686 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



September 7^ 1912. 



furthermore a sort of fantasia on the oak 

 leaf theme as well in the mattor of size and 

 shape. Ill the acacia wo may see the 

 simple leaf m* r^ing into a pinnate one, and 

 50 on; aii<l in the cacti and euphorhias tho 

 foliage consists of mere rudiments, or the 

 antipodean hriar may present it in the guise 

 of ])ri( kl.'s uu\y. Amid all these diversi- 

 ties. h(»\vo\er, wo never find one particular 

 type of variation into which all species of 

 ferns seem capable of sporting, namely, 

 that of forming tassels at the tips of the 

 fronds and their snbdivisi 



. This faculty 

 A\oul<l a|)poar to ho correlate<l with the fact 

 that iUv frond and its suMivisions develop 



compound, all the parts of the frond m a 

 small and delicate form may be found to 

 exist in the still curled-up terminal at the 

 top of the now long stalk. After this it 

 grows all over^ leaf fashion, and, as it doe^ 

 so, the coil unrolls, the parts straighten 

 themselves, and ere long we see the broad, 

 flat frond fidl size and mature. Obviously 

 this mode of development is m.ore com- 

 patible with ta,sttelling at the tips than that 

 of the leaf, since all that is necessary is that 

 the rest of the formative cell work in the 

 coils being completed, the terminal cells 

 split up and finish off with more points than 

 tile normal one. 



AN ATTRACTIVE BOWL OF CROCUSES, 



The bulbs grown in fibre. 



apically, that is, the cellular growth, is 

 engendered at the extreme tip. 



If we examine the incipient bud of a 

 tree we shall find it to consist of a compact 

 bundle of young leaves, which when the 

 bud bursts 



All the 



however 



must 



same, nowever we 

 rank this occurrence with the many other 

 natural marvels, when Ave consider that 

 in the more highly-developed crested or 

 cristate forms in which the smallest sub 



emerge and grow, so to speak, divisions are tasselled, as well as the largest 



ex:simples of crested forms to the varietal 

 fern hunter. In many instances the ten- 

 dency to split up is developed erratically in 

 the form of irregularly branched and tas- 

 selled fronds ; while in some cases it so pre- 

 dominates over the normal tendency to 

 produce a flat frond, that the whole fern is 

 a bunch of tassels so closely set as to re- 

 semble a ball of moss or selaginella. 



, is a whole range of frond 

 forms which have no counterpart at all in 

 leaf forms. 



Here, th 



all over, expanding in all directions^ so that 

 the outline alters but little except as re- 

 gards expansion. A fern frond at the 

 same stage is a small, fleshy knot, devoid 

 of any indication of foliar structure; it is 

 in fact, only a rudimentary stalk, tippe<i 

 with a mass of gummy cells. By means of 

 these cells tho stalk lengthens, and an in- 

 curve<l top is formed, within which 

 a process of division and redivis on goes on 

 to tho extent determined by the form of the 

 frond, simple or decompound, until, if de- 



hundreds 



The extra foliose or plumose 

 type of fern variation, embracing the 

 fringed and frilled section of the Harts- 

 tongues cannot be so clearly distinguished 

 from some of the abnormal leaf types in 

 flowering plants^ such as we see in some 

 cyclamen sports, where the fringed or 

 butterfly type of flower is associated with a 

 frilled and fringed edge to the very large 

 leaves. Many of the more beautiful 

 examples of fern variation, however, belong 

 to this section, which superficially may be 

 said to be represented by Todea superba, 

 though since ferns have been subjected to 

 cultural selection, even that gem of emerald 

 vegetation has been excelled by the divisi- 

 lobe plumosums of Polystichum angulare, 

 and more recently by those marvels of 

 dissection, Nephrolepis exaltata Whatmani 

 and Marshalli compacta. To these ex- 

 tremely dissected and exuberant types we 

 have no parallels in true leaves, although, 

 curiously enough, they have been derived 

 from merely pinnate or bipinnate specific 

 forms, which some leaves could easily sur- 

 pass. 



The most extraordinary example of the 

 twisted type is a form of the Common 

 Bracken, known as Pteris aquiline glome- 

 rata^ in which all the leafy subdivisions and 

 terminals curl up so tightly as to twist the 

 stalks into knots and form balls, the fronds 

 presenting thus a most weird and unnatural 

 appearance. In the revolute forms the 

 fronds form tubes instead of being flat, and 

 the side divisions are convex, and, together 

 with the frond tip, are spirally twisted 

 owing to the fact that the rolling up of the 

 frond tends to bring the under surface 

 upward instead of the upper; and as the 

 latter is better adapted to receive the light, 

 a compromise, as it were, resvdts in the 

 twist in question. It is curious that a 

 natural sport of this description should 

 really be in conflict with the law that a leaf 

 or its equivalent is so arranged as to catch 

 directly as much light as the environment 

 permits. In that very peculiar tree, Lirio- 

 dendron tulipiferum, or the Tulip Tree, the 

 broad leaves are peculiar in terminating 

 squarely, the midrib slightly projecting as a 

 thorn, and it is a very curious fact that 

 while this, we believe, has no parallel in 

 flowering plants, at any rate, as being a 

 constant specific character, several of our 

 native fern species present precisely the 

 same feature in wild varietal forms— viz., 

 the Hart^tongue, I^dy Fern, Lastrea hli^^" 

 mae, L. montana — and we have also re- 

 ceived the same type of variation from tne 

 United States in Polypodlum hexagono- 

 pterum truncatum. In all these th^/"?' 

 rolling frond or fern division suddenly 

 ceases to develop the leafy portion on eac 

 side of the midrib, though that continn^ 

 for a short distance as a bristle or thorn-lii^^ 



thousands, of formative cells, which nor- P*^^^^- *r ht rr V T S 



mally would, as it were, fix the last brirlc ^Jhas. T. Drxtery, V.M.H., 



mally would, as it were, fix the last brick 

 on the pinnacle, unanimously take it into 

 the'r heads, so to speak, to pile up a few 

 more on the top as a sort of radiating finial. 

 This eccentricity is the more remarkable as 

 no specie shows it as a noinuil character, 

 thought it must be assumed to occur spora- 

 dically on most species, seeing that out of 

 alwut 44 native species of ferns only 

 about a dozen hare so far failed to vield 



Lantanas. 



been 



These have of late 

 used for bedding Purposes to a in 

 greater extent than was formerly tne c 

 Last year they did remarkably well <in^^? 

 the almost tropical weather we then ^^j^jy 

 enced, while this season, with its cio 

 skies and heavv rainfall, they are 

 bright and cheerful.— W. T. 



