82 BRITISH FERNS. 
secondly, the absence of any obvious botanical cha- 
racter whereby it may be distinguished from Fragilis. 
Both of these objections are my own; they are 
difficulties first suggested by myself, and therefore 
I am fully prepared to assert their importance, and 
shall make no attempt whatever to reason them away. 
The propriety of separating Dickieana from Fragilis 
rests on these grounds: it is a healthy, perfect plant, 
not monstrous or distorted, and it produces its like 
from seed for many generations. It is reproduced 
freely from seed, becoming a perfect weed; whereas 
Fragilis, under similar treatment, rarely reproduces 
itself. tivated in the same soil, and in the same 
pot, Fragilis invariably becomes larger and more 
‘Vigorous, Dickicana smaller and less vigorous; and 
the more care the cultivator bestows on these two 
§ SeE a wild state, and they 
5 . ee eee - * 
d ‘ed under culti- 
vation: Dickieana is of a bright glossy green in a wild 
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