NOVELTY AND GENERAL CATALOG 
9 
Meritorious Novelties of Former Years at 
Greatly Reduced Prices 
Polypodium Mandaianum ( Manda ) 
Among the multitude of plants which I have introduced during my career, there 
is none that has impressed me as much as the Polypodium which we are offering now. 
ft is a plant that has grown in favor from year to year, and in its years of propagation 
developing new beauty and an additional quality as plant or cut green for decoration. 
Great admiration of the plant is shown by every one who has had the fortune to see 
this wonderful plant growing or exhibited. It has carried everything before it, and 
stands to-day as the finest Novelty not only in America, but with the whole horticultural 
world. 
The plant is very free-growing and makes beautiful specimens in all sizes, from 5-inch 
pots up to large specimens in 20-inch tubs. 
It is also a basket plant. A plant fastened on a piece of bark or cork will surpass in 
beauty and elegance any stag-horn fern. 
Planted on any old stump or tree fern trunk, it will soon make a head that will 
rival any tree fern in cultivation, and equally useful when planted on the wall of the 
greenhouse, where it will attach itself and make a dense covering of choice beautiful 
glaucous foliage. 
. Not only as a plant, but also in a c, f state, it is most valuable for fine decoration, 
being, perhaps, the most lasting green ii existence, for I had fronds keep fresh eight 
weeks m water, which is remarkable, arm I therefore cannot too strongly recommend 
this plant for any purpose desired. 
Different from anything in cultivation, and strongly reminds one of the classic Acan¬ 
thus of the Greeks. These beautiful fronds in the hands of a floral artist will fill a 
long-felt want. 
Good plant, 4-inch pot or pan, each. 
Strong plant, 5-inch pot or pan, each. 
Strong plant, 6-inch pot or pan, each. 
Extra strong plant, 8-inch pot or pan, each. 
Extra large specimen, each. 
Also plants on blocks or baskets or on tree fern stems, prices and sizes 
Price 
.. $0.75 
. 1.25 
. 2.25 
. 3.50 
.$5.00 to 10.00 
on application. 
(FROM “GARDENING ILLUSTRATED,” LONDON, JULY 27, 1912) 
A Fine Greenhouse Fern (Polypodium Mandaianum) 
This fern, which was given a first-class certificate at Holland Park Show, comes 
to us from America. Specimens of it were shown by Mr. W. A. Manda, South Orange, 
N. J., at the International at Chelsea, but I believe it was not placed before the com¬ 
mittee on that occasion. It, however, at that time attracted a good deal of attention 
as a very beautiful fern, which, from its bold habit, high ornamental qualities and 
the lasting nature of its stout, leathery fronds, was likely to prove of considerable 
value for decoration.” 
AS EXHIBITED BY W. A. MANDA AT NATIONAL FLOWER SHOW, CHICAGO 
1 he sensational plant of the First National Flower Show, where it captured the 
first prize, a Silver medal, as the Best New Fern not in commerce, and also the Grand 
Gold Medal for the best plant not yet an article of commerce. Mr. John Thorpe, the 
veteran plantsman, states in the Christmas number of “Florists’ Exchange” as follows: 
“I will say that the most valuable plant, the most progressive plant, the plant which 
has gained the gold medal, is Polypodium Mandaianum, and I have no hesitation in 
saying there will be as many forms of it as in the case of Nephrolepis exaltata. 
Fortunately all the Polypodium family are good keepers under adverse circumstances. 
They will live where palms will not. For temporary decorations with cut flowers the 
polypodium will last as long as any of the asparagus. None of the polypodium are an 
exception to this rule. From a decorative standpoint, the configuration of the plant, its 
adaptability, it is equal to any plant ever introduced.” 
FROM “THE JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND HOME FARMER,” 
LONDON, ENGLAND, MAY 30, 1912. 
“The exhibit of foliage plants by W. A. Manda, the American exhibitor from 
South Orange, U. S. A., deserves mention, particularly for his fern Polypodium 
Mandaianum with fronds 5 feet long and 20 inches broad, the pinnae finely cut. This was 
shown upon ’wood rafts, and also towering above the stem of a tree fern. The fronds, 
when cut, remain fresh for several weeks.” 
