October 20, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
1115 
BARR S TULIPS, 
Awarded FOUR COLD MZDALS by the Royal National Tulip 
Society, 1896, 1897, 1898, and 1899, and a SILVER CUP at 
the Temple Cardens Creat Flower Show, London, 1900. 
Early Single and Double Tulips of 
finest quality, for early forcing or spring bedding out¬ 
doors. See full Descriptive List in Barr’s Bulb Cata¬ 
logue (free). 
MAY-FLOWERING “COTTAGE” TULIPS. 
MAY-FLOWERING DARWIN TULIPS. 
MAY-FLOWERING ENGLISH “FLORIST” 
TULIPS. 
MAY-FLOWERING PARROT or DRAGON TULIPS. 
For the finest collections in the world of the above 
beautiful decorative Tulips, see Barr's Bulb Catalogue 
(free). 
BARR’S HYACINTHS. 
THE FINEST OF THE SEASON'S CROP. 
Choicest named varieties for pots or 
glasses. 
12 in 12 Exhibition varielies, ;/6, 7/6, and 10/6. 
25 In 25 Exhibition varieties, 18/6. 
Barr’s “ Rainbow Mixture”o , f Bedding 
Hyacinths, a special mixture of great variety of 
colours. Per ioo, 16/6 ; per doz., 2/6. 
Ditto, extra large Bulbs, per ioo, 22/6; 
per doz , 3/-. 
Barr’S Bulb Catalogue, containing a de¬ 
scriptive List of the finest Hy.cinths, Tjlips, Cro¬ 
cuses, Gladioli, Lilies, and all the best Bulbs and 
Tubers for in or outdoor planting, sent free on applica¬ 
tion. __ _ 
BARR «Sc SONS 
11,12, & 13, King St, Covent Garden, LONDON. 
Nurseries : 
LONG DITTON, nr. Surbiton, SURREY. 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man " —Bacon. 
Edited b v J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , OCTOBER 20 th, 1900. 
ffl Specialist and his Ferns, at Acton. 
—Those who are only acquainted 
with the British Ferns as they existed and 
were known in the days of the late Mr. 
Thomas Moore, can have little conception 
of them as they exist at the present day. 
The number of species may be said to 
remain the same but the varieties and their 
apparently illimitable variability of torm 
have gone beyond the fondest dreams of 
the imagination. The other day between 
the daylight and the “ mirk ” we called 
upon Charles Thomas Druery, Esq., Stan- 
wixbank, ix, Shaa Road, Acton, Middlesex, 
concerning whose Feins we have heard a 
great deal, and some of which we remem¬ 
ber seeing at the Fern Conference held at 
Chiswick some years ago. His unique 
collection is almost entirely confined to 
special forms of the British species, many 
of which are the loveliest fcrms of their 
kind in existence. They consist of wild 
finds, or have sprung from the wildings 
under cultivation. On the present occasion 
we can only confine our remarks to a few 
of the groups, particularly those which are 
now in their best condition, or are ever¬ 
green, though we cannot refrain from 
alluding to some of the Lady Ferns which 
are amongst the finest in existence. 
The common Polypody is npw at its best, 
whether in its native habitats or under 
cultivation, so that reference to it is very 
appropriate; but for the present we need 
refer only to specially fine forms. Starting 
with Polypodium vulgare, we may say that 
two of the primary developments upon it 
are P. v. longipinnatum and P. v. cristatum. 
The former has pinnae about two or three 
times as long as those of the type and was 
found by Mr. Druery at Killarney. The 
latter is simply crested. Between these 
and P. v. cambricum there is a wide gulf; 
but some five forms of it, we noted here,, 
constitute a very natural group. Mr. 
Druery regards all of them as plumose 
forms of the Polypody, inasmuch as all of 
them have undergone a great amount of 
vegetative development, that is, they are 
much divided, greatly amplified and abso¬ 
lutely barren, so that no sporelings can be 
raised from them. Before going further we 
may correct an erroneous impression that 
has got widely circulated, namely, that the 
Welsh Polypody, so called, is peculiar to 
Wales, the fact being that it has been also 
found in several places far distant, and 
the best types of it originated in the 
Lake District. The ample, leafy, twice 
divided fronds of P. v. cambricum are not 
yet mature, some being only half-grown, or 
less,' as they only commence to grow in 
June when summer is upon us. P. v. 
Prestoni was found in the chink of a rock 
-near Carnforth by Mr. Preston, and is a 
more plumose form of P. v. cambricum, 
being in fact the densest and most leafy or 
plumoseof the whole section. P. v. Barrowii 
is the most robust ofthe section ; and while it 
is less densely imbricate than P. v. Prestoni 
it is in every way of bolder habit or form. 
P. v. plumosum Hadwin has much blunter 
segments than P. v. cambricum, less 
foliose and narrower fronds. P. v. cambri¬ 
cum Oakleyae differs from the type in 
having distinctly narrower pinnae and 
pinnules. While all these five forms might 
be taken for P. v. cambricum by a casual 
observer they are really distinct in the eyes 
of the Fern lover who has patience to form 
a close acquaintance with them. This 
applies in a similar way to every other class 
of plants liable to vary in details of struc¬ 
ture or form. 
Quite different from the above are the 
original P. v. cristatum, an improved 
form of it, unnamed, and P. v. grandiceps 
Mrs. Fox. The last is a remarkable 
form inasmuch as it continues to grow 
dichotomously from the apex of the 
pinnae and pinnules until all are much 
divided. P. v. grandiceps Forster is 
more foliose than the previous one, and the 
midribs of the pinnae are red when seen by 
transmitted light. P. v. glomeratum 
Mullins is very variable, scarcely two of 
the fronds being alike. P. v. bifido-multi- 
fidum has bifid pinnae, and a multifid apex. 
Very handsome is P. v. pulcherrimum, 
having long and much divided fronds which 
go a long way in the direction of P. v. 
cambricum, but have not the same papery 
texture, and are freely fertile. All parts of 
the frond of P. v. semilacerum undulatum 
are much undulated or crisped. Undoubt¬ 
edly the finest of all the forms of the com¬ 
mon Polypody is that named P. v. elegant- 
issimum, which was found by three col¬ 
lectors travelling together, each of whom 
gave it a different name so that in course of 
time it leaked into other collections under 
all the three names. The other two are P. 
v. Whitei and P. v. cornubiense. There is 
another triad in connection with this splen¬ 
did Cornish find, namely, three forms of 
frond on the same plant, (1) the normal 
form or type ; (2) an intermediate and 
much divided, very beautiful form ; and (3) 
the absolutely best or ne plus ultra form of 
frond, while all three forms may appear 
as parts of one and the same frond. 
This last is finely divided to begin 
with ; then it develops a long tongue at the 
tips of the principal segments. On the 
under surface the normal sporangia are 
usually very few, the rest being replaced by 
small green papillae amongst which nestle 
a few bulbils which develop presently into 
little plants. To see this fine form makes 
one cease to wonder at the enthusiasm of 
the pteridologist, and the affectionate care 
he bestows upon his pets. Nor was this 
all. One of the fraternity conceived the 
idea of effecting a cross between P. v. e!e- 
gantissimum and P. v. bifido-multifidum, 
and the cross having been obtained shows 
both parents, in exactly four forms of frond 
upon one and the same plant. The Gar¬ 
dening World gave an illustration of 
some fronds of this plant in connection 
with the Conference on Hybridisation held 
at Chiswick last year. The apical pinna of 
each frond of P. v. macrostachya grows out 
into a long tail. P. v. ramosum Hillman 
has two to four laminae on the same foot¬ 
stalk and is singular enough in its way. 
Altogether Mr. Druery grows about three 
dozen forms of P. vulgare. 
The only exotic we noted in the living 
state was Asplenium Hemionitis cristatum, 
which Mr. Druery picked up last June in 
the Azores during the first half hour of a 
ramble. There seems no end to the 
possible variations of Scolopendrium vul¬ 
gare, the Hart’s-tongue. S. v. crispum 
fimbriatum Stansfieldi is a fimbriated, 
heavily crested and aposporous form of 
great beauty, as it continues to grow at the 
margins and apex forming very deep and 
sharp fringes. Mr. Druery has discovered 
apospory in four distinct species of Fern, 
this being one of them. Another very 
much lacerated, fimbriated and crisped 
form is S.v.crispum Drummondae,originally 
found by Miss Drummond. S. v. Kelway’s 
densum is the most outrageous thing in 
this line we noted. The plant keeps on 
developing fronds or segments about 1 in. 
long and -|th in. wide, forming a tuft like a 
small Selaginella, a moss or a Jungermannia, 
and totally unlike a Hart’s-tongue. One 
has no conception of what this could mean 
or represent in the life history of the 
species. Quite a large and old piece can 
be grown under an inverted tumbler. S. v. 
Cousensii produces many round-headed 
fronds upon a single stalk and the whole 
stands about 6 in. high. The fronds of S. 
v. crispum Wills measure 4 in. and more 
across, and in our opinion it constitutes one 
of the most handsomely crisped and crested 
forms in the species. It ought to be grown 
in quantity for decorative purposes in 
private gardens. Another very singular 
form is S. v. cristatum viviparum O’Kelly, 
which is heavily crested at the apex, and 
irregularly proliferous on the upper surface, 
the small protuberances or bulbils gradu¬ 
ally becoming plants. S. v. supralineatum 
is notable for the presence of a raised line 
on either side of the midrib, its signifi¬ 
cance being undetermined. 
Turning now for a glance at the multi¬ 
farious forms of the Hard Fern (Blechnum 
Spicant) we felt greatly interested in the 
beautiful form named B. S. concinnum 
Druery, in all probability never detected by 
human eye till Mr. Druery spotted it on 
Exmoor in 1881. He was at once charmed 
by its distinctness and graceful form ; and 
if he was an admirer of Ferns previous to 
that time, he henceforth became a most 
ardent and resolute enthusiast. It was in 
fact the turning point of h s career, when 
