FILMY FERNS, 



337 



with a beautiful carpet ; they are 3 or 4 inches 

 long, erect, twice divided, and olive-green in 

 colour; if watered overhead, however, they 

 soon turn black. It does best in a layer of peat 

 or sand pressed hard upon sandstone, but is 

 often difficult to start ; a way that often suc- 

 ceeds is to lay the young plant upon bare sand- 

 stone with a second slab over it for several 

 weeks ; upon its removal the roots have often 

 taken firm hold of the sandstone, and soil may 

 be added as required. Though called a British 

 plant it has a wide range, being found in Ma- 

 deira, the West Indies, Central and South Ame- 

 rica, and parts of India and Japan, at heights 

 of 1,000 to 5,000 feet. It seeks a damp and 

 sheltered spot, growing best upon perpendi- 

 cular rocks and tree-trunks. 



H. vahatum. — A charming plant of dis- 

 tinct habit, producing from creeping roots 

 fronds of 6 to 12 inches, very transparent in 

 texture, broadly oblong, and thrice cut into nar- 

 row, waved segments, slightly hairy, smooth, 

 and rich green in colour. This kind makes its 

 growth in autumnand winterwhenother terns 

 from the same region are at rest, and though 

 not a hairy kind it is very sensitive to water 

 upon its delicate fronds. Central America, 

 Columbia, and Peru, often at heights of 3,000 

 to 6,000 feet. 



H. unilaterale. — Though often called a Bri- 

 tish plant under the name of Wilson's Filmy 

 Fern, this is widely distributed. It resembles 

 the Tunbridge Fern [H. tunbridgense), but is 

 commoner, and may be known from it by its 

 longer, narrower fronds and their curved seg- 

 ments, its more rigid habit, and by the edges 

 of the involucre being smooth. Another pe- 

 culiarity is the renewed growth of the old 

 fronds during several seasons. It is a pretty 

 plant, common in parts of Scotland, and also 

 found in northern Europe, South Africa, South 

 America, and New Zealand. 



Todea hymenophylloides. — A 



Gr rr G A S as charming Fern of easy cul- 

 ( / odes). ii* 1 



ture and dainty deep-cut 



fronds. Its trunk is thick and erect, and the 

 fronds from 1 to 2 feet or more in length, tri- 

 angular in outline, thrice divided, very trans- 

 parent, and deep green. It is a good plant for 

 theWardian case and easily grown from spores, 

 the seedlings showing much variety as to form 

 but always sterile; one dense and tufted variety 



bears the name compacta. Syns. T. pellucida, 

 and Leptopteris hymenophylloides. 



T. intermedia. — A plant of robust growth, 

 with frondsof the shape, form, and transparent 

 texture of the kind just described, yet curled 

 and crisped as in L. superba, with stalks densely 

 covered with short, woolly hairs. It is thus 

 between the two, and while found wild in 

 parts of New Zealand, others identical with 

 it have been raised by crossing, proving it to 

 be a natural hybrid. 



T. superba. — It is impossible to fitly de- 

 scribe this beautiful Fern, known variously as 

 the "Crape Fern," "Prince of Wales's Fea- 

 thers," and the " New Zealand Filmy Fern." 



I Its crown swells into a knotted fibrous mass 

 rather than a trunk, though sometimes 18 

 inches high, and supports a crown of dense 

 fronds from 2 to 4 feet long, 6 inches to nearly 



I a foot wide, and of the most dainty appearance. 

 The segments are finely divided, beautifully 



, waved and crisped, and of a brilliant sea-green. 

 The points of the segments curl upwards over 

 thefronds,likethecurling plumes of an ostrich 

 feather. It grows in shady dells, upon rotten 

 leaf-mould, and does well in a Wardian case. 

 New Zealand. Syn. Leptopteris superba. 



Trichomanes exsectum. — A love- 

 Brlstle Ferns, ly species with creeping roots 

 which hang from the roofs of 

 damp caverns and overhanging rocks. Its fronds 

 are slender, pendulous, and cut into delicate 

 segments as fineand transparent as thedaintiest 

 green sea-weed ; they are often 10 or 1 2 inches 

 long and nearly 6 inches wide, with segments 

 finely divided, and vivid green. Grows well 

 upon hard wood or stone. Southern Chili and 



Juan Fernandez. 



T. humile. — A pretty dwarf-growing Fern 

 forming a dense covering wherever it spreads. 

 The fronds, produced upon slender creeping 

 roots are often only 2 inches long, lanceolate in 

 shape, and twice deeply divided into narrow 

 segments of bright transparent green. Does 

 well upon ablockof fern-trunk. New Zealand, 

 Java, and islands of the Pacific. 



T. parvulum. — A very dwarf kind, easily 

 grown and suited to small fern cases as doing 

 well upon small pieces of peat or fern-trunk sus- 

 pended from the roof, and quickly covered by 

 the thread-like interlacing stems. I have never 

 seen the fronds more than an inch long ; they 



