SGO 
FERNS : BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 
turning to grow and produce lateral pinnae, in every 
way analogous to the development of branches and 
leaves in woody plants. The climbing and rambling 
nature of these plants necessitates some kind of sup- 
port when cultivated in pots, which may consist of 
open wire trellises of a cylindrical form, varying in 
height from three to six feet or more, which, if fixed 
to a pot ten to twelve inches in diameter, the plants 
will, with careful training, become handsome speci- 
mens ; they are also well adapted for covering trellis 
against wall or pillars. 
The fronds of the much admired genus Gleichenia 
are also indefinite in extension, and some of the 
smaller species, when growing amongst bushes, assume 
a climbing habit; but in G.furcata, G. dicliotoma, G. 
Cunninghami, and G. flabellata, the fronds are rigid 
and erect, produced from a more or less stout or slender 
sarmentum, which is either superficial or creeps a 
little below the surface of the soil ; therefore shallow 
pans or boxes are best suited for these plants ; and 
with attention specimens of considerable size may be 
attained, as, for instance, at Kew a plant of G. flabellata 
measured twelve to thirteen feet in circumference and 
four and a half feet high, consisting of a thicket of 
fine fan-like fronds. 
It may be expected that in such an extensive family 
some species would be found bearing the appellation 
of aquatics, but such is not the case ; for although 
many species grow in wet places, such as Osmunda 
r eg alls and Acrosticlium aureum, both of which love 
water, but also flourish even in dry places, the only 
Fern really entitled to be called a water Fern being 
Ceratoptei'is thalidroides, and which is also singular 
