562 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



Ambleside. Its fronds, normal in outline but having their pinnules (leafits) 

 broad, much crowded, and nearly overlapping, are all crested, but not regularly, 

 some being massive and others more repeatedly forked. The pinnae (leaflets) 

 are also generally crested, but they vary in size and regularity. — Lowe, Our 

 Native Ferns, h., p. 10, figs. 282 and 283. 



A. F.-f. Moorei — Moor'-e-i (Moore's), Lowe. 



A very pretty, multifid (much-cleft) variety, of dwarf habit, originally 

 found in the Channel Islands, with fronds about 8in. long and 2jin. broad. 

 The pinna? (leaflets) are exceedingly irregular in size, varying from Jin. to 

 l^in. in length ; the extremities of the larger ones are compactly multifid, 

 while those of the smaller ones are only dilated. The summit of the frond 

 is divided into four multifid branches, forming a wide, corymbiferous 

 (clustered) head. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, ii., p. 76, fig. 383. Nicholson, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 130. 



A. F.-f. multifidum — n.ml-tif'-id-um (much-cleft), Moore. 



This is one of the most beautiful, symmetrical, and graceful of the 

 numerous crested forms known. Strange to say, it was found wild near Seven 

 Churches, County Wicklow ; in County Clare ; in Killarney ; also in the . Lake 

 District of Westmoreland, and in Scotland at the base of Ben Lawers. Its 

 handsome fronds, which are from 2£ft. to 3ft. long and 10in. broad, are 

 normal in habit, broadly spear-shaped, and somewhat lax. This variety is 

 distinguished from all others by the extremities of all its leaflets being 

 beautifully and regularly tasselled or repeatedly divided into narrow segments, 

 and by the pale green colour of its fronds. — Lowe, Our Native Ferns, ii., 

 p. 17, t. 36. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 130. 



A. F.-f. orbiculatum — orb-ic-ul-a'-tum (round like a ball), Loiue. 



Perhaps the finest and most interesting among the numerous varieties 

 artificially raised from spores. It may be summarily described as a depau- 

 perated (impoverished) form, about 1ft. high, having all the appearance of 

 a much-branched, rounded ball of green foliage about 4in. in width and 

 almost as much in depth. The pinnae (leaflets) are nearly opposite, some 

 lin., others not Jin. in length ; in many instances these organs are 



