THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
241 
NOTES ON NEW FERNS. 
DIANTEM ELEOANTISSIMUM, shown by Mr. B. S. 
Williams at the great exhibition at Bath, is as new in 
aspect as it is in name ; although, to speak the truth, 
the name would suit almost any adiantum. This, how- 
ever, is peculiarly distinct, and might be likened to the 
inflorescence of a grass, such, for example, as Agrostis nebulosa, so 
minute are the 2)innules, and so light and cloud-like the whole 
texture of the plant. For a warm house it is a most desirable fern, 
and it will probably prove of the utmost value in dinner-table 
decorations. 
Adiantum speciosum. — This adiantum is as new in look as 
the last-named, but in quite a different style, for here we have the 
bold habit and large pinnules that characterize the lovely Farleyense, 
but different in detail, and likely to prove in every way acceptable. 
The fronds are large and leafy, spreading out gracefully with dis- 
tinct purplish rachis, and large, flat, regularly-scolloped pinnules of 
a greyish-green colour. This was well shown by Messrs. Veitch and 
Son, of King’s Road, Chelsea, at the recent exhibition at Bath. 
Adiantum Perutianum. — T’his novelty of Messrs. Yeitch and 
Son is of the princely kind, for it actually excels in nobleness and 
richness the well-known A. trapeziforme. It is a strong grower, 
with large, arching, pendant fronds, and large green pinnules of a 
sub-trapeziform outline. The fronds are supported by black, glossy 
stems or stipites, which do not rise from a crown but from a spread- 
ing caudex, and which arch over outwards in the most elegant 
manner. It is one of the grandest ferns known for a warm fernery. 
Adiantum amabile. — Messrs. Veitch and Son obtained this 
fine fern through their late collector Mr. Pearce, and it constitutes 
a beautiful memorial of the successful botanical traveller who fell a 
victim to one of the customary accidents of his dangerous calling. 
The fronds are of fair size, averaging fifteen inches in length by 
ten inches in breadth ; the pinnules are large in proportion, and of 
a lovely light-green colour. When the young fronds are rising, the 
plant emits an agreeable perfume. It is a cool-stove or inter- 
mediate-house fern. 
ScoLOPENDEiUM VULGABE AUREUM. — We have been acquainted 
with this fern for some years, and yet we feel bound to speak of it 
as new, for it is yet but little known ; although, for our own part, 
we have known it long enough to speak of it as constant in its 
peculiarity. It is a hart’s-tongue fern of good form, very nearly 
resembling crispum, but differing from others of the genus in being 
of a beautiful golden-green colour. When planted in the cool fernery 
it is peculiarly distinct and atti-active. 
Pteeis serrulata coexmbifeea. — The typical P. serrulata is 
a weed that no one is bound to love. Several of its crested and 
crisped varieties are little better than weeds, and are really not 
worth cultivating. But this one is a grand and glorious tasselled 
fern, with erect fronds, which terminate in dense, bright-green 
August. IG 
