THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 30, 1859. 
fore, be interesting to give a list of those which, are to be met 
with ; and if any of your correspondents can add to the number, 
we shall be mutually benefited. 
The largest collection of Trichomanes to be found in any one 
garden is in the celebrated nursery of Messrs. Backhouse and 
Son, of York; and every lover of Eerns would find himself fully 
repaid for the trouble and expense of a visit, even if he had to go 
from the remotest corner of our island. I never shall forget the 
treat I had a short time ago, in a Bight of their fernery, which I 
look upon as one of the horticultural triumphs of the age. 
But to return to our Trichomanes. These delicate little Eerns 
are to be found in all the snug, moist, shady corners of the warm 
regions of the earth. In the dense forests of the tropics they 
literally abound. Two or three species may often be found upon 
the stem of a single tree Fern, which is one of their favourite 
habitats. Under cultivation it is necessary to keep them sheltered 
by a bell-glass or hand-light, and constantly shaded from bright 
light. The least whiff of dry air or ray of sunshine would be 
fatal to them. They cannot easily be kept too moist: a pan of 
water should be placed under the glass, and filled up as often 
as it evaporates, and they should be sprinkled with soft water by 
means of a very fine-rosed waterpot two or three times a-day. 
Or it would be better still, if, as at York, water could be allowed 
to drip upon a stone close by, and so keep them always in the 
spray, as it were. They are often imported upon pieces of the 
stem of tree Eerns, and, in that case, nothing more is necessary 
than to place it upright and cover with a bell-glass. But if they 
have been growing on the ground, place them between some pieces 
of coarse sandstone (not calcareous), with very little fibrous and 
sandy peat; but, above all things, be careful that there is not 
too much soil, and that there is not the least chance of its be¬ 
coming sour, or water stagnant about them. The surface of a 
coarse-grained piecemf sandstone kept constantly moist is amply 
sufficient to support them. The tropical species will succeed in 
an ordinary stove temperature; those from New Zealand do better 
in a greenhouse. 
Those of our readers who may be desirous of obtaining Tri¬ 
chomanes from friends resident abroad, will do well to advise 
them to be sent in wide-mouthed bottles (glass pickle jars, for 
example), slightly moistened, tied down so as to be air-tight, and 
hung up in some corner of the cabin, where they may get a little 
subdued light. 
These plants furnish to the microscopist some of the most 
exquisite objects of which it is possible to form an idea. The 
sporangia, or spore-cases, arc arranged around a thread-like 
column, which often extends some distance beyond the orifice of 
the cup like a long hair; whence, indeed, the name Trichomanes 
is derived. The structure of the fronds exhibits a network as 
delicate as the embroidery of a fairy’s robe. Even the hairs 
which clothe the footstalks, or fringe the fronds, are worthy of 
minute inspection. They are made up of cells placed end to 
end, and are usually branching, throwing off two or three arms 
almost at a right angle to the lower part. 
I will now proceed to give a list of those I have myself seen, 
and with whose history I am acquainted. 
Trichomanes Andrewsii is the name given to the long- 
fronded variety of the Irish Bristle Fern (T. radicans). This 
plant is scarce in Ireland, but the same form is met with in 
northern India. 
T. Bancroetii. Fronds ovate, bi-pinnatifid, two to four 
iuches long. Stipes with a broad wing extending to the base. 
It grows in little tufts. Native of the West Indian Islands, but 
becoming plentiful now in the London nurseries. 
T. cbispum. Fronds four to six inches long, pinnate, with 
obtuse pinnee ; dark green, growing in tufts. Native of the 
West Indies and tropical America. 
T. demissum. Fronds bi-pinnate, eight inches to a foot in 
length; very delicate green. It comes from New Zealand, but 
it grows also in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. 
T. dilatatum. Pale green bi-pinnate fronds, about a foot in 
length ; segments of the pinnae broad. Native of New Zealand 
and Java. 
T. elabellatum. Native of the South Sea Islands. 
T. florieundum. Fronds Bix inches to a foot and a half long, 
pinnate, with a lengthened terminal pinna. Tropical America 
and the West Indies. 
T. heterophyllum. Native of tropical America. A very 
variable but always pretty plant. 
T. Kraussii. Fronds one to two inches long, oblong, obtuse 
at the base, deeply pinnatifid; segments linear, sinuate. In¬ 
volucres with a red margin. One of the smallest and prettiest 
species. A native of the West Indies. 
T. Lushnatianum. From Brazil. Probably only a variety 
of radicans, which it resembles. 
T. marginatum:. Fronds entire, one inch to two inches and 
a half long, more or less irregularly lobed, remarkable for having 
small peltate scales upon the upper and lower surfaces of the 
frond near the margin. From Trinidad. 
T. muscoides. Fronds entire, an inch long, strap-shaped, or 
more or less oval in form, with three or four concentric undulations, 
which cause a great play of light upon the shining fronds. 
Native of tropical America. 
T. Polyanthus. Fronds only an inch or two long,(bi-pinnate, 
lax. West Indies. 
T. reniforme. Fronds kidney-shaped, about an inch and a 
half across, the fertile one beautifully fringed all round with 
the little cups containing the sporangia, and from each of which 
a long hair protrudes, giving it a most interesting and singular 
appearance. Rhizome black, thread-like, creeping. From New 
Zealand. Grows freely in a cool greenhouse. 
T. reptans {muscoides of some gardens). Fronds entire, about 
one inch long, somewhat wedge-shaped, divided into three or 
four deep lobes. As it creeps over stones, or climbs a stem, its 
thickly-clustering yellowish-green fronds look more like some 
Marehantia than a Fern. West Indies and tropical America. 
T. rigidum. Fronds much divided, standing nearly upright 
on wiry stipes. From the West Indies. This seems a very diffi¬ 
cult species to import, as it usually dies on the journey. 
T. radicans. The well-known Killamey Fern. This, varying 
slightly in form, has been found in almost all parts of the world. 
North and South America, in India, in the South Sea Islands, 
and it is very abundant in Madeira and the Azores. It has com¬ 
pound olive-green fronds, larger than any other species in cul¬ 
tivation, often a foot and a half in length. 
T. scandens. Fronds ovate-lanceolate, tri-pinnate, a foot or 
more long, slightly hairy. Yery like the last Bpecies, but fronds 
more distantly placed upon a thread-like climbing rhizome. West 
Indies. 
T. sinuosum. Fronds lanceolate, pinnatifid, from four to nino 
inches long. Native of Peru and the West Indies. 
T. spicatum. Sterile fronds four to six inches long, lanceolate, 
pinnatifid. The fertile one consisting only of a double row of 
involucres arranged upon the mid-vein. Growing in little tufts. 
Tropical America. This has by some botanists been made the 
type of another genus called Feea. 
T. trichoidem. Fronds six inches long, divided into very 
fine capillary segments. Tropical America. I have only seen 
one plant of this Fern, and that was with Mr. Backhouse. 
T. venosum. Fronds about two inches in length, pinnate, lax, 
of a delicate light green, shining. It is a native of Australia and 
New Zealand. 
There are a few other species to be found in gardens, as, for 
instance, rannn, memlranaceum, and flahellalum; but as I have 
no personal knowledge of them, I have left them out of the list 
given above.— Karl. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
PITS FOR PLANTS—VERBENA CUTTINGS. 
“ I have three pits : No. 1 adjoining a stove, and supplied with 
both top and bottom heat; Nos. 2 and 3 only with top heat, from 
hot water. The pits are about six feet deep. With what should 
I fill them, so as most effectually to keep down the damp ? I 
have tried faggots and a thick layer of ashes, but without success. 
I use I he pits 2 and 3 for keeping my plant s and cuttings in over 
the winter; having, also, one small lean-to greenhouse without 
any heat, and one with an old-fashioned flue. Into which of 
these different places would the different plants do best P They 
principally consist of Geraniums, and cuttings already struck 
cold; Fuchsias, Verbenas, already struck cold; and the other 
common varieties of bedding-out plants. Should you advise my 
potting out the Verbena cuttings (now struck in shallow pans), 
or leaving them as they are through the winter?”—II. 
[The bottom heat will be of no use for such struck plants in 
winter. When you commence propagating in spring it will be 
invaluable, or for tender plants in winter. Your best security 
for damp will be to set the plants on a moveable stage of wood, 
so that there is a circulation of air below as well as above them_ 
