August 18, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
805 
the remarks I hear. Many people seem to be under 
the impression that they are not worth the trouble 
which cultivation entails ; while others possess an 
idea that they are “ common," and hence, only fit 
for out-of-the-way places where it would be a sin to 
relegate some " better ” things. 
I trust the accompanying illustration may do 
something to dispel such singularly inaccurate 
opinions. True, the illustration in question is only 
a peep into an amateur’s little fernery, and therefore 
can but very inadequately convey a sense of the rich¬ 
ness and variation which a collection of our native 
Ferns implies. These charming subjects are essentially 
foliaceous plants, although they are splendid ex¬ 
amples of the way in which Dame Nature can deck 
herself without floriferous aid. I am further led to 
believe that knowledge is wanting on this point, for 
Mr. C. T. Druery, a fernist of the first order, re¬ 
cently wrote in connection with the cultivation of 
British Ferns under glass, and with special reference 
to his own fernery, that, " I cannot help asking my¬ 
self, as I have done a thousand times before, why 
this lovely sight should be practically unique." I 
think the answer probably is " not known.” 
Anyhow, I am quite sure that, were their merits 
better understood, those who now possess unheated 
structures with little or no adornment, 
would gladly welcome these refined 
productions, wherewith to people and 
to clothe the aforesaid structures with 
living types of vegetable beauty. 
But let us now descend from poetry 
to practice. In the fore-front of our 
illustration, then, it will be observed 
that the Lady Fern (Athyrium Filix- 
foemina) plays an important part; the 
Fern, perhaps, above all others, which 
represents the most minute divisions, 
and the most exquisite forms. Of this 
Fern it has been said 
“ Not by burn, in wood, or dale. 
Grows anything so fair.” 
Lady Ferns love shade and moisture, 
hence they are grouped together here 
upon the ground. Mr. Francis George 
Heath says that, "they love to grow 
where the land is musical with running 
water”; indeed, that is where these 
particular specimens came from, to 
wit, the valley of the East Lyn, North 
Devon. 
The evolution in the genus Athyrium 
has been most remarkable, for the 
species Filix-foemina has under the 
guidance of specialists, produced some, 
exceedingly beautiful varieties. A form 
known as A. F. f. plumosum cristatum 
superbum, is the outcome of this 
guidance, and has been evolved in three 
generations only, from the common, or 
normal type, of Lady Fern. It is a 
beautiful plumose descendant, with quite 
a new character, and is altogether unique 
and superb. A. F. f. Kalothrix, (beautiful hair), is 
another finely-divided variety, which has a pecu¬ 
liarly lustrous translucency ; while A. F. f. Elworthii 
is crested throughout, and may possibly be discerned 
in the extreme right-hand corner of the illustration. 
Other crested plumose and corymbiferous forms are 
also present, but the artist who laboured under some 
difficulty, has been obliged to omit many of the 
most interesting variations which occupy the stage 
on the right of the picture. One, however, has not 
been so treated, and that is the wonderful A. F. f. 
Victoriae, which is beautifully tasselled in a style of its 
own, and has the pinnules, in addition, set at right 
angles to each other, much after the manner of a 
series of little crosses radiating from a central stem. 
This may be discovered in the immediate fore-ground 
of the group. Mr. Druery, designates it as a " most 
marvellous caprice of Nature.” 
The Hard and Soft Shield Ferns (Aspidiums) are 
also there, with some varieties; the March Fern 
Lastrea Thelypteris) with its rambling roots, and 
pale green fronds, demands attention ; the Harts- 
tongues (Scolopendriums), which cannot be con¬ 
founded with any other British Fern,occupy a variety 
of positions, and attract some notice by reason of 
their curious ramifications, the best of all, perhaps, 
being S. vulgare crispum, without which no 
collection, however small, could possibly be con¬ 
sidered good. There are many other fine forms. 
but the frilled section represents, in my opinion, 
the ne plus ultra of the family. On the left-hand 
side of the little group some small pieces of the 
common Male or Buckler Ferns, including the 
" King ” (Lastrea pseudomas cristata), are luxuriat¬ 
ing more or less satisfactorily, under the artificial 
conditions to which they appear to be unconscious. 
The crested variety of the Male Fern is a splendid 
example of robustness and beauty, two qualities 
which are not often found in association. It is a 
true Tree Fern, if the side growths be constantly 
removed. Moreover, if this be not done it also 
interferes with the graceful shuttlecock mode of 
development. On the shelf at the farther end, on 
either side of an 8 in. pot of Sellaginella denticulata 
in combination with Linaria Cymbalaria, are two 
very good pieces of Scolopendrium vulgare Kelwayii. 
This extraordinary Fern has short fronds which 
branch repeatedly, and thus a curious conglomera¬ 
tion is the result. 
Finally the central figure, suspended from the roof, 
is a notable example of the Soft Shield Fern, (Aspi- 
dium angulare proliferum), and its adaptability to 
basket culture. It has a fine, free, spreading habit; 
possesses numerous graceful fronds, some of which 
measure upwards of two and a-half feet from tip to 
toe, so that it is quite necessary to elevate it, not 
only to the advantage of the plant, but for the benefit 
of the beholder. It is, moreover, a marvel that 
so much vegetable matter can be built up out of, 
apparently, so little nutriment. 
Other forms there are—Osmundas, Polypodiums, 
Blechnums, Aspleniums, Adiantums, etc., etc ,—but 
I must draw the veil. Enough has already run 
away from my erratic pen. 
If however, the publication of these notes—rough 
and lamentably lame, because I have not said half 
that I intended to say,—should induce other 
amateurs like myself, to take up the culture of British 
Ferns, my purpose will have been served, a stimulus 
will have been given, a revelation will have been 
made, for, I believe with Mr. Druery, that, " with 
many of our native forms no exotic can contend, 
while even the best of the exotics can be fairly 
paralleled.”— C. B. G. Acton, W. 
The Sedges.—As the Hawkweeds are most 
prevalent in mountain districts, so are the Sedges in 
northern counties in the bogs, woods, wastes, moor¬ 
land, and on the banks of lochs and rivers. The 
largest genus is Carex, of which Professor 
Babington describes sixty-nine species, while Sir 
Joseph Hooker makes fifty-eight species, and both 
the lists include many varieties and finish up with 
Carex riparia. 
THE FORGET-ME-NOT. 
At the recent Bank-holiday meeting of the Man¬ 
chester Field Naturalists’ Society, held at Harting- 
ton, Mr. Charles Bailey gave an interesting address 
on the local Flora, specially directing the attention 
of the members present to the Forget-me-nots, of 
which the members had collected two species— 
Myosotis arvensis, everywhere common about Hart- 
ington, and M. collina, found in Dovedale. They 
appear, said Mr. Bailey, to belong to the first- 
named group, but in reality they presented a 
peculiar modification of the definite form of 
inflorescence. It is as though the St. John’s- 
Wort form of inflorescence had one of its halves sup¬ 
pressed. The flowers of the Forget-me-nots disclosed 
the true meaning of the name which they bear ; they 
occur in the form of a bishop’s crozier, and there 
was always a newly-opened flower at the point where 
the crozier began to unroll. The first flower pro¬ 
duced terminated the growing axis ; below that a 
secondary axis originated which in its turn was 
terminated by a flower ; below this, again, a tertiary 
axis made its appearance crowned with a flower, 
and so on in long succession. It was the gradual 
uncoiling of these buds which caused the expanded 
flowers to be seen only at the summit 
of the stem where, by their ever- 
recurring appearance, they seemed to 
say to the lover of nature, " Forget me 
not.” One would have thought that 
this name had been indelibly written 
upon the plant, and that it had borne 
it from a time before history began. 
Such, however, was not the case, and 
Mr. Bailey said he did not know of 
a more extraordinary instance of the 
transference of name from one plant 
to another than had occurred with 
the Forget-me-not in comparatively 
modern times. The plant which 
originally bore this name was a 
Kentish plant which was now called 
the ground pine (Ajuga Chamspitys, 
L.). 
In the old herbal of Gerarde— 
a man well acquainted with the 
flora of Cheshire and Lancashire—the 
Ajuga occurs, with a drawing, under 
this name. This work was published 
in 1597, and as its author made the 
nomenclature of plants a special branch 
of investigation, and had numerous 
continental correspondents, we may con¬ 
clude that he was satisfied with the 
correctness of its popular name. A 
century or two later another plant 
shared the name with the Ajuga— 
namely, the Veronica Chamaedrys, L., 
a plant now known as the Germander 
Speedwell, and down to the begin¬ 
ning of the present century the Forget- 
me-not was looked upon as belonging to 
one or other of these two plants. In the year 1821, 
when S. F. Grey published the first British flora 
ananged on the modern (or natural) system, this 
name was assigned to Bugula arvensis, which is the 
same plant as the Ajuga Chamaspitys of Gerarde 
and Linnaeus. A few years later, and probably from 
German sources, the name first appeared connected 
with species of Myosotis, and this group of plants 
now retains the name to the exclusion of all others. 
Don, in 1838, while calling the Veronica Chamaedrys 
the Forget-me-not, also refers the same name to the 
Myosotis palustris, adding that the latter plant was 
the emblem of affection throughout Germany. 
Leighton, in his “ Flora of Shropshire,” published 
in i84t, called the Myosotis palustris the “great 
water scorpion grass, or Forget-me-not.” Whatever 
plant may have been the Forget-me-not of the 
fourteenth century. Dr. Prior, in his Popular Names 
of British Plants, shows that it was sufficiently 
celebrated to be worked into collars which were 
fought for at tournaments, and as the Germander 
Speedwell is still called in Germany " Ehrenpreis, 
or " prize of honour,” his conclusion is that that 
plant was the true Forget-me-not of the middle ages. 
Other plants from Arbor Low, Beresford Dale, and 
Hartington Dale were similarly remarked upon, and 
the meeting closed with a warm acknowledgment 
of the kindness shown to the members by the Rev. 
W. Fyldes during the day. 
