28 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Aran, 10, 1860. 
YOUNG LEAVES OF TOM THUMB GERANIUM 
TURNING YELLOW. 
The fresh growth of young leaves on my Tom Thumbs keep 
turning yellow and falling off; yet Roses and all other plants 
look healthy, and I fancy I ventilate well.—M. 
[The young healthy growth of Tom Thumbs early in the spring 
is always more or less bleached, and is a sure sign the plants are 
in good health ; but if the new leaves thus bleached fall off, the 
roots are in a most dangerous condition; probably as dry as dust 
in the middle of balls acting as sponges on the outside, top, 
bottom, and sides. We have seen this cause of failure scores of 
times, both in pots in-doors, and out of pots in the open ground, 
and in beds swamped with hand-watering, the balls being dry 
all the while. We have been making a calculation last week, and 
we have reckoned that over one million of Calceolarias are just 
now as near being destroyed as your Tom Thumbs; one-half 
being destined to clio by inches for want of water, and the other 
half by getting too much water at the wrong time.] 
NOTES UPON FERNS. 
Nephrolepis davallioides. J. Sm. (Synonyme— Aspidium 
davallioides, Sw.). Fronds rising from a crown in a fasciculate 
manner, four to five feet long, pinnate, leafy nearly to the base. 
Pinnse nearly of the same length throughout, sessile, acuminate, 
broad at the base, articulated with the rachis, having a few blunt 
serratures. The upper part of the frond usually fertile, the 
pinnse in this case longer and narrower than the sterile, and 
having numerous deeply erenate lobes, each one of which bears a 
single sorus at the point, covered by a reniform indusium. Veins 
forking, free, clavate at the apex. Numerous long, thin, wiry 
stolones, or runners, are thrown off from the crown, which pro¬ 
duce young plants freely. 
This is one of the most graceful plants in cultivation, and the 
difference between the fertile and sterile portions is very striking, 
and gives it an additional source of interest. It is, perhaps, more 
than any other Fern, adapted for surmounting the “ Fern pillar,” 
described and illustrated by Mr. Tyerman, of Chester, in the last- 
volume of The Cottage Gaedenee, page 259. Its long, ele- 
gantly-pendant fronds would droop down on every side, and 
form a noble object. It is a native of the Eastern Archipelago, 
and was introduced by Mr. Rollison, through his collector, from 
Java, in 1852. It requires stove temperature; and propagates 
itself by the runners mentioned above. The name, Nephrolepis, 
comes from two Latin words referring to the kidney-shaped 
(reniform) indusium. 
There is a rare variety of this plant called N. davallioides dis- 
secta ; it is somewhat smaller in size, with more deeply-cut lobes 
in the fertile portions ; these lobes even overlap each other some¬ 
times. It is a very beautiful and interesting plant. 
Laste.ea podophyela. J. Sm. (Synonymes— Aspidium po¬ 
dophyllum, Hook. Lastrcea Sieboldii, Moore). Fronds rising 
from a thick crown, eighteen inches to two feet long, broadly 
triangular, coriaceous, pinnate, with four to six pair of opposite 
lanceolate pinnse, four to six inches long, the terminal pinna 
longer. Veins deeply immersed in the substance of the frond, 
so that they are hardly visible, pinnate, and bearing on the middle 
a sorus, covered with a roundish indusium. Stipes rather thick, 
and covered at the base with shining brown scales. 
A native of China and Japan ; it was imported some years since 
from Hong-Hong. It is quite hardy, and being very distinct from 
any other Fern it is a great acquisition for the rockwork out of 
doors. Unfortunately, its fronds are not glossy and shining, as 
in Cyrtomium, but are of a dull green colour. It is usually 
called Lastrcea Sieboldii in the Belgian nurseries, and is often 
found under this name in English gardens. It is probable that 
as our intercourse with Japan increases we shall soon hear of 
other Ferns from that country as hardy as this one. 
Adiantpm eenieoeme. L.— Fronds growing in erect tufts 
from a scaly rhizome, simple, entire, reniform, shining, one to one 
and a half inch hi diameter. Veins radiating from the base, 
forking, venules free. Margin of the frond reflexed, and bearing 
the oval groups of sporangia on the under side. Stipes shining 
purple, with a slight tuft of down at the base and just below the 
point at which it joins the frond. 
Although this Fern has, according to books, been cultivated 
in this country for nearly two hundred years, it is now as great 
a favourite as ever—perhaps more so since Wardian Cases came 
into fashion, it being so well adapted for growth in these elegant 
little ferneries. It is a native of Madeira and Teneriffe; it is 
found most plentifully in ravines on the north side of the former 
island, generally on rocks kept constantly moist by the spray of 
waterfalls. It should be grown in the crevices of porous sand¬ 
stone with but little soil; it succeeds admirably in a cool green¬ 
house. There is a new species lately discovered at Moulmein 
(India) very like this, but having the fronds articulated with 
the stipes ; it is named Farishii, in honour of its discoverer. 
While this species is confined to the islands above-mentioned, 
there is upon the opposite side of Africa, in the islands of 
the Mauritius and Bourbon, a much larger Fern of the same 
character called A. reniforme asarifolium. It is made a distinct 
species by some botanists; but as it differs only in size it is, 
perhaps, better to consider it merely as a variety. Its fronds 
are three inches in diameter. It deserves a place in every fernery, 
and requires a little more heat than A. reniforme to develope 
itself in perfection.— Kaee. 
THE RHODODENDRON. 
(Continued from page 11.) 
CHAEACTEBISTICS OE A STJrEEIOR VARIETY. 
1. The habit of the shrub should be compact and bushy; the 
foliage bright green, large, and well disposed round the stem, 
abundant, especially under the flowers. 
2. The form of the bloom. —The petals should be smooth at 
the edges, stiff, and so disposed as to form a bell-shaped bloom. 
Each division should overlap the next, so as to hide the division. 
The truss of the blooms should be formed like a pyramid, each 
flower just to touch the next without crowding. The footstalks 
should be stiff and elastic. 
3. Colour. —This should be bright, constant, and distinct, 
without fading. Spots should be a distinct contrast in colour, 
and evenly placed on the petal. 
4. Size. —Each bloom should be at least two inches and a half 
in diameter; a small bloom being always considered inferior to a 
large one that has equally good properties. 
The reverse of the above characteristics is of course objection¬ 
able ; such, for instance, as a straggling habit, small foliage, 
small flowers, and those with open, loose, ill-shaped petals, though 
good colours may be present. 
I now proceed to the last section—namely, a selected list of 
good kinds. I have arranged them in colours; so that for 
arrangement in masses of colour the cultivator may select such as 
will serve any purpose he may require. 
Those marked C are varieties of R. Catawbiense. The rest are 
raised from hybrids of the arborea varieties. They are all 
fcctly hardy and late bloomers. 
WHITE. 
Album elegans ( C) 
Gloriosum (C) 
A. grandiflora (C) 
Le Yivandiere 
A. virginale 
Luciferum (C) 
Butlerianum 
Maculosum (C) 
Clowesianum 
Nivaticum (C ) 
Delicatissimum 
Palmyre Bertin 
Ebumeum ( C ) 
Perspicuum 
Enchantress (C) 
BRUSH. 
Aclandianum 
Minnie 
Candidum 
Pavonium 
Glennyanum (C) 
Pellucidum (C) 
Gulnare 
Standard of Flanders 
Ingramii 
EIGHT 
Albion 
Brutus 
Congestum roseum 
Egregium (C) 
Elegans 
Fanny 
Giganteum (C) 
Madame Sontag (C) 
DEEP ROSE. 
Alunno Garofalo 
Canaletto Helena ( C ) 
Compeer (C) Lady Easthope 
rose AND pine:. 
Mammoth 
Meteor (C 1 ) 
Mrs. Loudon 
Paxtonii 
Perryanum 
Pulchellum 
Roseum superbum 
R. pictum 
