198 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEXING. 



five feet and a circumference of about twelve feet. 

 It is of tolerably easy culture, and makes a ver}- fine 

 exhibition j)lant. G. loiujissima is a magnificent 

 species, recently introduced fiom Japan, with tall, 

 branched, gracefully droopin"- fronds of a delicate 

 light green on their upper surfaces, and glaucous 

 beneath. The young growths are densety clothed 

 with very dark chaffj^ scales. In addition to Japan, 

 G. Jongissima is found in China, Bengal, the Malay 

 Islands and Peninsula, the Sandwich Islands, West 

 Indies, New Grenada, Mexico, and Guatemala. 



Just as G. dichotoma is the solitary representative 

 of one well-marked section of the genus, so is G. 

 pectinata of another. It is common everyw^here in 

 tropical South America, and is not to be confounded 

 with any other species. The stipes are zigz;ig, 

 branched, the branches bearing from one to three 

 pairs of forked divaricating pinnfe. The segments, 

 as in G. dichotoma, arc never decurrent. It is 

 hardly so strong a grower as the species just named, 

 neither are the fronds so many times divided, but 

 they are much more glaucous beneath. Stove treat- 

 ment seems best adapted to attain success with G. 

 pectinata. The South African G. polypodioides is a 

 comparatively recent introduction to British gar- 

 dens; the lobes of the pinnae are ovate, and the 

 capsules, three or four in number, are sunk in a 

 caA'ity forming a flat-topped sorus. Both on account 

 of the beautiful light green of the upper surface of 

 the beaded fronds, and the slender graceful habit, 

 this is readily recognised and distinguished from 

 any other of the Gleichenias in cultivation. G. 

 puhesccns, unfortunately a somewhat rare plant in 

 British gardens, is abundant enough in tropical 

 America, and is a rather variable species ; the lobes 

 of the frond are more or less decurrent, and the 

 branches and rachises are either naked or clothed 

 with woolly tomentum and scales, the latter condi- 

 tion being that most generally met with in gardens. 

 In the tropical fernery this grows rapidly, and soon 

 forms a specimen of great beauty. G. rxpestris, 

 from Port Jackson and North-west AustraHa, has 

 glabrous fronds of coriaceous texture ; in habit it is 

 more dense and symmetrical than most other species. 

 The reddish-purple stems contrast rather strikingly 

 with the beautiful rich green of the upper, and the 

 very glaucous colour of the under surface of the 

 fronds. 



Cultivation. — Except for the species which are 

 specially mentioned as doing best in the temperature 

 of a stove, all the Gleichenias thrive well in a cool, 

 airy house in which the temperature during winter 

 is not allowed to descend below 4o° Fahr. Even 

 some of the thoroughly tropical kinds succeed fairly 

 well in company with, and under the same treatment 

 as, those which require to be grown in the cool 



fernery. During the period of growth very libei-al 

 supplies of water are necessary at the root, bui: 

 syringing overhead should not be practised at any 

 time. "With an atmosphere fairly moist such a 

 course is not needed, and the fronds last much 

 longer than when periodically wetted. As the 

 species are evergreen and frequently last half a 

 dozen years or more, increasing in size the whoh; 

 time, owing to the development of the buds in the 

 axils of the forks of the branches, it is important to 

 prevent injury to them, and to keep the plant clear 

 of scale, whicli is sometimes a cause of considerable 

 trouble, particularly in warm houses. When grown 

 in cool, airy, light structures, scales and other insect 

 pests do not prove nearly so troublesome. Most of 

 the Gleichenias thrive best in fibrous peat and silver 

 sand ; and as all are shallow rooters, they should be 

 grown in well-drained pans, in pi^eference to pots. 

 The stronger growers like an admixture of good 

 fibrous loam and pieces of charcoal. As a rule jjro- 

 pagation is effected hj dividing the clumps, but 

 Messrs. Yeitch have been successful in raising stocks 

 of G. circinata, G. riipesfris, Sec, from spores. A 

 goodly number of species, however, have not yet 

 been raised from spores in this country, and an in- 

 teresting field is open to the gardener in this line of 

 work. A considerable period elapses before tlie 

 spores develop into plants with characteristic fronds, 

 and, indeed, before the prothallia spring into exis- 

 tence ; still, M'ith care, no great difiiculty should be 

 experienced in obtaining a stock by means of spores. 

 This is all the more desirable as even old, well- 

 established specimens do not take kindly to being 

 divided. Few fei-ns make more splendid exhibition 

 plants than the Gleichenias, and good large-sized 

 specimens can be grown with but limited root-room, 

 a great advantage when the plants come to be moved 

 about miich ; moreover, they travel remarlcably well. 



The Genus Pteris. — Accepting the somewhat 

 comprehensive ^dews of sj)ecific distinction adopted 

 by such pteridologists as the late Sir William 

 Hooker and j\Ii'. J. G. Baker, the number of species 

 belonging to the genus Fteris is about a hun- 

 dred. A very considerable proportion of them, how- 

 ever, have not yet been introduced to cultivation, 

 and only a selection of the most desirable and 

 distinct of those which are to be met with in 

 English gardens are given in these pages. Not 

 a few of these are amongst the most useful and 

 least exacting of garden ferns. The genus, as under- 

 stood by the author of the " Synopsis Filicum," 

 comprises several groups which have been, and even 

 now, by some authorities, are still regarded as 

 genera. The genus, as restricted by some authors, 

 to the species in which the veins are all free, the 



