52 
European Ferns. 
Besides these two well-known plants, many other species of Cheilanthes are or have been 
in cultivation in this country. Mr. E. J. Lowe, in his “Ferns, British and Exotic,” figures 
eighteen species which were then known in English gardens, but two or three of these are 
referred to other genera by more recent writers. C. viscosa is a very pretty species, with deltoid 
or triangular, finely-cut, bright green, tripinnate fronds ; it is an American plant, extending 
from New Mexico to Venezuela, and has been in cultivation in England since 1841. The 
specific name refers to a characteristic feature of the fronds, which are covered throughout with 
sticky glandular hairs, the viscidity of which is so powerful that, as noted by Mr. John Smith 
on a specimen in the British Museum Herbarium, the plant adheres to the paper without the 
aid of gum or paste. C. radiata is a very pretty plant, resembling an Adiantum in habit, and 
originally placed in that genus by Linnaeus; it has long stipites, which are terminated by from 
five to ten pinnae, all starting from a common centre like the spokes of a wheel, thus imparting 
a star-like appearance to the frond. This is a native of tropical America, and was cultivated 
at Kew in 1827: it is a very variable plant, some specimens not exceeding four inches, while 
others are as much as three feet in height. C. pteroides is a very handsome and distinct species, 
resembling a Platylorna in habit, and also approaching Pteris , as is suggested by its specific name. 
It is an old inhabitant of our greenhouses, having been introduced to the Royal Gardens at Kew 
from the Cape of Good Hope by Francis Masson in 1775 ; but is not commonly met with at 
the present day, although it well deserves attention, being one of the handsomest and finest 
species of the genus, as well as one of the most distinct. It has a thick, creeping, scaly 
rhizome, from which rise the large, smooth, tripinnate fronds, these being (including the stipes) 
from a foot to two feet and a half in length. The brown involucres extend over the whole 
margin of the pinnae of the fertile fronds, and the contrast between them and the pale green 
of the fronds is very striking. It is a native of the Cape, at an elevation of from 1,000 to 3,000 
feet, and is also found in Java at the top of Mount Gede. C. tenuifolia is a pretty, slenderly- 
divided species, reminding us of a Cystopteris in habit ; it is a species of wide distribution, 
extending over the hilly districts of Eastern India, throughout Eastern Asia and the Malay 
Archipelago, and being very abundant in most parts of Australia: this was introduced to Kew 
Gardens in 1824. C. Matthewsii , a Peruvian species, is remarkable for its long, narrow, linear- 
lanceolate fronds ; C. micropteris, a native of tropical America, has them similar in shape, but 
much smaller, seldom exceeding three inches in length. C. speciosissima is, as its name implies, 
a very beautiful species, a native of Central America, which ascends to 12,000 feet on the Peak 
of Orizaba, Mexico. The fronds are sometimes two feet or more in length ; the rachis is 
covered throughout with brown, chaffy scales or hairs, and the general aspect at first sight 
reminds us of an Aspidium rather than a Cheilanthes. 
CHEILANTHES FRAGRANS, Hook. 
This pretty little fern is familiar to travellers in the Mediterranean region, being a general 
favourite on account of its delicately fragrant fronds. The fern tribe is not at all remarkable 
for fragrance, although many ferns have a peculiar odour which is by no means unpleasant ; 
but here and there we come across species with a well-marked and distinct scent. Among our 
British ferns, for example, we have Aspidium montanum, with a pleasant smell of new-mown 
hay, w'hich is more strongly developed in A. cemulum ; wdiile A. fragrans , a native of the 
Caucasus, Siberia, and Northern Asia, smells strongly of raspberries, the odour remaining even 
in the dried fronds, and becoming very obvious when these are soaked in water. A tropical 
