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Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
are more rapidly propagated by means of tkeir 
spores, which are abundantly produced, germinate 
freely, and produce better-shaped plants than those 
obtained from division of the rhizomes. 
P. aureum. 
This deservedly popular species, wliick thrives equally 
well under either greenhouse or stove treatment, is common 
in the West Indies, and in South America as far as Brazil, 
&c. It is a strong-growing, bold species, and, owing to the 
glaucous tint of its massive foliiage, conspicuous. In vexy 
young plants the fronds are simple or three-lobed, but in 
fully-developed specimens they are 3ft. to 5ft. long and 9in. 
to 18in. broad, and are composed of a long, narrow-spear- 
shaped terminal leaflet, and of a variable number — from 
five to fifteen — of horizontal, entire, but undulated leaflets, 
4in. to 9in,. long, about lin. broad, and separated from each 
other by more or less rounded and open sinuses, leaving a 
wing or border of about ^in. along each side of the rachis. 
The lowest two leaflets are sometimes distinctly separated 
from the rest and are usually slightly decurved. The 
popular appellation of ''Golden Polypody,'' may be derived 
from the shining nature and bright brown colour of the 
scales with which the older portions of its rhizomes are 
covered, or it may be due to the intense golden colour of 
the under-side of its fertile fronds, which is produced by the 
presence of the enormous quantity of spore masses, dis- 
posed irregularly in one, two, or three series, and from 
which, when ripe, a most profuse, fine, bright yellow powder 
escapes, and covers the upper surface of the fronds that are 
beneath them. There are in commerce three plants closely 
related to P. aureum. These are : P. a. areolatum, 
P, a. pulvinatum, and P. a. sporadocarpum. The last, 
commonly met with in gardens under the name of 
P. glaucum, is certainly the handsomest of the group to 
which it belongs, being of a bluish tint not even approached 
by any of the others. 
P. Billardieri. 
This very useful and highly-ornamental, greenhouse 
species, native of New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, &c., 
is provided with wide-creeping rhizomes of a woody nature, 
densely clothed with dark-coloured and glossy scales, from 
which the fronds are produced. These fronds usually stand 
upright, and are borne on firm, erect, glossy stalks 4in. to 
8in. long; they vary in shape from oblong-spear-shaped and 
quite entire, to l^ft. long and half as broad and deeply 
pinnatifid. In young or freshly-divided plants the simple 
fronds predominate, whilst in old-established ones they are 
