556 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



A. F.-f. Friselliae— Fris-oMi-ae (Frizell's), Bain. 



This very distinct and elegant form, which, like the preceding variety, has 

 few rivals among the numerous forms of the Lady Fern, was originally a wild 

 find, although we cannot discover any record of its habitat. Its fronds, of an 

 arching or pendulous character, attain 2ft. in length and are of equal width 

 throughout, rarely exceeding lin. Their curious pinna? (leaflets), which are 

 attached closely to the stalk, are so many short, rounded or solid, leafy, semi- 

 circular, flabellate (fan-shaped) organs, disposed in two overlapping parts deeply 

 fimbriated or toothed all round their edges ; these pinna? in the lower part of 

 the frond are opposite, but from the middle upwards they are alternate, and 

 the frond ends in a larger terminal pinna (1, Fig. 97). — Lowe, Our Native 

 Ferns, ii., p. 53, fig. 346. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 130. 



Fig. 97. Forms of Asplenium Filix-fcemina Frisellias 



1, Frond of Normal Form (much reduced) ; 2, Top Half of Frond of var. cristatum nat. size) ; 

 3, Crest of var. ramosum (i nat. size). 



Among the prettiest and most distinct sub -varieties known in commerce 

 may be mentioned nanum (Lowe, ii., fig. 347), a dwarf form having fronds 

 only Sin. long, with pinna? nearly opposite throughout and rather larger than 

 those of A. F.-f. Frisellice. The sub-variety cristatum (2, Fig. 97 ; Lowe, ii., 

 fig. 490), also a dwarf form, raised from spores, has fronds only about Sin. 

 long and about Jin. broad on the whole of their length, except at the 

 extremity, where they become branched and crested and measure about Sin. 

 in breadth ; their pinna? (leaflets) are of the same fan-shaped form and 

 disposition as those of A. F.-f. Frisellice, and the plant is of a particularly 

 pleasing and compact habit. In the sub-variety ramosum (3, Fig. 97) we 

 have a form in which the tip of the frond branches out into a broad, 



