258 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



A. C.-V. daphnites— daph-ni'-tes (glistening), Moore. 



This is a most distinct form, with fronds Sin. to 12m. high, and of erect 

 habit. The leaflets as well as the extremity of the fronds, which terminate in 

 a flattened crest some Sin. in breadth, are of a dull green colour, and curiously 

 crisped and dilated, giving the plant a singular, semi-crested appearance. 



Mr. C. T. Druery states, in the "Gardeners' Chronicle," 6th August, 1887, 

 p. 170, that he has received from Mr. Greenwood Pirn, of Monkstown, 



county Dublin, a frond of this 

 variety upon which a remarkable 

 form of proliferation appears. In 

 this case there are, says Mr. Druery, 

 clusters of young plants protruding 

 from under the natural indusia 

 (coverings of sporangia or seed 

 vessels), and upon examination it 

 appears that the sporangia have 

 become transformed directly into 

 Ferns of the spore-bearing genera- 

 tion, instead of first developing into 

 prothalli, as the first rudimentary 

 development from the spores is 

 termed, as in cases of Apospory : 

 a mode of reproduction which, 

 Mr. Druery says, is differentiated 

 from all others so far recorded. 

 The nearest approach is the trans- 

 formation of sori (spore masses) and indusia (their natural coverings) into 

 solitary buds or scales, which has been found to occur on several plumose 

 forms of Asplenium (Athyrium) Filix-fcemina, as illustrated in our Chapter on 

 "Fertilisation and Propagation." Fig. 10, p. 141. See Fig. 33. —Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 25. 



Fig. 33. Adiantum Capillus-Veneris daphnites 

 (i nat. size). 



A. C.-Y. depauperatum — de-pau-per-a'-tum (poor), Clapham. 



This most interesting sport, or natural hybrid, found by Mr. James, of 

 Vauvert, amongst a batch of seedlings, is entirely distinct from all other 



