30 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 14, 1905. 
The Common Polypody. 
(Polypodium vulgare.) 
Few residents in the country who have any eye at all for 
wayside plants are unfamiliar with this pretty Fern, the ever¬ 
green fronds of which may be seen crowning the tops of old 
walls or peeping from their crevices, or in a more robust form 
hanging out from the hedge bottoms or nestling in the forks of 
ancient trees. It revels indeed in deposits of old leaf-mould or 
decayed wood, and even where we find it topping and fringing 
walls or stone dykes, we shall find its travelling roots bedded 
in the old deposits of such material, which probably many 
decades have accumulated from the trees around and the 
annual crop of fronds themselves. Although common enough, 
lining the hedgebanks and roadside dykes for miles at a stretch 
in our western and moister counties, it is, so* far as Great 
Britain is concerned, a unique member of the evergreen section 
of the great family of Polypodies existing in the world. The 
other Polypodies native, such as the Oak Fern (P. Dryopteris), 
the Beech Fern (P. Phegopteris), and the Limestone Polypody 
(P. calcareum), are utterly different in make and quite de¬ 
ciduous ; they grow in moister and more sheltered habitats, 
and are indeed only associated with P. vulgare on account of 
their bearing their spores in rounded, naked heaps on the 
backs of the fronds, the particular character which fixes the 
genus. 
Even in this feature there is an enormous difference, the 
three Feins in question having small, insignificant dark patches 
of spores, while P. vulgare has beautiful large bright crange- 
coloured ones, forming in robust, fertile plants a very orna¬ 
mental feature indeed. The spores themselves are much larger 
than those of most Ferns, and also bright yellow, while under 
a good hand-lens each sorus or spore-heap looks exactly like a 
symmetrically piled heap of Oranges, each Orange being a pod 
full of egg-shaped spores. The common Polypody is also one 
of our few Ferns which is capable of surviving considerable 
drought, thanks to the very fleshy, creeping rootstock from 
which the fronds arise, a faculty it has acquired from growing 
so much in exposed positions. 
Like all other plants, however, repeated checks of this sort 
reduce size, and if we want good specimens under culture we 
must avoid drought and at the same time remember how well 
drained its habitats invariably are, and see that the soil is 
never soddened. The best plan, indeed, is to plant the root¬ 
stocks in a shallow pan on the surface of a compost of leafy or 
peaty mould, lightened with a good dash of coarse road or 
silver sand and well drained beneath ; then stand this pan on a 
smaller saucer and keep the latter always filled with water, and 
the robustest possible growth results. The habit of the Fern 
also fits it for suspended baskets, in which case a good deal of 
moss may be used as packing and the rootstocks packed in 
such a way that the fronds may push through in all directions. 
So much for the best way of growing the Fem into a specimen ; 
but we must here remark that, personally, we should never 
dream of devoting this trouble to the species as it appears in 
the hedgerows, etc., where we leave Nature to deal with it, 
except where and when she endows it with extra charms in 
the way of varieties, tasselled, feathered, arid otherwise 
adorned, which transform this common wayside Fern into a 
rival of many of the finest exotics. 
The Welsh Polypody, to wit P. v. cambricum has all the 
usually plain side divisions widened and cut into long over¬ 
lapping segments of extreme beauty, and, not content with one 
form of this, Nature lias presented us with several, all distinct, 
such as P. v. Prestonii, P. v. Hadwinii, P. v. Burrowii, all 
quite barren 1 , while in P. v. semilacerum, and especially P. v. 
pulcherrimum, we have fertile forms also finely cut, but yet 
again distinct. Then in another direction we have tasselled 
ones with beautiful crests at, all tips—P. v. crista-turn, bifido- 
multifidum, and P. v. grandiceps Parker, Forster and Fox, and 
last, but not least, P. v. comubiense, with three sorts of fronds, 
common ones, prettily cut ones, and extremely finely divided 
ones, all coming in such an erratic fashion occasionally that 
one and the same frond may present all three types. One 
and all of these lend themselves splendidly to the modes of 
culture suggested, and it is obviously far more interesting to 
grew fine specimens of these lovely varieties than to devote 
equal trouble to plants found, maybe, in the nearest hedge. 
One of the main points of interest, however, especially to 
the country resident, is that these lovely things are one and 
all of Nature’s own unaided fashioning; that is, they were 
found in all their beauty, growing among the common ones in 
various parts of the country, and it is therefore open to anyone 
who will patiently hunt to find varieties, maybe of equal value, 
but in any case of great interest, and thus add a material zest 
to country rambles while providing, if lucky, something for 
special care and culture at home. The writer has over thirty 
distinct types of this one species in his collection, and there¬ 
fore writes from the heart. 
Charles T. Druery, F.L.S., Y.M.H. 
Euphorbia fulgens at Aldenham House. 
It. is seldom that such a magnificent batch of this beautiful 
plant (most often named E. jacquiniaeflora) is to be seen in 
any private establishment as is now in full beauty at Alden- 
ham House, Elstree. liaised from cuttings in the spring, and 
after being well-established, grown comparatively cool in 
frames throughout the summer, Mr. Beckett has undoubtedly 
found their exact requirements, and the result is now an 
abundance of strong healthy racemes of flowers, many of them 
over 2 ft. in length and in perfect form. 
During my visit as many as 200 plants filled the back 
stage of a lean-to house. These were arranged so that growths 
were naturally towards the light, and the plants were clothed 
from the top right down to the pots with foliage, showing that 
the utmost care had been exercised in the watering. The 
value of such a batch and of such a bright colour at this 
season, where much indoor decoration is required, can hardly 
be over-estimated. 
Mr. Beckett showed a beautiful group of these plants at 
the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, and al¬ 
though the day was very cold and damp, the plants were not 
in the least damaged, showing that the comparatively cool 
culture adopted by Mr. Beckett is much to be preferred to the 
high stove temperature usually but mistakenly given. 
James Gibson. 
Chimonanthus fragrans' var. grandiflorus. 
During mild weather in January a considerable number of 
hardy shrubs may be found in flower, for although they may 
not be at their best a good sprinkling of blossoms is to be 
found. Of these early shrubs the one under notice is one 
worth cultivating in most gardens, for, though there are many 
which have showier flowers, veiy few are mote fragrant, a- bush 
bearing but a few blossoms being sufficient to scent the garden 
for some distance, while a sprig on which there are three or 
four expanded blossoms will scent a good-sized room. The 
type C. fragrans is a Japanese plant very similar in appear¬ 
ance to some of the Calycanthuses, it having, in fact, at one 
time been called Caly can thus praecox. When growing in the 
open it makes a spreading bush 6 ft. or 7 ft. high with greyish 
bark. The leaves are very similar in size and shape to those 
of Calycanthus glaucus. The flowers are borne singly from 
buds on the previous year's wood and are light yellow in colour 
with a purple shade at the base of the petals inside. The 
variety grandiflorus differs from the type in having larger and 
deeper yellow flowers. The type makes good-sized bushes in 
the open about London, and flowers well, but the variety is 
seen at its best when grown against a wall; in such a position 
a little protection from frost is afforded. C. f. grandiflorus is 
one of the most difficult shrubs known to root from cuttings, 
it usually being increased by layers or by grafting on stocks of 
the type which are raised from seeds. W. D. 
