■268 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



^peculiar distribution, being found in Madeira, Azores, 

 .Abyssinia, Cape Colony, the Sandwich. Islands, and 

 Mexico, along the Andes to Chili. A. ohtusatum, of 

 "which species A. lucidum and A. obliquum are mere 

 varieties, seems to the casual observer like a large 

 edition of our native Sea Spleenwort, A. marinnm. 

 Although rather 

 formal for pot- 

 culture, this 

 makes a fine ob- 

 ject for the 

 green-house 

 rockery ; and, 

 indeed, when 

 planted out in 

 the open border 

 of the perfectly 



• cool conserva- 

 tor}^, its leathery 



• evergxeen fronds 

 are produced in 

 ^^eat abund- 

 ance, and attain 

 to a large size. 

 ■ This species is 

 abundant in a 

 wild state in 

 New Zealand 

 and Australia, 

 and is also found 

 in the Polyne- 

 sian Islands, 

 Peru, and Chili. 

 A. Hemionitis, 

 with its light 

 green fronds, 

 which are hal- 

 berd- shaped in 

 outline, with a 

 triangular acute 

 terminal lobe, 

 and two large 

 cordate ' acute 

 lateral ones, each 

 again bluntly or 

 acutely lobed, is 



a very distinct and striking species. It is found in 

 Spain, Portugal, Barbary States, Azores, Canaries, 

 Madeira, and Cape Yerde Islands. 



Cultivation. — Our remarks under stove species 

 apply to green-house ones aiso. 



HARDY SPECIES. 



In this group, except in very favoured spots in 

 the South and South-west of Britain, few except 

 ■our native species can fairly be placed. These, 



however, exhibit considerable differences in size and 

 general appearance, and have beautj' enough to 

 recommend them to the fern-lover, in addition to 

 the interest which attaches to some of them on ac- 

 count of rarity. The small number of species, too, 

 is amply compensated by the enormous number of 



garden forms of 

 such as the Lady 

 Fern, Asplenium 

 Filix - famina — 

 formerly (and 

 sometimes now) 

 looked upon as 

 distinct from 

 Asplenium, and 

 generally found 

 in nurserj-men's 

 catalogues under 

 the name of 

 Athyrium FUix- 

 foemina. This 

 species, both in 

 a wild state and 

 imder cultiva- 

 tion, vai-ies ex- 

 cessively, some 

 of the garden 

 forms betraying 

 to the uniniti- 

 ated no trace 

 of their real 

 relationships. 

 Among the best 

 of the varieties 

 with non- crested 

 fronds ai'e lati- 

 folium, rhceticum, 

 and phcmosum, 

 the latter being 

 the most finely 

 cut and hand- 

 some of the en- 

 tire set. Of 

 those with vari- 

 ously crested 

 fronds, a good 



selection is crispnm, ccrymhosum, depauperatum, Vic- 

 tories, FieIdi(B, Frizellia, polydactylon, &c. All of these 

 grow freely enough in any moderately moist shady 

 spot, and are invaluable in the out-door rockery. 

 They will not thrive in places where stagnant mois- 

 ture abounds ; given a spot clear of the latter, and 

 commanding shade, they are indifferent to soil. 



A. Adiantum nigrum and A. lanceolatum like a moist 

 but well- drained- spot, and succeed well in any soil 

 containing a fair share of decayed vegetable matter. 



FiLIX-FCEMINA, VAR. CRISPUai. 



