regards 

 heat, and not at all fastidious in its habits, for it grows equally well in a 

 heated frame, in the greenhouse, or in the moist, shady part of a stove. In 

 Europe, it is essentially a coast plant, being found growing exclusively in 

 caves and fissures of rocks near the sea level, generally in a shady situation 

 where there is an abundant supply of moisture. When this Fern is grown 

 in pots an abundant drainage is essential, and the soil which it prefers is a 

 compost of a light nature, made of turfy peat, leaf mould, and lime rubbish, 

 in equal parts ; it is also necessary that the rhizomes (prostrate stems) 

 should be kept on the surface of the soil. 



This useful species has produced, either spontaneously or under cultivation, 

 many varieties, some of which are remarkably handsome : all of them share 

 the comparatively hardy character of the species. We give twenty of the 

 most distinct and the most interesting : — 



A. C.-Y. bulbiferum— bul-bif-er-um (bulb -bearing), Lowe. 



This variety differs from the species in bearing little bulbils on the 

 leaflets, and is, so far as we know, the only one possessing that character. — 

 Lowe, Native Ferns, ii., fig. 838. 



A. C.-Y. COrnubiense — cor-nu-bi-en'-se (Cornish), Moore. 



This is one of the prettiest of all forms in cultivation. It is of dwarf 

 and compact habit, and its fronds, seldom more than Sin. long, including the 

 stalks, are produced in abundance ; they are more or less oblong in general 

 outline, and are furnished with pinnules (leafits) of a deep green colour, of 

 firm texture, though nearly transparent and prettily undulated at the edges. — 

 Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 25. 



A. C.-Y. crispulum— cris'-pul-um (slightly crisped), Moore. 



A very handsome form, of robust and vigorous habit, having fronds lOin. 

 to 15in. long, furnished with leaflets less numerous than in the type, but 

 broader and thin, crisp, of a light green colour, and more or less cut at their 

 broadest part. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, L, p. 25. 



2 L 



