66 
European Ferns. 
or three generations thus connected together, all the offspring of one and the same plant. 
It is easily cultivated in the Wardian case, and is well worthy of notice. Our figure illustrates 
this peculiarity, which is shared by an allied species, C. sibirica, a native of Siberia and Japan. 
\Ye shall have occasion to recur to this or a somewhat similar mode of increase when we come 
to the description of our next genus, IVoodwardia ; an example familiar to those acquainted 
with the more commonly cultivated exotic ferns will be found in Asplenium bulbifcrum , of 
which we shall speak more at length under the head of the genus to which it belongs. 
An Australian Lomaria , L. Patcrsoni , is remarkable on account of its frequently quite 
simple, narrow, undivided fronds ; these are from a foot to two feet long, and are sometimes 
pinnatifid with a few narrow segments. This has been in cultivation in England since 1839, 
when it was raised from spores in the Royal Gardens at Kew ; but it is more curious than 
striking, and is not often met with in cultivation. A New Zealand species, L. Fraseri , has 
an erect, slender rhizome like that of a tree-fern, attaining a height of two or three feet, and 
covered, as in the ordinary tree-fern, with the bases of the old stipes. It has numerous tufted 
bipinnate fronds from one to three feet long, including the stipes. L. volubilis is a 
South American species of very remarkable habit. Sir W. J. Hooker says of it : “ This is 
the most remarkable of the genus Lomaria which it is my privilege to describe. There are 
species of Lomarice with scandent caudices or rhizomes which measure from twenty to twenty-five 
feet, but here that length is attained by the frond itself, or rather by the main rachises of the 
frond, which, having considerable intervals free from the pinnae, twine round each other, as well 
as over and among bushes (perhaps much after the manner of Lygodiuni), intermingling — as it 
would appear — sterile and fertile fronds, so that it is difficult to trace the pinnae to their 
respective rachises. Of the caudex and even stipes we know nothing. The primary petioles, which 
are quite inarticulate, are often nearly opposite, two inches and more long, and stand out at 
right angles from the rachis. The fertile pinnae have always fewer pinnules, and they exceed 
those of the sterile ones in length, being more than twice as long, and generally very falcate. 
A folio page would not suffice to do justice to a figure of this fine species.”* 
L. gibba , a native of New Caledonia, presents one or two features of interest. In the 
first place, it is one of the species which seem to suggest the possibility that the distinctness 
of the two genera, Lomaria and Blechnum , is a matter which further investigations may show 
to be at least questionable, for specimens have been met with in which the sori are cut quite 
marginal, thus showing an approximation to Blechnum, of which, as we have seen above, the 
non-marginal sori form a distinctive feature. Then it is not only a very handsome plant — having 
deeply-pinnatifid fronds, from one to three feet in length, and about half a foot broad, rising 
from a short stout stem — but one that is easily grown. It is also a very variable plant: 
one of its most striking varieties (L. gibba crispa ) has a rather dwarf habit, with densely leafy 
waved pinnae ; another form (L. gibba major) is much larger than the type ; and there 
are others in cultivation. It will do well in a cool house, so long as care is taken 
to avoid frost, and is extremely useful for dinner-table decoration. Our attention has 
been directed to an example of this species flourishing in a glass window-case in 
one of the worst suburbs of Manchester — worst, we mean, from a gardener’s stand- 
point, inasmuch as the smoke and exhalations from the chemical works make plant-life a 
real struggle for existence. Even when protected by glass it is impossible here to grow 
some plants with permanent success ; but ferns do fairly well, and few better than this 
handsome Lomaria. Were this a suitable opportunity, we might point out all that this success 
* “Synopsis Filicum,” vol. iii., p. 30. 
