112 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
ADIA'STVM— continued. 
which, tlio stalk, is n^iked. The foliiaged part, triangular 
m outline, is copiously furnished with small leafits, whose 
lower edge is straight, whereas the upper and outer are 
rather rounded and deeply lobed, the lower ones being 
distinctly stalked. These ^ sub-divisions are pale 
green, the barren ones being finely dented. The spore 
masses, nearly kidney-shaped, are usually disposed six to 
eight to each fertile pinnule. Of very easy culture, it suc- 
ceeds admirably in a greenhouse; yet, when cultivated in 
a stove, the sub-divisions of the fronds become larger, and 
the plant forms in all respects a handsomer specimen. It is 
very readily propagated by spores, and also by the division 
of the creeping rhizome. No particular care is required 
with regard to its propagation, as one is almost certain to 
find seedlings of it coming up amongst the different plants 
in the house in which it is cultivated. Fig. 59. There ^^s 
a nicely variegtated form (variegatum). 
A. fra^rantissimum. 
This handsome Fern is quite distinct from anything 
previously known in cultivation. It is of garden origin, and 
possibly a natural hybrid from A . cuneatum and A . Moorei (A . 
amahile of commerce). Its fronds, which last much longer 
than those of any other Adiantum with wedge-shaped leaflets. 
The characteristic feature is the large size of the ultimate 
divisions, which at once appears peculiar, presenting as it 
does a novel aspect among the forms with wedge-shaped 
pinnules. Despite its specific name the fronds are scentless. 
A. fulvum. 
This pretty and very compact-growing, greenhouse 
species, native of New Zealand, Norfolk Island, New South 
Wales, and Fiji, is of great value as a pot-plant, also where 
Ferns are required for edging, as its habit is very sym- 
metrical. Its elegant fronds, borne on stiff yet slender 
stalks of a rough nature, and produced from a central 
tufted crown in great abundance, are from 8in. to 12in. long 
and Gin. to Sin. broad ; they are formed of a terminal leaflet 
4in. to Gin. long and about IJin. broad, and of several 
branches, the lower of which are branched again and furnished 
with leafits of a parchment-like texture, about fin. long and 
Jin. broad, dimidiate, the lower edge nearly straight, the 
upper almost parallel, sharply toothed like the outer edge, of 
a bright bronzy or metallic hue when in a young state, and 
dark green when fully developed. The sori are large and 
numerous, roundish, almost heart-shaped, and disposed from 
eight to twelve round a pinnule. 
