24 
THE FERNS OF SOUTH AFRICA 
transplant, but if begun as a sporeling — and sporelings are 
usually available — there is no difficulty in getting this fern 
firmly established. It is not well adapted for pot culture, 
and is seldom grown so, but planted out in a rockery it takes 
possession. 
BLECHNUM is a genus of hard leathery ferns, having the 
fertile frond different from the barren. They are all easily 
cultivated in loamy soil with good drainage and ample water 
supply. B. inflexa grows beside open streams; B. capense and 
B. tabulare grow on moist banks or glades, usually above the 
yellowwood forests, or in mountain streams, and fully exposed 
to sunshine ; B. attenuatum is always in deep wooded gorges 
and growing in swamp or stream at the bottom; while B. 
punctulatum is usually in forest streams. B. tabulare has a 
short erect tree stem, 12 to 24 inches high and 4 to 9 inches 
diameter, and these stems often suffer from forest fires without 
injury to the crown. 
In B. attenuatum the young barren fronds are usually 
bright pink in colour, though sometimes green. The spore- 
ling plants of this species have very different fronds from 
those on the mature plants, and look like different species. 
Several of the species occur crested, and more or less bi- 
pinnate. 
B. australe and B. auriculatum occur in open localities 
usually near or above the yellowwood forests. The require- 
ments are sunshine, moisture and drainage ; with these they 
are easily cultivated. 
ASPLENIUM is one of the largest and prettiest of South 
African genera. The species are almost all bush ferns, usually 
delicate in texture, easily damaged by drought or hot wind, 
and consequently more or less confined to moist spots or 
stream banks. None of them stand soil saturation, for though 
some, such as protensum , often occur in running streams, they 
promptly die if the water is stagnant. A. trichomanes and 
A. adiantum- nigrum often occur on rocky banks in full sun- 
light, but only in positions where there is constant moisture 
without an over-supply. A. solidum occurs usually on the 
constantly moist sand of the sea-dunes. One group (Darea) 
