620 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 18, 1903. 
Plumose British Ferns. 
By Charles T. Druery, F.L.S., V.M.H. 
- • 
Undoubtedly the plumose or extra feathery varieties of 
British Ferns rank among the most beautiful plants the world 
produces., and many of them far and away excel anything which 
can be cited among exotic Ferns. Even that lovely creation 
Todea superba, a native of antipodean hillsi, and a. marvel of 
fine cutting, cannot vie with some of our best Polystichums 
or Shield Feins, so beautifully dissected and mossi-like are 
they. 
Plumose Ferns in Great Britain fall into two sections, and 
the really true plumosums may be confined to* those perfectly 
barren sports exemplified in the Welsh Polypody (P. cambri- 
cum) and its several variants and improvements known as P. 
v. Prestonii, Barrowii, and Hadwinii, in. the frilled section of 
the Hart’s Tongue (Scolopendrium vulgar© var. crispum), in the 
“ incisum ” section of Asplenum Trichomanes, and probably 
in the “ micro-don ” forms of Asp. Adiantum-nigrum and Asp. 
lanceolatum. Some of these have been known to bear spores, 
the reproductive energy appearing to be' diverted or converted 
into frond formation. 
In. the Polypodies, the ordinary once-divided frond of the 
species is greatly widened, as arei its side divisions, and the 
latter, instead of being smooth-edged, are deeply cut, and have 
long pointed segments, making them almost trip innate. They 
are' very robust, and differ from the normal in remaining dor¬ 
mant until July, when they rise very vigorously and continue 
growth until November. In the incisum'Asp. Trichomanesi 
precisely the same type of frond arises, the normally rounded 
side lobes, or pinnae being transformed into much larger and 
deeply cut ones in similar, but of course smaller, lines. In 
the other two spleen.worts the side divisions are much enlarged 
and widened, but the extra cutting is not much in evidence. 
Their barrenness has been imputed to- a hybrid origin, but this; 
is not generally accepted. 
The Hart’s Tonguei, with its undivided flat, strap-like frond, 
could not, it is obvious, adopt a similar plumose plan, and it 
therefore found a vent for its- extra leafy production by “ put¬ 
ting on frills,” to use an American but very appropriate term. 
If we hold a normal frond up to the light, we shall see that 
its framework of veins is a peculiar one: a row of single veins 
start- from the midrib in the centre of the frond, and, after 
proceeding a short- distance, each vein forks into- two, and 
normally these two continue to the edge, and tire lamina or 
leafy tissue connects them and the- other like pairs- in. one 
continuous flat layer. If the frond be fertile, we. shall find 
that just- beyond the forking points- many of the pairs of veins 
will have given origin, to two- skin-like projections turned in¬ 
wards towards each other to- cover two lines of spore capsules, 
which when mature and ripe coalesce into- one brown sausage- 
shaped heap, perhaps an inch or more- long. This, normally, 
is the main function- of the pair of veins, and exhausts their 
powers of supply. 
In the frilled frond, however, these do not o-ccur, and the 
reins, having no work to- do in that direction-, speedily fork 
again’ and again, always building up leafy tissue between them. 
Hence, not- only do-es the frond become wider but much longer 
on the outside edge than is the midrib. The result is a fold¬ 
ing over of the edges, frill fashion, with very pretty effect-, and 
this varies' much in the different sports, some being narrower 
than others, and more deeply frilled, and some being wider 
and flatter, all depending on the way the veins fo-rk. There 
are some crispums, hardly true ones, which bear spores ir¬ 
regularly, despite their frilling, but it is curious to note that 
wherever the spores develop at all freely there is an interrup¬ 
tion t-o- the frilling or the widening, showing that the veins are- 
incapable of fulfilling both functions properly. So- much for 
the true or barren p-lumos-ums; now for the fertile or partially 
fertile ones. 
Among the Lady Ferns and the Shield Ferns we have a- con¬ 
siderable number of forms in which the normal extent of divi¬ 
sion or cutting is greatly enhanced, also at the cost of spore 
production, but rarely, if ever, to its- entire suppression. F 
angulare plumosum Baldwinii, for instance, was reputed barren, 
and from the intense fineness of its division into almost hairlike 
pinnulets it seemed a most likely subject-. The writer, how¬ 
ever, examining it under a lens, found it dotted with single 
spore capsules quite invisible to> the naked eye, and, thanks to 
this discovery, succeeded in raising a batch of very lovely Ferns 
front it, though not, unfortunately, a- Simon Pure. Many of 
the finest plumose Lady Ferns also, de-spite their wonderful 
cutting, seem specially endowed with energy, since not only 
will they produce spores in fair numbers, though far short of 
normal ones-, but- they also develop bulbil plants among the 
spore capsules. Two plumose forms of the British Maidenhair 
(Ad-iantum Capillus-Veneris var. daphnites and imbrieatum) 
and t-he much divided Polyp, vulgare comubiense do the same 
thing. None of the Shield Ferns, however, have so far done 
this, but most- of the' finely divided o-r plumose forms show a 
proliferous tendency at t-he bas-e of the fronds, especially if 
their growth be checked in any way. 
The finest- plumose forms of Shield Fern are- those raised by 
Col. A. M. Jones and Dr. Fox many years ago from a merely 
decomposite wild find, which thus showed itself capable, 
in one generation, of a really marvellc-us advance in 
type. In- these, division succeeds division until the 
fronds resemble wade, mossy, upheaped masses instead 
o-f the normal, twice-divided flat frond. The best- 
are densum, la-xum, and Baldwinii aforesaid, which last 
was stated by Mr. Lowe to- have originated as a bulbil from 
one o-f the others, or a- third form, robust-urn, about which the 
record is not cle-a.r. Curiously enough, the offspring of Bald¬ 
winii from its spo-res are, all but- one, densum itself, perhaps! 
a little improved ; the exception approaches- the- parental type. 
Be-sidesi these, there are P. angulare divis-ilobum plumosum 
Esplan, a-gre-at beauty like a-feathery starfish, and Grimmondii,, 
on laxum lines, but less dense. All these are splendid forms. 
The- wild plumo-se finds Pa-teyii, Wolla-stonii, and Moleyii' differ 
greatly from the other's, but are very beautiful. Pateyii is; 
very rarely fertile, but- we have seen it in that- condition on 
sparse lines. 
In P. aculea-tum we have no plumose form in the sense of 
extra, featheriness, its tougher character does not apnear to 
lend itself to the- same fine- division, a® its softer ally, P. angu¬ 
lare, but it has given us one of the most- beautiful barren forms 
extant, P. ac. pulcherri-mum, a robust, tall-growing, slenderly' 
made- form, with long attenuated divisions- and a. peculiar in¬ 
ward curving and overlapping of the terminal segments which 
is quite- unique, and make® a, very beautiful finish. Curiously 
enough, despite the- numerous' plumose forms of Athyrium 
and Shield Feans, the Lastre-a or Buckler Fean- fa-milv has 
afforded but- very few. The Male Fern has only yielded one. 
L. Filix-masi Bollandiae, and that a- very poor one, being ir¬ 
regular, and here and there depauperate. Lastre-a mo-ntana 
on the other hand, has produced several fine plumosums. Whit- 
well’s and Airew’s being t-he- best-, and very handsome. In 
these the pinnules- are much lengthened and deeply cut: but 
there are no instances- of such a te-ndencv to fine division as is 
so-much in evidence in the Lady Fern and Shield Fern. Adia-n- 
turn Capillus-Veneris, the- true Maidenhair, despite its com 
rmrative- rarity, has produced a ulumose form precisely o-n the 
lines of Ad. farleyen.se (Ad. C.-V. cornubiense). 
It will, therefore, be seen that a collection of British plu 
mosums alone would fill a fair-sized conservatory, and there is 
not- the slightest do-ubt- that were such a collection or select-ior 
made and exhibited, no connoisseur would fail, to- express his 
conviction that- it would vie- with, and even excel, anv proun o 
exotics which could be formed to- compete with it : and yet, n 
suite of this, the- whole tribe of British Ferns- was- o-nlv wo re¬ 
sented at the recent Temple Show, and that- at Holland Hous° 
by perhaps a do-zen hndlv grown and inferior types, used mereh 
for the garnishing of alpines—to the writer’s mind a scandal. 
Christchurch Chrysanthemum Society held their annua 
show in the Art Gallery. Christchurch, New Zealand, oil May 6tl 
last. The exhibition blooms were shown on boards much til- 
same as those of the mother country. 
