FERNS. 



267 



tliis treatment; Mvhilst A. Kid us, for instance, does 

 well in pm^e peat mixed with chopped sphagnum. 

 The majority of the species take very kindly to a 

 mixtui-e of peat, loam, and leaf- mould, with a slight 

 addition of sharp sand. All require frequent syring- 

 ings during the season of growth, and a moist atmos- 

 phere throughout the year. Good drainage is an 

 essential in every case. Although many seem to 

 stand full exposure to direct sun-light under glass 

 fairly well, they seem to produce finer and more 

 deeply- coloured fronds when grown in partial shade. 



GREEN-HOUSE KINDS. 



On account of its rapid growth, its elegant ap> 

 pearance, and the ease with which it can be success- 



sphere, resembles a good deal the A. caudatum, men- 

 tioned among the stove species ; probably A. erosum is 

 onlj' a V/ est Indian form of A. falcatum. A. Jtahelli- 

 folium is a delicate little species from temperate 

 Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand ; it is par- 

 ticularly adapted for cultivation in small-sized bas- 

 kets, as under these conditions its slender bright 

 green fronds are seen to greatest advantage ; it also 

 makes an excellent subject for fern-cases, as its- 

 arching fronds are proliferous at their tips, and root 

 freely on contact with the ground. 



A. jiaccidum, a very variable plant from New Zea- 

 land, Australia, Van Diemen's Land, &c., is excellent 

 for growing in a basket ; its pendulous, bi-pinnate, 

 rich deep green leathery fronds often attain a length of 



A. Felix-fcemina, var. pltjmosum. 



fully grown, even with limited means at command, 

 A. hulhiferum is deservedly one of the most widely 

 known as well as one of the most popular of green- 

 house ferns. The handsome pale green fronds, 

 which sometimes attain a length of two feet, are 

 now and then so heavily weighted with their crop of 

 young plants as to cause them to assume a pendulous 

 position. As might be expected in the case of a fern 

 having such a wide geographical distribution — it is 

 found in New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, 

 &c., Samoa, North India, tropical America, Bour- 

 bon, &c., and Natal — a number of forms have been 

 regarded as species; amongst the most distinct of 

 these are A. laxum, with more slender habit and 

 narrow segments, and A. Fabianum, with narrow divi- 

 sions and submarginal sori. A. falcattim, a, widely- 

 distributed fern throughout the Southern Hemi- 



three feet. A . fitrcahm., widely distributed through- 

 out tropical and sub-tropical regions, has leathery 

 fronds six to eighteen inches long by four to six 

 inches wide ; this species may be likened to a magni- 

 fied specimen of our native Black Maiden-hair Spleen- 

 wort. A. Semionitis, a native of the Western Medi- 

 terranean region, is a pretty dwarf species, of which 

 the illustration renders a description unnecessary. 

 A. incisiim, from Japan and West China, resembles 

 our native A. lanceolatum, but the fronds are narrowei 

 in outline and thinner in texture. A. monantheimim 

 with the general aspect of the Black Spleen wort {A. 

 Trichomanes), is one of the prettiest of small-growing 

 green-house evergreen ferns; the bright green 

 pinnate fronds now and then attain a length of 

 eighteen inches. Bulbules are often produced in the 

 axils of the lower pinnae. This species has a rather 



