THE COMMON HARD FERN. 217 
ment, quite evergreen, and but little liable to suffer injury from frost ; 
while, from the contrast afforded both by the two forms, and the 
varied aspect assumed by its fronds, it becomes very ornamental. In 
cultivation it prefers a northern exposure, abundant moisture, and 
a somewhat retentive soil. For rockwork where these conditions 
can be fulfilled, it is well adapted. In a cool shady fern house, 
planted in tolerable sized pots so as to be little liable to fluctuations 
of moisture at the root, it succeeds very well, planted in a mixture 
of peat and loam. In a wild state it is found in almost all kinds of 
soil, but in moist situations. "The plants may be increased by divi- 
sion. In transplanting, the old roots should be carefully preserved, 
with a good mass of soil. 
There are many exceedingly curious and interesting. varieties of 
this species now known, differing from the normal condition of the 
plant in some instances by the abortion or 1mperfect development of 
the parts, and in others by an excess of development; some of the 
latter or crested forms are very beautiful :— 
1. lancifolium (Woll.). This is the least divided form of the species, 
and one of the most striking of the varieties yet known. The 
sterile fronds, which are quite narrow and linear in outline, are when 
well marked entire and strap-shaped from the apex downwards for 
one-third or sometimes half their length, the remainder or lower 
portion being obtusely lobed, with the lobes short, blunt, slightly 
unequal in length, usually entire, but occasionally obscurely notched 
with fine teeth; their average length is about five inches, and the 
breadth of the entire or upper portion about a quarter of an inch, 
the lobed or lower portion being sometimes equally narrow, some- 
times slightly broader. They vary, however, in width from one- 
eighth to one-half of an inch, diminishing slightly downwards, and 
rarely attaining a length of eight inches ; the lobes are never de- 
veloped to the full or normal size. The fertile fronds resemble the 
barren ones in development, the upper portion, in the most charac- 
teristic, being entire and spike-like, scarcely notched but usually 
quite entire along the margins, while in the lower portion a few 
small short lobes are produced ; these few imperfect lobes are about 
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