274 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



distinguishes this Adiantum from all others consists in its pinnules (leafits) 

 being crested, usually clustered at the extremities of the erect fronds, which 

 are produced from a tufted crown and branch about a third of the way 

 up. These pinnules, which are much curled and borne on short stalks, are 

 generally fan-shaped and of a deep green colour. It is a very elegant variety, 

 of small dimensions, rarely exceeding lOin. in height, and completely sterile. 

 Its parentage as a hybrid would be difficult to trace, as it is the first crested 

 form on record, a character which it cannot have inherited from any known 

 source. See Fig. 37. — Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 27. 



A. C. mundulum — mun'-dul-um (neat), Moore. 



This charmingly pretty and compact-growing variety, of garden origin, 

 may reasonably be termed a perfect miniature and quite a gem among 

 Adiantums. It forms a very elegant little subject, seldom more than 8in. 

 high. Its fronds, which are produced in profusion from a densely -tufted 

 crown, are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), triangular in shape, 

 and furnished with numerous pinnules (leafits), which are narrowly wedge- 

 shaped, a few of the larger ones among them being three-lobed. The sori 

 (spore masses) in this case are roundish and disposed one in each notch of 

 the lobes. The fronds are remarkably stiff, of good substance, and particularly 

 well adapted for mixing with small flowers ; while the plants themselves are 

 of great value for edging in the Fernery. It is not generally known that 

 this form reproduces itself true from spores. — Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, i., p. 26. 



A. C. Paeottii— Pac-ot'-ti-i (Pacotto's), Moore. 



This very peculiar garden variety, which is likely to prove one of the 

 most useful of all Maidenhair Ferns grown, was, along with A. c. mundulum 

 and several other intermediate forms, raised by a market grower of the name 

 of Pacotto, at Montreuil, near Paris, from one batch of A. cuneatum. How 

 all these variations occurred at one and the same time it is difficult to 

 conceive and impossible to explain, there being no other Adiantum than 

 the plain A. cuneatum grown on the place : the raiser had no pretensions 

 to producing hybrids, and had no notion of the fertilisation of Ferns. 

 The general appearance of the plant is that of A. c. Legrandi, so far as the 



