200 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GAEDENING. 



which imparts a distinct and striking aspect to the 

 plant. The very finest of the variegated ferns (even 

 in the genus Pteris, which has produced nearly all 

 the variegated forms at present known in cultiva- 

 tion) are varieties of P. quadriaurita. 



P. argyrea and P. tricolor, when well grown, can- 

 not fail to win the admiration of every one who has 

 any love for plants. The first-named is much the 

 easier of the two to manage, no particular difficulty 

 heing experienced in growing it thoroughly well. 

 The greater part of the area of each pinna is 

 occupied by a broad band of white, and as young 

 plants are readily raised from spores, and soon 

 become very ornamental objects, it is not likely 

 to lose its hold on popular estimation. P. tricolor 

 is a still more handsome plant, though unfortunately 

 one which is not nearly so easy to grow ; the centre 

 of each pinna, in characteristically coloured plants, 

 is a bright rosy-red with a margin of white on each 

 side, which contrasts strongly with the deej) glossy 

 green of the other portion of the fronds. P. safjitti- 

 folia, a native of the New World (from Venezuela 

 southward to Brazil), is an excellent subject for the 

 Wardian case, and thrives well in the green-house. 

 It has erect, polished, blackish stipes four to six 

 inches long, and dark green sub-triangular fronds 

 four to six inches long from the top of the stipes to 

 the apex. 



GREEN-HOUSE SPECIES. 



None of the species mentioned under this head 

 refuse to grow under stove treatment, and some 

 develop much more rapidly in the Avarmer atmo- 

 sphere of the stove ; some are very nearly hardy, 

 and are invaluable for conservatory decoration and 

 for the indoor unheated fernery. P. arguta is a 

 handsome evergreen kind from Portugal, the Azores, 

 Madeira, and the Canary Islands ; it succeeds ad- 

 mirably when planted out in the cool conservatory, 

 and allowed plenty of space ; under these conditions 

 it not unfrequently attains a height of five feet, the 

 strong, erect, glossy, straw-coloured or reddish- 

 brown stipes measuring about half the entire length 

 of the fronds. P. Uretica is far from being peculiar to 

 Crete, as its name would seem to imply. In fact few 

 ferns have a more extensive geographical distribu- 

 tion. It ranges from Turcomania in Uralian Siberia, 

 through Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and its 

 islands, Arabia and Abyssinia, most parts of India, 

 from the hot plains to the Himalayas at elevations 

 of 6,000 feet above sea-level — Mauritius, Penang, 

 Java, Luzon, Ceylon ; and from the United States, 

 south through Mexico to Guatemala and Brazil. 

 The pinnate fronds are upwards of a foot in length, 

 and are very bright green in colour. Enormous 

 numbers of this species are annually sent to Covent 



Garden Market by some growers, and the species ig 

 one of the ferns most largely used in general 

 decorative work during the London season. Large 

 showy plants are readily grown, even with com 

 paratively Hmited pot-room, and if simply attended 

 to in respect to watering, the fronds retain their 

 bright green hue for a long time even in the gas- 

 laden atmosphere of London drawing-rooms. A 

 variegated form of this P. Cretica, var. albo-lineata,. 

 though hardly so useful as the green-leaved type, ia 

 a handsome evergTcen kind, with a broad band of 

 white running up the centre of each pinna ; thi* 

 was introduced to Kew many years ago from Java, 

 and was figured in the Botanical Magazine — 5,194. 

 It has, however, been collected in several other 

 widely-separated countries. P. jlahellata is a near 

 ally of the species first named under the heading of 

 green-house ferns. Adz., P. arguta, perhaps the best 

 character by which to distinguish it from that being 

 the longer and narrower sori of T. Jlahellata. It is 

 found in Cape Colony, and northward to Mamitius, 

 Abyssinia, and Fernando Po. P. longifolia, an in- 

 habitant of tropical and warm temperate regions all 

 over the w^orld, is the representative of a very small 

 section in which the lower pinnae are linear and 

 undi\ided. It is a well-known evergreen species, of 

 the easiest cultivation, reproducing itself freely by 

 spores either in the stove or green-house, wherever 

 it can find a surface more or less constantly moist 

 enough. In the rockery, imder g?ass, or upon 

 moist stonework, (fee, it makes a very pretty object 

 with its dark green fronds one to two feet in length ; 

 these remain fresh for a long time in water when 

 cut. Although somewhat common, the species 

 altogether is a very useful one, and ought not to be 

 omitted from any fern collection. P. scaberula was 

 accidentally introduced into this country many 

 years ago, a number of young plants appearing- 

 amongst the soil in which a case of plants from New 

 Zealand (of which country the species is a native) 

 had been packed. As stated at the commencement 

 of these notes, P. scaberula is a near ally of our 

 common Bracken. Like that plant, it produces its 

 elegantly-cut fronds from creeping rhizomes. It is 

 one of the most distinct and handsome of cool-house 

 ferns, and shoidd find a place even in the most select 

 collection of green-house plants. Few ferns make 

 more elegant objects for baskets than this, and the 

 fronds last a long time in water after being cut. 

 One of the commonest of cultivated ferns, P. ser- 

 rulata, a native of China and Japan, is so well 

 known that a description is unnecessary. None of 

 its allies have been more profoundly modified by 

 cultivation than this deservedly popular species. It 

 has been raised in such quantities from slightly 

 varying forms, that now any number of varieties can 



