150 



CASSELL'S POPULAR aARDENINa. 



North India and Ceylon, has a stalk ahout a foot 

 long, densely scaly at hase, and a frond two or 

 three feet in length by eight or twelve inches in 

 breadth. In JV. clecompositum, which is found in 

 Australia, Van Diem en's Land, and from New 

 Zealand to Tahiti and Fiji, considerable variation 

 occurs both in size and texture, and in the cutting of 

 the frond. This is one of the best of the stronger- 

 growing warm-house ferns of easy cultivation ; it has 

 a widely-creeping rhizome, a firm, hairy stalk (scaly 

 only at the base), twelve to eighteen inches long, 

 with fronds one to two feet long by a foot or more in 

 breadth; the cutting in this species is much finer, 

 and the general aspect of the plant is more graceful, 

 than in most of the other species of this rather large 

 genus ; several named varieties (wild ones, not forms 

 which have been produced under cultivation) exist 

 in the large fern collection at Kew. N. decursivo- 

 pinnatum is of tufted habit, with stalks, clothed 

 throughout with narrow scales, three or four inches 

 long, and fronds a foot or more in length by three or 

 four inches in breadth ; it is a native of Japan, 

 China, and Formosa. N. efusum, from the West 

 Indian Islands and tropical America, has a shortly- 

 creeping rhizome with polished stalks, slightly 

 scaly below, some two feet long or more, and pale 

 green glossy fronds, three or four feet in length by 

 two feet or more in breadth. N. giganteum, a recently 

 introduced species from Ceylon, occurring also in the 

 Malaj'an and Philippine Islands, has the texture and 

 habit of ISf. cicntarutm, but differs altogether in the 

 venation of the fronds. Perhaps the best known and 

 most widely grown of all the Nephrodiums is N. 

 moUe, which js found in a wild state in all the 

 warmer parts of both hemispheres, and has long 

 been an inmate of British gardens ; in this the 

 rather slender stems are tufted, a foot or more in 

 length, with finely hairy fronds, one to two feet long 

 by eight to twelve inches broad. The variety vio- 

 lascens has often a conspicuously brightly-coloured 

 purplish rachis. Amongst some of the numerous 

 forms of this popular species which have originated 

 in gardens are the following : — corymUferum, cris- 

 tatmn, densiim, grandiceps, polydactylon, and ramo- 

 sum, all these being variously crested forms, which 

 the majority of gardeners look upon as preferable, 

 for decorative and exhibition purposes, to the ordi- 

 nary wild types Avith plain untasselled fronds. N. 

 patens has more or less hairy fronds, two to three 

 feet long by eight to twelve inches broad, and 

 smooth or slightly hairy stalks, a foot or more in 

 length ; this is a native of Polynesia, Japan, Zambesi- 

 land, Angola, St. Helena, and is also found from 

 Florida and Texas to Eio de Janeiro and Chili. N. 

 serra is a noble species distinguished by its very 

 narrow rigid pinna^, with deep sharp lobes; the 



firm glossy stalk is a foot or more long, and the 

 fronds of almost leathery texture, in fully-developed 

 specimens, measure sometimes as much as four 

 feet or more in length by a foot or more in 

 breadth; it is a native of the West Indies, 

 and is one of the most stately of strong-growing 

 warm - house ferns. N. setigerum has a rather 

 wide geographical range, being found in Japan, 

 China, from North India to Ceylon and Malaj'a, and 

 in Polynesia as far east as the Society Isles. AVithin 

 its range it is a common plant, and varies a good deal 

 in size and hairiness ; on this account it has received 

 a number of names, of which that given by Blume, 

 being the oldest, is here adopted. It has a creeping 

 rhizome, with a stem one to twelve feet long, which is 

 either quite smooth or scaly throughout its length ; 

 the frond — of which the lowest pinnae are the largest, 

 often measuring eight to twelve inches long by four 

 to six inches broad — varies from one to three feet in 

 length, and is finely hairy beneath. JSf. truncaticm is 

 an elegant sub-arborescent species recently introduced 

 to this country from the Sandwich Islands. It has 

 a short erect caudex, with smooth green stalks, and 

 large, lanceolate, ovate, pale greenish fronds of a firm 

 membranous texture. Besides the Sandwich Islands 

 this species is found throughout Polynesia, in the 

 Malaccas and Australia, and from North India to 

 Cejdon. U. villosum, a native of the West Indies, 

 southward to Peru and Chili, is a very fine plant, 

 Avhieh is said to attain a height of eighteen feet; it 

 has a tufted habit with stout stalks (denselj^ clothed 

 with spreading scales) two or three feet or more in 

 length, and fronds four to six feet or more in length, 

 with a breadth of about half the length. A great 

 contrast to the last-named species is the handsome 

 little N. hirtum, with its tufts of delicate bright green 

 almost triangular fronds, four to six inches long by 

 three to four broad, on very brown densely fibrillose 

 stalks four to eight inches long ; this is a native of 

 the West Indies, and has also been found in west 

 tropical Africa. 



Cultivation. — Most of the Nephrodiums are strong- 

 growing and easily cultivated ferns, and succeed as 

 well in the green-house as the stove. Good fibrous 

 loam and leaf -mould make the best soil in which to 

 pot them, but where leaf-mould is not to be had the 

 loam will do without admixture — -of course, due care 

 must be taken to insure good drainage. Peat, which 

 seems to suit some ferns so well, is altogether 

 unnecessary with the Nephrodiums. Those species 

 with creeping rhizomes may be planted, a number of 

 pieces together, in a pot or pan, and a specimen 

 plant made up for effect almost at once. The tufted 

 ones, however, should be grown singly in T)ots, as a 

 number planted together would have a stiff and 



