258 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
an equal proportion of peat may be substituted, but 
leaf-mould is best. A few of the smallest-growing 
species — L. alpina, L. Germainii, and L, lanceolata, 
are adapted for growing in Fern-cases. Several 
species are also useful for room-decoration, the 
principal among them being the well-known and 
much-appreciated L. gihha, which for that purpose 
is very extensively raised by our wholesale growers. 
The slower-growing, but very compact, L. ciliata 
and L, discolor nuda are also highly decorative. 
Although they will not bear being kept dry, 
Lomarias do not require so much water at the roots 
as do the majority of other Ferns. They should be 
potted somewhat loosely, for they dislike the soil 
being pressed hard into the pots. An excellent way 
of making use of them is to plant them in dead 
Tree-Fern stems. Remove the decayed or partly- 
decayed matter from the centre of the stems, and 
scoop them out sufficiently to accommodate a solitary 
plant with a little mould round it, in order to give it 
a start; after that, keep the stem constantly moist, 
and the result will be that in a short time the roots 
of the transplanted Lomaria will have taken posses- 
sion of the dead stem, in which they run apace. 
Lomarias are almost invariably increased by means 
of their spores. 
L. alpina. 
This pretty little evergreen, almost hardy Fern, of 
sm^aller dimensionis than our oommen L. Spicant, is la native 
of Tempemte South America, New Zealand, Tasmania, and 
South Australia. As in the ease of all other Lomarias, the 
barren and the fertile fronds are totally distinct; both are 
produced from a wide-creeping rhizome, clothed at the 
crown with spear-sihaped, rusty-brown scales. The barren 
ones, 4in. to Sin. long and ^in. to fin. broad, are narrowly 
spear-shaped, with closely-set, blunt leaflets (Fig. 99) -|in. 
long, of a somewhat leathery texture, and of a bright 
metallic hue when young, turning with age to a very dark 
green colour. The fertile ones, borne on stalks 4in. to 8in. 
long, liave their leaflets narrower and more distant; these 
do not share the changes of colour which affect the sterile 
ones. Although it may in many sheltered places be treated 
as a hardy Fern, this species succeeds best and remains 
evergreen in the greenhouse. It is extremely useful for 
