312 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



singularly pedate fronds are borne on upright, dark purplish, shining stipes 

 (stalks) of a fragile nature ; these are produced from the extremity of long, 

 underground rhizomes (prostrate stems), which, through the annual fall of 

 leaves and their accumulations, often lie buried 6in. deep, or even more, in 

 decayed vegetable matter, the fronds having to get through this before they 

 can reach the surface of the soil. According to eye-witnesses, such masses 

 of A. pedatum, with its light pea-green coloured foliage, are a grand sight. 

 The fronds are dichotomous (with main divisions repeatedly forked) and 

 are borne on stalks 9in. to 2ft. long, their central pinnae (leaflets), 6in. to 

 12in. long and lin. to l±in. broad and the lateral ones gradually shorter, 

 having shortly- stalked pinnules (leafits) of very thin, papery texture, Jin, 

 to fin. long and |in. deep, fully developed on the side nearest the 

 stem, and with their upper and outer margins distinctly lobed (Fig. 46). 

 The sori (spore masses) are roundish, one to two lines broad, and 

 are abundantly produced and disposed on the tips of the lobes of the 

 fertile pinnules.— Hooker, Species FiUdum, ii., p. 28. Nicholson, Dictionary 

 of Gardening, L, p. 27. Eaton, Ferns of North America, i., t. 18. 

 Beddome, Ferns of British India, t. 167. Lowe, Ferns British and Exotic, 

 iii., t. 14. 



If in some places in England failure has attended the attempt at 

 acclimatising this species outside, it is due to the fact that the underground 

 rhizomes are generally kept too close to the surface of the ground, and that 

 they are not protected in winter by either leaves or snow, and thus feel more 

 keenly the effects of cold, though less severe than that of its own country. 

 Although it is a perfectly hardy Fern, still, like the other so-called hardy 

 Adiantums, it never grows so luxuriantly out of doors as it does in the 

 greenhouse. Some of the Continental growers yearly produce remarkably 

 handsome plants of this species in large quantities by inserting in early 

 spring, round the edges of their rhododendron beds, small specimens of it, 

 which form good clumps during the summer season. These are lifted from 

 the ground about January, put in 5in. or 6in. pots, and placed. in houses or 

 frames in which the temperature is kept up to between 40deg. and 60deg. 

 Under the influence of such temperature the crowns soon start into growth, 

 and in a remarkably short space of time produce a crop of foliage which, on 

 account of its pleasing light-green colour and elegant shape, makes the 



