April 26, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
317 
was another Rose which loved the wall. If there were a north wall at 
Beaulieu he would cover it with this variety, Anna Olivier, 
Madame Lambard, and other such thin-petalled Boses. While he urged 
that the warmth and shelter afforded by walls must be conducive to the 
growth of the plant, and therefore to the flower, on the other hand 
certain disadvantages were perceptible—for instance, in such a season 
as last year the flowering was over long before the period for the shows. 
Undoubtedly standard Teas, whether grown on or off walls, usually 
produced much finer blooms than dwarfs or Briar cuttings—indeed, to 
grow some of the smaller varieties of Teas to perfection, such as 
Souvenir de Therese Levet, Ethel Brownlow, and others, it is necessary 
to cultivate them on standards, and even Madame Cusin and Souvenir 
d’Elise Varden never seemed to put forth all their strength as they did 
when grown upon standards.—(“ Bath Chronicle.”) 
DECORATIVE BRITISH FERNS. 
The Shield Ferns (Polystichum). 
{^Contimied from page 238). 
Though the Polystichum family is by no means a large one, three 
out of our forty odd native species of Ferns belong to it; these are the 
Holly Fern (P. lonchitis), the Hard Shield Fern (P. aculeatum), and 
the Soft Snield Fern (P. angulare), the last being treated as a form of 
P, aculeatum by many botanists. From the standpoint of decoration 
the Holly Fern has little practical value, since though undoubtedly 
very pretty, with its dark green spiny rigid once-divided fronds, it has 
sported very sparsely, only one good crested form existing, and as a 
thorough mountain Fern is too apt to go wrong under lowland culture 
to be very useful in the direction indicated. Its chief foe is drought, 
both aerial and terrestrial, its home being among the clouds. 
Both the other species, however, are found at lower levels, and are 
not only so amenable to culture as to be easily grown, but their 
perfectly evergreen nature, and above all their immense fertility in 
handsome spores, entitle them to the first place in the consideration of 
the British Fern lover. So much so, indeed, is this the case that every 
connoisseur drifts sooner or later into the position of Polystichum 
fancier par excellence, assuming always that the space at his command 
permits the full indulgence of his hobby. This obviously is a condition 
sine qua non. since many of the best varieties are of spreading habit, 
and with their yard-long fronds radiating from a common centre 
demand individually considerable space for their due development. 
The normal form of Shield Fern is easily discriminated from other 
species by the pinnules or secondary divisions being shaped like a mitten 
or fingerless glove, fringed more or less with sharp points. In the Hard 
Shield Fern (P. aculeatum) these are larger and of a glossier harder make 
than in P. angulare. The fructification is dot like, each spore heap 
being covered by a mushroom-shaped indusium attached by its centre to 
the frond by a short stalk. As this cover is perfectly round, the Fern, 
apart from the spiny character described, is easily discriminated from 
the Buckler Ferns, in which it is so deeply notched as to be distinctly 
kidney shaped. The fronds are long and narrow, rising some 3 feet or 
more high, twice divided, symmetrically arranged round a circular 
crown, and profusely covered with overlapping brown scales, which 
under a strong lens are seen to be very beautiful specimens of Nature’s 
lacework. Both species are thorough ground Ferns, lining sloping 
banks and hedgerows in shady damp positions, but avoiding actual 
boggy places. Under culture, therefore, good drainage is an essential. 
In many parts of the western counties P. angulare is found profusely 
associated with the Harts-tongue in the hedgerows ; but as we approach 
the north it becomes scarcer, until in Scotland it is comparatively 
quite rare, P. aculeatum taking its place sparsely in the burnsides. 
For the reasons above given no species probably has received so 
much attention from the varietal point of view as this, such ardent 
workers as the late Colonel A. M. Jones of Clifton, Dr. E. F. Fox of 
Bristol, Mr. Carbonell of Usk, all alas ! having now joined the majority, 
Messrs. G. B. Wollaston and E. J. Lowe, who are still with us, having 
made more or less a specialty of the culture of both the hard and soft 
forms. Hence while we owe a large number of beautiful varieties to 
the keen eyes of assiduous hunters, a very large per-centage of extant 
variations are due to selective culture from their spores. It is to 
P. angulare that we owe by far the majority of natural sports and cultural 
improvements, though it is to P. aculeatum that we are indebted for that 
beautiful form known as P. ac. pulcherrimum, which, mirabile ilictu, was 
found by a farm labourer in a hedge near Chard, Dorset, close to the 
house of the late Dr. Wills, one of our most successful collectors, a 
curious fact indeed that it should have escaped the notice of such an 
ardent hunter on his own particular ground. As this Fern is perfectly 
barren it is naturally very rare, though it yields a fair number of offsets, 
which are eagerly acquired. In this form the mittens are very slenderly 
elongated, and the side divisions also terminate in extenuated tips 
towards the end of the frond ; these pinnae curve inwards near the 
midribs, and overlap each other, forming a perfectly unique termination 
of exceeding grace. 
The crested forms of P. aculeatum are not numerous, but embrace 
some very fine ones. P. ac. Abbottae and acrocladon are by far the best; 
the former is a gem of neat but bold cristation. Undoubtedly the 
most interesting form in this species, or rather between this species and 
P. angulare, is a hybrid raised by Mr. E. J. Lowe. This is a narrow 
cruciate variety, the side divisions being in duplicate or triplicate and 
radiating from point of attachment to stalk, a character possessed 
exactly by the P. angulare parents, the spores of which were sown with 
a somewhat dense form of P. aculeatum (P. ac. var. densum), to which it 
was communicated by cross-fertilisation. This was the first undoubted 
instance of hybridisation. Of course the effect produced places the facts 
beyond all cavil, especially as seedling plants begin as P. ac. densum, 
and only assume the other character as adult plants. 
Of P. angulare no less than 394 forms are described by Mr. Lowe’s 
recent lists, of which 236 were found wild, from which it is obvious that 
it well repays the variety hunter, since with very few exceptions these 
wild finds surpass the sub-varieties raised from them and named as 
distinct, embracing as these latter do a good percentage of crosses of 
doubtful merit. In this species, as in Athyrium, the chief varietal 
sections are the cristate or tasselled, and the plumose or extra feathery, 
and it is in this latter section that the greatest triumphs of selective 
culture have been arrived at, viz., the divisilobum plumosum class 
raised by the late Colonel A. M. Jones and Dr. E. F. Fox from a far 
inferior wild plant. So immense indeed was the stride in this case 
that Dr. Fox could not credit the parentage until a second sowing 
was made with like result. The best of these plants include P. a. 
Baldwin!, densum, laxum, and imbricatum, all of which are perfect 
marvels of delicate dissection coupled with amplitude of frondage. 
Baldwin! is the “ kalothrix ” of the species, the ultimate divisions being 
almost hairlike, while “ imbricatum ” is extremely dense and of much 
harder character. “ Densum,” however, is hard to beat, and we must 
consequently bracket all these together as the three best. Mr. Pearson 
of Chilwell raised some grand plumose forms which rank as a good 
second, and have the further advantage of bearing bulbils freely, which 
the others do very sparely indeed, and hence are rare as well as precious. 
Though reputed sterile I have succeeded in the case of “ densum,” 
not only in finding solitary spore cases with the aid of a good lens and 
plenty of patience, but we have raised three plants from spores which 
though young promise to be thoroughbreds and worthy of the stock they 
spring from. 
Among the best of the wild plumosums are P. ang. Pateyi and 
Wollastoni, the former a most delicate textured and perfectly barren 
form, i.e., a true plumosum, the latter a splendid robust grower and 
sparingly fertile. P. a. plumosum grande (Jones'), raised from same 
sjurce as Mr. Fox’s plants, is very handsome. With regard to the 
crested forms there are so many as to constitute a veritable embarras 
de richesses, and we can obviously only pick out a few of the more 
striking. P. a. cristatum, No. 10 (IVoUaston), is very neatly crested at 
the sides with a heavy terminal tassel, a very fine regular grower. 
Grandiceps (Talbots), grandiceps (Moly), and nudicaule grandiceps 
(Barrand), are the best of the heavy crested or grandiceps section. 
P. a cristatum. cristato gracile (Gray), mulcilobum cristatum ^Jbwes), 
Thompson*, Wilisi, and last but not least percristatum (Moly), are all 
gems of first water, the latter having the pinnules crested, as in a minor 
degree has cristato gracile (Gray). 
Several curious forms called brachiato cristatum, and quite peculiar 
to this species, have been found in which the frond splits up near the 
base into three, forming a sort of trident with heavy bunch crests at 
each point. P. a. brachiato cristatum (6*my), and ditto (Keall), are the 
two most striking, the latter, to my mind, especially so. A form called 
Kitsonae a little akin to these, does not seem to know its own mind, 
assuming quite different forms of frond at different times, and hence is 
more curious than beautiful. P. a. Wakeleyanum is a cruciate form 
with a crested tip ; several cruciate finds are chronicled, but this is 
certainly the best. It has been the ambition of many raisers to cross 
this with a crested form, and so arrive at a parellel with a. f.-f. Victorias, 
but so far success has not been reaped, so Nature here at one stride has 
far surpassed the result of man’s best combinations. Some very charm¬ 
ing congested forms are P. a. Lyelli, a little gem only a few inches 
high; P. a. parvissimum (a misnomer, since it grows 18 inches high) ; 
congestum and crispatum, all dense and compact. 
As a sub-section of the plumose forms we must by no means forget 
the pulcherrimums. of which five finds are recorded—viz., P. a. pulch. 
(Moly, Wills, Padley), and Thompson’s, plus Moly’s marvellous varie- 
gatum. In all these the lower pinnules are much elongated and sickle¬ 
shaped, giving the frond a very ornate appearance. The chief interest¬ 
ing feature, however, is that these attenuated tips are capable of 
developing prothalli— i.e., the small green scales usually produced by 
the spores as the first steo in reproduction, so that, if laid down upon 
the soil new Ferns can be developed. This peculiarity has been termed 
“ apospory,” and seems associated in this family solely with this 
varietal type. Padley’s, Wills’, and Moly’s forms have all produced it, but 
Thompson’s, so far, we believe, remains to be tested. In addition to the 
true plumosum, a number of decomposite varieties exists, in which the 
fronds are extremely divided but hardly extra leafy. Of these. P. a. 
tripinnatum decompositum splendens (Jones), and d. s. (Moly), 
are the best typical forms. The proliferum section is interesting, as 
bearing bulbils more or less freely in the axils of the pinnm, and even of 
the pinnules. P. a. proliferum AUchini is a long narrow form well known 
in the trade, its easy propagarion having actually rendered it a market 
Fern despite its British origin. P. a. p. Wollastoni, Crawfordianum, 
Henley*, Footi, and cristatum (Ivery) are all good ; the last a beautiful 
crested aud very proliferous form waich ought to be as common as 
AUchini if justice were done to it. 
Space fails me to dilate upon a hundred others, such as the rotundatum 
finds with round pinnules ; linearies, thread-like in their attenuation; 
setosums profusely set with fine br.sties; perserratums, a series of 
beautiful serrulate gems, and many more, but I opine enough has been 
