CHAPTER X. 
THE SMALL-LEAVED GYMNOGRAM 
( Gymnogramma leptophylla) . 
NLIKE its botanical name, this Fern is dwarf and 
pretty. Thongh a British representative of a 
large genus, it has never got farther than Jersey 
in a wild state. It is also peculiar in being one 
of the very few annual Ferns in the world ; hence 
it has continually to be raised anew from the 
spores, and practically can only be kept in such 
congenial situations that it can sow itself. When 
once established in a moist, shady house, not too 
cold in winter, its spores will germinate freely and keep up a 
supply. In structure it is not unlike a small plant of Cystop- 
teris fragilis, with the pinnules somewhat blunter. The spore- 
heaps are long and forked, and run all together when ripe. 
The plant dies down in July, and the seedlings appear in 
November. 
