72 



A FERN BOOK FOR EVERYBODY. 



But not by burn, in wood, or dale, 



Grows anything so fair 

 As the plumy crests of emerald pale 



That waves in the wind, or soughs in the gale, 

 Of thi^ lady fern, when the sunbeams turu 



To gold her delicate hair." 



Poets are allowed a little license, but in the present in- 

 stance tbat permission has not been by any means abused. 

 It would be difficult, indeed, to extol too highly one of the 

 most magnificent and graceful, perhaps the most splendid, 

 of British ferns. What others gain in height the Lady 

 Fern offers as a counterpoise in the delicate incisions of 

 her feathery fronds. This is evidently a favourite fern 

 with poets — no bad judges of beauty, by-the-bye — for 

 Soett has given a faithful picture of the haunts it loves : 



"Where the copse-wood is the greenest, 

 Where the fountain glistens sheenest, 

 Where the morning dew lies longest. 

 There the lady fern grows strongest." 



Out of sixty or seventy recognized varieties of this fern 

 which are in cultivation, we will only attempt to enumerate 

 a few of the most typical or attractive. 



Near the sea the variety marinum has been found at 

 Aberdeen. The fronds are rather small, broad at the centre, 

 and tapering gradually upwards and downwards. 



The variety rlioeticiim, which grows in boggy places, 

 differs considerably in appearance from the usual form : 

 the fronds are smaller, narrower, the leaflets shorter, and 

 in habit it is more erect. 



The broad-leaved latifoliwn is a more desirable variety 

 for cultivation. It attains a good size, and the large broad 

 leaflets give it a most distinct and noble appearance. 



The tasselled variety (iiiuUiJidum) is one of the greatest 

 favourites in cultivation. The fronds are of the usual size 

 and form, except that the apex is furnished with a branched 

 tuft resembling a tassel, with a smaller one terminating 

 all the side branches. 



The same character prevails in depauperatum, which is 

 smaller, and has the same starved and poverty-stricken 

 appearance which characterizes the variety depauperatum 

 of other species, as the name indicates. 



