86 
THE FERN FAMILIES OF BRITAIN. 
Culture of tliis Fern is simple enougli, since it will grow 
in any soil, provided only ample room be given for the roots, 
ample water to keep them moist, and sufficient protection from 
the wind and the weather to give the fronds a fair chance 
of remaining uninjured. A very short exposure to a strong 
draught while the fronds are expanding will cause the growing 
cells on the edges to be ruptured, and the result will be 
visible in imperfect fronds throughout the season. This Fern 
is not an evergreen, the fronds perishing in the autumn, 
whether protected or not. About April, however, the crown 
will be seen to swell, and in an incredibly short space of time, 
if the weather be warm, a brand new full-sized plant springs 
up and develops like a fountain of verdure. 
The varieties, as we have said, are innumerable; many, how- 
ever, are more curious than pretty, and, considering the wealth 
of really fine and perfect forms, should not be cultivated. 
The following are some of the best. The figures in paren- 
theses refer to Plate II. 
A. acrocladon (summit-branched) (13). This would re- 
present the acme of cresting had it not been surpassed by some 
of its offspring. It resembles balls of moss upon short, 
branchy stems. It was found in a small state by the road- 
side on a Yorkshire moor, and was unique for many years, 
when spores were found, from which a very mixed progeny 
resulted, the majority inferior and worthless, some equal, and, 
in fact, reproductions of the parent form, and a few quite 
new varieties, the best of which are 
A. F.-f. acr. imco-glomeratum (hook-clustered), as densely 
crested as the parent, but with a distinct character in the 
ultimate divisions. 
A. F.-f. acr. velutinum (velvety), much more finely divided 
and dwarfer, resembling balls of very fine moss. 
A. F.-f. acrocladon has also yielded several other very 
beautiful forms from its spores, viz. : magnicapitatum, 
laciniato-acrocladon, ramosissimum fimbriatum, and acrocladon 
densum, which, however, though distinct, are too subtle in 
their differences to be popularly described, and hence are 
merely mentioned here as being too good to be ignored. 
