



THE BRITISH FERNS. 
S. Wales.—Glamorganshire: Merthyr-Tydvil. Brecknockshire : 
River Clydach, near Llanelly, T. H. Thomas. 
N. Wales.—Denbighshire : Llanferris; near Ruthin, T. Pritchard. 
? Carnarvonshire : Cwm-Idwal. 
The plant appears to be met with over a considerable part of 
Europe, as, for example, in Norway, Sweden, and Russia, in 
England, in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, in various parts 
of Germany, in Hungary, and in Dalmatia. In Asia, it has been 
gathered by Drs. Hooker and Thomson, in the Himalaya mountains, 
at an elevation of 5-8000 feet. In North America it occurs both 
in the United States and in Canada. 
This is a hardy plant under cultivation, provided its roots are 
well drained, and the soil in which it is planted is kept rather 
drier than is usual with Ferns, particularly in winter. This latter 
point may be -effected, both by withholding excess of water, and by 
adding to the compost some porous materials, among which lime- 
stone, soft sandstone, or old mortar are the most suitable. This 
species bears a moderate degree of exposure to sun, better than 
the majority of Ferns. Its habit of growth is the same as that 
of P. Dryopteris, the caudex creeping out in all directions. Hence, 
when grown in pots, it is like that species, best planted in those 
which are wide across the mouth; and .as neither of these plants 
root deeply, pots of shallow form, or pans, of which some ornamented 
patterns are manufactured especially for fern culture, are preferable 
for them. In the out-door rockery, where the Limestone Polypody 
succeeds well under favourable conditions, some especial provision 
must be made for drainage in the spots where it is planted. The 
creeping caudices are sometimes apt to perish in winter, if they 
have not been tolerably well ripened, and are not kept from anything 
like excess of moisture.. These caudices afford a ready means 
of propagation. 

