284 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



known as "yellow loam." On the Continent, where such loam as that 

 which is used in this country is not procurable, plants of this noble Fern, 

 in every respect equal to ours, may be seen in sandy peat or in partly- 

 decayed leaf-mould. 



Though various statements have appeared with reference to spores being 

 produced by A. Farleyense, we have never had the good fortune to detect 

 any, although we have many times had the opportunity of examining the 

 mock sori (spore masses) produced by the revolute (bent back) part 

 of the pinnules, which had all the appearance of being fertile. Consequently, 

 the division of the crowns is the only means by which this handsome 

 Fern can be increased. 



A. Feei— Fe'-e-i (Fee's), Moore. 



This greenhouse species, which is also known as A. flexuosum, is a 

 native of Mexico and Guatemala, and is entirely different from any other 

 Adiantum known in cultivation. It is the only one that is really of 

 a semi-scandent (half-climbing) habit. Its singular fronds, which in this 

 country attain 2£ft. in length and 1ft. or more in breadth, are borne on stipes 

 (stalks) 1ft. to lift, long, of a most peculiar climbing nature and rising 

 from a central crown. They are tripinnate (three times divided to the midrib), 

 while their main and secondary rachises (stems) are bent in a flexuose or 

 zigzag manner, with all their branches or sub-divisions firm, standing at right 

 angles, and densely covered with ferruginous (rusty), short hairs. The leaflets 

 of which the fronds are composed vary in length according to the position 

 they occupy : thus the lower ones are from 6in. to 9in. long and 3in. to 4in. 

 broad, whereas the others grow gradually shorter as they are situated more 

 towards the summit of the frond. They are distant (set far apart) and 

 furnished with pinnules (leafits) of a sub-coriaceous (almost leathery) texture, 

 lin. to 2in, long and fully Jin. broad, consisting of a terminal segment and 

 several lateral ones, all of which are set far apart, borne on short stalks, 

 and of a peculiar half-round and wedge-shaped form. The sori (spore 

 masses) in this very curious species are roundish and disposed along the 

 margin of the pinnules, where they form an edging more than half a 

 line deep.— Hooker, Synopsis Ffflcum, p. 125. Nicholson, Dictionary of 

 Gardening, i., p. 26. 



