260 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
NKPHRODlVyi-continued, 
hue in a young state, but turning with age to a dark shining 
groen, remain on th-e plant all the yetar round. Easily 
propiagat-ed from spores. 
N, Filix=mas. 
In the Male Fern, or the Common Buckler Fern, the 
handsome fronds are broadest in the middle, narrowing 
towards the base, land to la sharp point at their summit ; 
they lare produced from a large, somewhat upright stem of 
a woody mature, covered with thick, brown, overlapping 
scales, which also extend to the strong stialks. They are 
2ft. to 3ft. long and Sin. to 12in. broad, land are furnished 
with spear-shaped leaflets 4in. to Gin. long, about lin. broad, 
cut down very nearly to the rachis into close, blunt, regular, 
nearly entire lobes of a papery texture, the lower ones rather 
shorter than the others. The abundant and large sori are 
covered with a large, convex indusium. On account of its 
hardihood and of its easy culture, the Male Fern may be 
considered one of the very best either for town or for 
country treatment, as it bears smoke better than any other 
British Fern. It is of noble habit, and when planted in 
naturally sheltered places, becomes almost an evergreen, 
most useful for ornamenting the rockery and shrubbery. 
Like many other Ferns, it looks much handsomer w^hen 
planted out, especially if disposed upon an irregular surface, 
in clumps of six or eig|ht strong plants each, with a few 
pieces of stone or rock, which greatly add to their appear- 
ance laid in between and among them. It is readily propa- 
gated from spores, which are usually ripe about midsummer, 
and also from division of the crowns, which is a much slower 
process. More than a hundred varieties are enumerated. 
N. fra^rans. 
This is a lovely little greenhouse plant (Fig. 105), usually 
known in North America as the Fragrant Wood Fern, on 
account of the pleasant odour — ^compared by some authors 
to that of the Violet and by others to that of the common 
Primrose — which is emitted by the fronds in a fresh state, 
and by which it may be readily distinguished. 
N. hirtipes. 
Under the name of Lastrea atrata, this very handsome 
hardy species is better known in gardens ; it is a native of 
the Himalayas and the Neilgherries. The general habit of 
the plant is that of our common N. Filix-mas ; but its grace- 
fully-arching fronds, 21 o. to 3ft. long. Sin. to 16in. broad, 
and produced from a short, thick, and very fleshy stem, 
rarely measuring 6in. above the ground, are borne on tufted 
