Tm]
JAYNE
New York
State College of Agriculture
At Cornell University
Ithaca,N.Y. *
Library
Cornell University Library
QK 527.H43
wn AN
3 1924 000 632 806
which consists, not in expensive outlay, but rather-in loving study of a plant’s likings and dislikings.”
Page 49.
Frontispiece. |
TILE
FERN WORLD
BY
FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH
AUTHOR OF ‘‘THE FERN PARADISE,” ‘‘ THE FERN
PORTFOLIO,” ‘“‘SYLVAN SPRING,” ‘‘SYLVAN
WINTER,” ‘AUTUMNAL LEAVES,” “OUR
WOODLAND TREES,” “‘ TREE Gossip,” ‘ MY
GARDEN WILD,” ‘‘ WHERE TO FIND FERNS,”
““BURNHAM_ BEECHES,” ‘‘THE ENGLISH
PEASANTRY,” ‘‘ PEASANT LIFE,” ETC.,°ETC,
EIGHTH EDITION
(LRevised]
LONDON
THE IMPERIAL PRESS, LIMITED
21, SURREY STREET, VICTORIA EMBANKMENT, [W.C.
1898
[All rights reserved]
14'7356
WORKS BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.
FERNS.
1. THE FERN PORTFOLIO. Imperial
Quarto. Illustrated by 15 Plates,
elaborately drawn life size, coloured
from nature.
2, WHERE TO FIND FERNS. Illus-
trated by 15 Fern Plates and Pictures
of Fern Habitats, &c., 113 subjects in
all. With a special chapter on the
Ferns round London.
3. THE FERN PARADISE. Tustrated
by 8 Fern Plates and 76 other en-
gravings. Gilt edges.
4. THE FERN WORLD. Illustrated by
12 coloured Fern Plates and 10 wood
GARDENS.
7. MY GARDEN WILD, AND WHAT I
GREW THERE.
LEAVES.
8. AUTUMNAL LEAVES. Profusely
jllustrated by 12 Coloured Plates and
30 Wood Illustrations.
PEASANT LIFE.
9. PEASANT LIFE IN THE WEST OF
ENGLAND.
10. THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY.
TREES, &c.
ll. OUR WOODLAND TREES. Illus-
trated by 8 Coloured Plates and 78
Wood Engravings.
12. BURNHAM BEECHES. Ilustrated
by 9 Wood Engravings and a Map of
the Beeches.
Enegravings.
FLOWERS.
5, SYLVAN SPRING, With 12 Coloured
Plates and 155 Wood Illustrations.
Gilt edges. 13. TREES AND FERNS. Illustrated hy
17 beautifully executed Engravings.
FOREST SCENERY. 14, TREE GOSSIP. Typographically
6. HEATH’S GILPIN’S FOREST ornamented, elegantly bound.
SCENERY. Embellished by 36 tinely 15. SYLVAN WINTER. Illustrated hy
executed wood Engravings. 70 beautiful Wood Engravings.
SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
“Vr, Prancis George Heath is the accomplished author of so many fascinating landscape
studies,”—Times,
“Vr, Heath’s books are especially delightful.”’—The Author of ‘ Loria Doone.”
“Ny, Francis George Heath is a writer than whom no man has done more to promote
an intelligent appreciation of our native scenery of the softer kind. His language is poetic,
his colouring fresh. He leads us out into cool shady nookx and * pleasant places,’ redolent
of enjoyment to men of pure thought and poetic fancies.”’—Mui ning Post,
“ir. Heath’s descriptions are exquisitely beautiful.’’—S?. Jaucs’s Gavette,
“My. Heath brings to his work the ardour of an enthusiast and the temperament of a
poet; no more delightful teacher could be found.” —Fountain.
“Mr. Heath is well known as an enthusiastic lover of nature, who has done much to
popularize the intelligent appreciation of woodland beauty. He has interested a large
number of people by his books.””—Spectator.
“The ivy seems to cling round his heart, and the sweet-scented honeysuckle to twine its
branches round his imagination. He writes, as it were, in a bower of wild flowers, and the
sweet scents of the forest and the meadow hover, with balmy freshness, round his pen.’’—
Popular Scic.ce Review.
“Everybody knows Mr. Heath’s fascinating books.’’—Pall Mall Gazette,
“Myr. Heath has thrown around his subjects not only the light of science, but the charm
of enthusiasm and poetry. He writes with zest; there is an open-air feeling about his
pages, and that is exactly what is wanted in these days to attract people to find in nature
some subject of joy that may make the sordid life in towns tolerable.”—British Quarterly
“Mr. Heath is a charming and graphic word painter.”—Grant Allen [Revicw,
‘He writes for the million. Amongst those who have most persistently striven of late
years to nmprove the health of crowded towns, and to create in the hearts of street-houud
artisans a wholesome instinct for country air, may he justly ranked the author of ‘‘ The
Fern Paradise.” Always alive to any movement having for its object the encouragement,
of window gardening und the embellishment of waste spaces, no writer has done more
towards stimulating that passion for sylvan holidays und recreation in the ferny combe or
-under the greenwoorl tree which an American essayist has pronounced to be inherent in
English Tol. .... Mr. Heath has earned for himself a place amongst philanthropists.’’—
“He is an able and accomplished editor,’’—Standard. [Saturday Review.
“Loverg of nature and philanthropists alke owe a dcht of gratitude to Mr. Heath. He
has striven, andl with no small success, to create and foster a popular taste for that which is
not only beautiful in wature, but which is calculated to promote the health and happiness
of the people. .... It is a uoble ideal which he has set up for realization—n grand concep-
tion which we hope to see iu the full fruition of acccmplishment. ... . "Daily Chronicle
“ There is at the core of all Mr. Heath’s work some idea of gon to be achieved for his
unfortunate fellow-creatures.’’—Lloyd’s Newspaper.
‘‘Mr. Heath’s numerous works all prove that he has been a close and diligent student of
the scenes and objects le describes with such a true and tender care.’—Guardian.
“Mr. Heath’s writings on the poetry of forest and field are fascuiating in the highest,
dlesrvec.’?—Queen. nner
‘No author of the present generation has gone more deeply into the study of foliage
than he, or thought aid written so constantly and so well upon this and kindred subjects.”
—Haryer’s Magazine. iy
“Atv Heath has now passed from the tender blooms of spring to the sunset- i
of autumn, but we recognize in the hook before us (‘ DSi Leaves : J) the Le ea ie
ago. There is the same tender regard for all that in nature lives; the same keen insight for
revealing wonders unsecn hy the casual passcr by; the same power of holding his reader’s
aoa est attention ; aud the same gift of adorning each subject to which he sets his hand.?—
Tablet.
PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION,
‘Tue Fern Worn’ having been out of print for some time,
the Author is tempted to re-issue it—this time in an E1guru
EpiTion at what is called ‘a popular price ;’ and the fact
that, though dealing mainly with what are known as ‘ British
Ferns ’—the species of which are nevertheless to be found in
many parts of the world—-the general chapters relate to Ferns
everywhere, may furnish some reason for the inclusion of this
Kdition in the series of ‘Tue Imprrtat Liprary.’
Indeed, the public who have bought the volume are by no
means British in the local sense, for it is very gratifying to
the Author to know that it has been sold in every English-
speaking country in the world.
It is also a further cause for gratification to him to have
been told that its descriptions of scenery—modestly put
forward as typical of ‘Fernland’ in general—have induced,
as he has been credibly informed, many thousands of its
readers to visit the scenes described, though these scenes
have been drawn from his own bonny Devon, ‘the fairest
county of England,’ as his friend Mr. Blackmore has truth-
fully and lovingly styled it.
It seemed fitting that the kind praise bestowed upon the
coloured plates in the Earlier Editions should evoke a desire
to improve them for an Eighth Edition, and this has
accordingly been done by having them entirely redrawn, an
improvement, as the Author believes, being effected by more
vi PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION
delicacy of colouring applied to the figures after these had
been carefully traced so as to include every detail of the
venation. A new cover has also been furnished from the
design of a clever artist—Mr. John Carey.
UxvERWooD,
Kew GARDENS, SURREY,
January, 1A08,
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
I am made aware of the fact that this unpretending Fern
Book has achieved a success never yet attained in so short a
time by any previous work on the same subject, since Fern
Culture has become a popular pursuit.
The First Eprrion was exhausted within a week or two
of its publication : half of the Szconp Eprrion was ordered
before the day of issue; the remainder, with a THIRD
Epition—which was speedily called for—have secured a rapid
sale which has found no abatement even during the months
of winter ; and a FourtH Epirion is now demanded.
So practical and so cordial a recognition of my endeavours
to popularize the study and cultivation of Ferns is as pleasing
as it is surprising to me. For this result, however, I am
gratefully sensible of my obligations both to the Fern-loving
Public and to the Press. Amongst the former it is pleasant
to know that I can number not a few who have recognized
an old friend in the Author of ‘Tur Frurn Parapise,’ and
who have permitted me to take their hand once more and
journey with them into the Fern World.
To my Reviewers my obligations are indeed great for the
eloquent and enthusiastic praise which they have bestuwed
upon my book—the work of one who has simply endea-
voured to make his readers share his own enthusiastic love
of Nature.
I must take this opportunity of acknowledging the kind-
ness of those Fern-lovers who, not only from my native
Vili PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
county of Devon, but from numerous parts of the country—
North, East, South, and West—have privately conveyed to
me expressions of their approval of a work which, from cover
to cover, has been to me truly a labour of love. The know-
ledge that this labour has been the means of giving pleasure
to so many readers would have amply repaid me even had my
work been—what it has not proved to be—an arduous
undertaking.
To one and all of my Fern-loving frienls—-now a very
numerous host—I tender my sincere thanks.
Francis Grorgr HEatu.
Lonpon,
January, 1878.
PREFACE.
Ir the welcome accorded to ‘Tum Frrn Paraprse’ by more
than a hundred kind Reviewers, and the manner in which
that modest ‘Plea for the Culture of Ferns’ has been
received by the Fern-loving public, may be taken as any
indication that the subject of the volume is a thoroughly
popular one, and one which interests a very wide circle of
readers, the Author has abundant encouragement to continue
and expand his endeavours yet further to popularize the
study of a class of plants which are unquestionably—if
‘delicacy of form, and depth and richness of colouring are to
count for anything—the most graceful and _ beautiful
amongst the many and varied forms of life in the vegetable
world,
The object of the present volume is twofold. It seeks to
inculcate a love for the study of Nature, and to do this by
making the reader better acquainted with that world of
beauty—the world of Ferns. If any of those who may
peruse these pages should be led beyond the pursuit which
they recommend ; if they should be led up from the shadowy
world of ‘cool grot and mossy cell’ to that upper world
which Nature’s God has clothed with the bright forms and
many-hued blossoms of sun-loving plants, then indeed will
the Author’s work be crowned with a success which he
covets. Heat least is content in this present volume to lead
those who will follow him into the world of Ferns; for he
ventures to think that, inthe whole round of botany, there
is no other branch of the subject the study of which is at
xX PREFACE
once so fascinating and so well calculated to create a
passion for further researches in so delightful a field as is the
study of Ferns.
Although the descriptions of Ferns given in Part V. of
this work have been restricted to the British species of these
beautiful though flowerless plants, it must be remembered
that the same species are widely distributed over the world
—oceurring, amongst other places, more or less, throughout
America and the English-speaking dependencies of the British
Empire. Of the fifty species of Ferns, for instance, which
are inhabitants of the United States of America, no less than
sixteen, or about one-third, are also natives of Britain.
Canada also includes a considerable proportion of British
Ferns amongst its Cryptogamic flora; and throughout the
whole of North America are to be found no less than thirty
of our forty-five British species. One half, too, at least,
of our British Ferns are to be found in the Himalayan
Mountains. If we turn to the antipodean range of the Fern
world, we find that New Zealand, with its glorious wealth of
Fern life, contains a not inconsiderable number of the
British species; and it is worthy of especial remark that both
Britain and New Zealand are the richest in Ferns in their
respective latitudes, The Author trusts, therefore, that
Section V., no less than the sections of the volume which
relate to the whole world of Ferns, may possess an interest
for English readers beyond the narrow limits of the British
Islands.
In furtherance of the twofold object of The Fern World,
the Author, whilst he has striven to include in the volume
much that is of interest in connexion with the subject of
which it treats, has sought—at every step—to refer those
who may follow him through its pages to the unfailing
guidance of that wonderful and beautiful Book—the Boox oF
Nature.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
Tue AvTHoR desires to take the opportunity of making
grateful acknowledgments for the assistance which he has
received in the work of illustrating this volume.
The illustration placed as frontispiece is from a very beau-
tiful photograph of an amateur Fernery in Town, taken by
kind permission of Mr. Giles Yarde, of amb’s Conduit Street.
For the photograph the Author is indebted to the kind and
courteous assistance, ex amateur, of Mr. Robert B. Marston.
The three full-page engravings on pages 31, 117, and 141,
are from the very beautiful series of Devonshire views of
Messrs. Francis Frith and Co. of Reigate, to whom the
Author is indebted for the very courteous permission to use
them for the purposes of this volume.
Of the coloured illustrations the Author merely desires to
say that they are printed from photographs of fronds collected
and grouped by himself. It would have been opposed to the
object of this work to illustrate it by mere drawings of Ferns
—for the best drawing is frequently but a poor imitation of
Nature. By bringing the marvellous and beautiful pro-
cess of photography into requisition, it has been possible
to copy the very lines of Nature herself. To Messrs.
Emrik and Binger this process of Nature printing has been
entrusted, and the Author gladly takes the opportunity of
acknowledging the rare fidelity with which the work has been
executed.
Xu
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
The coloured plates, with explanatory indices attached,
will be found at the pages indicated in the subjoined
table :—
PLATE
PLATE
PLATE
PLATE
PLATE
PLATE
ao»r wd we
PAGE
179
185
199
207
225
235
i
| Phare 7.
8
PLATE
PLATE 9
Puate 10 .
Puate ll .
Puate 12
PAGE
253
293
301
325
831
369
CONTENTS.
PART I.
THE Frrn Wort.
INTRODUCTION
CuaptER I.—The Gucus of een Lite
II.—Conditions of Growth
III.—Structure
IV.— Classification
V.— Distribution
VI.—Uses
VII.—The Folk-lore of Ferns
PART II.
Fern CULTURE.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.—Soil aad epee
II.—General Treatment
ITI.—Propagation
IV.—A Fern Valley
V.—Subterranean Fern Giltues
VI.—A Fern Garden
VII.—Fern Rockery
VIII.—A Fern House
IX.—Pot Culture of Ferns
X.—Ferns at Home .
PAGE
11
Wu
25
36
42
2h Se Sar de,
Gee NT
G4
67
69
v4
79
&2
87
XIV CONTENTS
PART ITI.
Fern Huntina.
INTRODUCTION
CHarterR I.—Fern Holiflaye
IJ.—Fern Collecting
III.—Frond Gathering
PART IV.
Some RAMBLES THROUGH FERNLAND.
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I. = Tene « a Combe to the Sea
If.—The Valleys of the Lyn
1I1.—The Valley of the Rocks
IV.—Clovelly
V.—Sea and Sky and Waving ee
VI.—Torbay
VII.—The South-east Const: of Devon
VIII.—The Home of the Sea Fern
PART V.
PAGE
95
97
102
109
113
119
134
136
150
158
168
172
British Ferns: THEIR Description, DIstRIBUTION, AND CULTURE.
INTRODUCTION
1. The Bracken (Pteris saopalttnia)
. The Hartstongue (Scolopendrium vulgare)
. The Lady Fern (Athyriiun filir-feemina)
. The Hard Fern (Blechnum spicant)
. The Royal Fern (Osmanda regalis)
Non rownw
ce
. The Bristle Fern (Trichomanes radicans)
10. The Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria)
11. The Adders-tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum)
12. The Little Adders-tongue (Ophioglossum lusitanicum)
13. The Common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare)
. The True Maidenhair (Adiantum capillus-Veneris)
The Annual Maidenhair (Gymuogramma leptophylla)
. The Mountain Parsley Fern (Allosorus crispus)
181
187
192
201
209
214
220
227
231
237
242
246
249
255
CONTENTS
Briviso Ferns (continued)—
14.
15,
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24,
25.
26.
27
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44,
INDEX
The Mountain Polypody (Polypodium phegopteris)
The Three-branched Polypody (Polypodium dryopteris).
The Limestone Polypody (Polypodium caleareum) .
The Alpine Polypody (Polypodtum alpestre) .
The Hard Prickly Shield Fern (Polystichum cron Bate
The Soft Prickly Shield Fern (Polystichum angulare)
The Holly Fern (Polystichum lonchitis) . :
The Brittle Bladder Fern (Cystopteris fragilis)
The Alpine Bladder Fern (Cystopteris regia)
The Mountain Bladder Fern (Cystopteris montana)
The Oblong Woodsia (Toodsia ivensis) .
The Alpine Woodsia ( Woodsia alpina)
The Male Fern (Lastrea filic-mas) .
. The Broad Buckler Fern (Lastrea dilatata) .
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
. The Marsh Buckler Fern (Lastrea thelypteris)
. The Forked Spleenwort (Asplentum septentrionale)
5. The Alternate Spleenwort (lsplenium germanicum)
. The Rue-leaved Spleenwort (Asplentum ruta-miuraria) .
. The Black Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplentum adiantum-
The Hay-scented Buckler Fern (Lastrea recurva) .
The Rigid Buckler Fern (Lastrea rigid)
The Crested Buckler Fern (Lastrea cristata)
The Prickly-toothed Buckler Fern (ZLastrea stiaitoanlr.
The Mountain Buckler Fern (Lastrea montana)
nigrum)
The Lanceolate Splesnworé (Asplenium hanceote bres
The Rock Spleenwort (Asplentum fontanum) .
The Green Spleenwort (Asplentum viride) ‘
The Common Maidenhair ee (Aspleninm tricho-
manes) ‘
The Sea Solleenwart CAeniiontuens martnim)
The Scaly Spleenwort (Aspleninm ceterach)
The Tunbridge Filmy Fern (Hymenophyllum tain id-
gense)
5. The One-sided Filmy fem (Hh simenoplallan nntilacten ite)
355
360
364
3871
375
380
384
388
393
397
Part i.
THE FERN WORLD.
THR FERN WORLD.
INTRODUCTION.
A WORLD—apart—of dreamy beauty, of soft vapours and
chequered sunbeams. A world—below the glare of noon-
day—filled with the most delicate and graceful of the forms
which Nature's God has made to clothe the earth with a
mantle of green. A world where Nature’s own sweet music
—the silvery music of the streamlet’s ripple—falls, gently
cadenced, on the ear: or where the stillness of repose is un-
broken, even by the hum of insect life. A world sometimes
of darkness relieved but by the faintest gleam of light ;
sometimes of open rocks and streams, where the roar of the
torrent echoes over the mountain side, and rushing water
reflects the golden colouring of the sun-rays. A fairy world
hidden away under the covering of rugged rocks on the sea-
shore, beneath moss-covered stones in the river’s bed, or in
the depths of the primeval forest.
This same world of moisture and shadows is inhabited by
various forms of plant life. The mysterious Fungus there
makes its home. There, too, the Lichen creeps over its
surface of stone or wood, the Sea-weed clings to its dripping
rock, and Mosses on floor of earth, wood, or stone, make a
soft green carpeting. But above all these forms of vegeta-
tion, yet in some degree related to them, stand the Ferns—
B 2
4 THE FERN WORLD
at once, though flowerless, the most graceful and beautiful of
their lower world.
God, in His goodness, has, with a liberal hand, scattered
these beautiful plants nearly over the whole of the earth’s
surface, only the sterile regions of the frigid poles being
deprived of them. But their abundance or scarcity in any
part of the world depends upon the existence, in greater or
less perfection, of those peculiar conditions of growth which
these moisture-loving plants require. In Europe, Asia,
Africa and America, as well as in the islands of the seas, they
are to be found, and both in tropical and temperate climes.
Over the whole world, more than three thousand distiact
species have been discovered; but the variations from the
normal forms of these species reach a far larger number than
three thousand.
It is curious and interesting to note the proportion borne
by Ferns, in those great divisions of the world which we call
‘zones,’ to flowering plants. Within the colder regions of
the polar circles we have seen that they cease to exist. Just
outside those regions, but within the boundary of the frigid
zones they are found in the proportion of one Fern to eight
flowering plants. In the torrid zone they stand in the pro-
portion of one to twenty flowering plants, whilst in the
temperate zones they are in the proportion of one to seventy
flowering plants. In Engiand and Wales Ferns are doubly
as numerous in relation to flowering plants as in the tem-
perate regions generally, and in Scotland the proportionate
number is even somewhat greater as compared with those
regions.
But it is in the tropics that Ferns acquire their greatest
degree of development, for in the depths of the great tropical
forests, under the influence of the prevailing heat and
humidity, they attain the size of trees, giving to those
forests a strikingly graceful aspect, and even in the open
INTRODUCTION 7
In whatever part, however, of the world these beautiful
plants exist, whether in tropical or temperate climes, they
add a singular charm to their surroundings. Even when
they grow on some wide expanded heath, under the open
canopy of heaven, and in the full rays of the sun, they bring
delicacy and grace to the scene, however wild and rugged it
may otherwise be. If they grow beneath the shady under-
wood of a forest, they add a mystic and tender charm to the
gloomy beauty of the place. When they are scattered over
the great boulders which may stud the roaring bed of a
mountain torrent, or are perched on the tiny islets of a
gently murmuring stream, they are still the feature of crown-
ing beauty as their waving fronds move responsively to the
breeze, and kiss with their delicate tips the tumbling water,
as if caressing the element which ministers to the most vital
principle of their existence. When they clothe the sides
and tops of jagged rocks, they appear as if placed there to
soften the ruggedness of the stony surfaces; and when they
grow in the clefts of dwarfed or stunted forest trees, they
help in such places to make amends for the incompleteness
of Nature, whilst they lend their own half-mystic charm to
minister to the pleasure of beholders.
CHAPTER I.
THE GERMS OF FERN LIFE,
In the whole vegetable world there is nothing more beautiful
than the process by which Ferns become developed from
the almost mysterious atoms, which are, so to speak, the
starting points of their existence. It is indeed nothing less
than marvellous that plants of such exceeding beauty and
egracefulness, and characterized by such wonderful diversity
of form, should be produced from germs which are in most
cases almost infinitesimal, or so small as singly to be unseen
by the naked eye. In what manner these minute atoms are
produced by the parent plant, how nursed upon its fronds,
how stored and protected from injury during the process of
preparation for that final stage in their germ history at which
they are launched forth to commence a separate existence in
the Fern world, we shall subsequently inquire. We have
now to speak of the germs as we find them fully endowed
by the Creator with the mystic power which enables them
to pass through their beautiful and wonderful stages of
growth.
Here it will first be necessary to point out that the germ
atom of the Fern—beautifully named a spore—has little
analogy with the seed of an ordinary plant. The spore
differs from the seed both in the nature of its construction
and in the principle of its growth. A seed is im truth a
miniature plant compressed into a tiny space. This plantlet
or embryo consists of two principal organs united to each
THE GERMS OF FERN LIFE g
other. The one is the radicle or the germ of the future root,
the other is the plumule or the germ of the future stem, which
in the process of development gives rise to branches and
leaves, or to smaller stems and leaves. Wherever or however
a seed may fall, there can be no change in the respective
functions of its radicle and plumule. The one is sure to strike
downwards into the soil, and the other is equally sure to rise
above the ground.
The spore is not so constituted, nor does it become
developed after the manner of the seed. It consists, in fact,
of a tiny cell, which is of various shapes in the different
genera of Ferns, sometimes being globular, sometimes oval,
and occasionally angular in form, with an exterior that is
sometimes plain, sometimes streaked, or otherwise beautifully
marked, and either smooth or bristling with little points.
From the part of this minute germ-cell which happens to lie
downwards proceeds the root, whilst from its upper portion
proceeds the frond. When the spore has fallen into a congenial
position for germination, the process of development com-
mences by the enlargement and multiplication of the cell of
which it consists. This cell becomes divided after a short
time, and forms an aggregation of little cells, which take the
shape when expanded of a minute patch, like a tiny leaf
laid flat on the ground. This leafy scale, as it may be
termed, is mostly irregular in shape, but is usually somewhat
round or heart-shaped. Its colour is green, and it bears the
somewhat-euphonic name of prothallus. Under the prothallus
—which attaches itself to the earth or rock by fine rootlets—
begin to be produced a number of other little cells of a pecu-
liar kind. They are in fact of two kinds, and may be called
for the sake of distinction, sperm cells and embryo cells.
One of the latter contains a frond-bud or imperfect germ,
imperfect because it has to be fertilized before it can commence
the process of development. The sperm cells contain
10 THE FERN WORLD
minute, active, thread-like bodies called spermatozoids. Ata
certain stage in the germination of the spore, the frond-bud
emerges from its cell, and the spermatozoids about the same
time issue forth from their cells, and coming into contact with
the bud or embryo, the latter becomes fertilized. Soon after
this process has been completed, the spermatozoids lose their
activity and finally disappear. The prothallus, too, commences
to decay, and finally, with its little system of cells, it dies,
leaving in its place only the fertilized frond-bud, which, how-
ever, at this stage has no defined likeness to the future and
complete frond. The under portion of the frond-bud lying
next the damp soil soon however begins to form the root-
stock, which subsequently gives rise to the rootlets that
absorb and convey to the plant the moisture without which
it could not live, whilst from its upper portion proceeds
the stalk.
Steadily the process of development continues, until at
length a tiny Fern is produced, whose form and habit begin to
assume a likeness to the form and habit of the parent plant.
In all Ferns which ave not annual, including the large
majority of this class of plants, the process of development is
so slow that it is generally two or three years before it is
completed. This is the case with the small and herbaceous
species, whilst in the case of the shrub-like and the tree Ferns,
the period from the commencement to the completion of
growth is considerably longer.
Not the least wonderful circumstance in connexion with
the minute germs of Fern life is their singular vitality. The
dust-like spores, if kept secure and dry for a long period of
years, will often, even after such an interval, when subjected
to the necessary degree of heat and moisture, commence and
continue the process of development.
CHAPTER II.
CONDITIONS OF GROWTH.
THERE is a wonderful adaptation of means to an end in the
circumstances under which the germination and development
of Fern spores take place. The same conditions of growth
must exist for the germ as for the mature plant—Nature
having wisely ordered that the spore shall be of such a con-
struction that it cannot survive the influence of conditions
which would be fatal to the full grown Fern.
The conditions essential to the growth of both spore and
mature Fern are, generally, moisture, warmth, and shade.
Unlike the gayer inhabitants of the vegetable kingdom, Ferns
mostly avoid the sunshine and hide in shadow and misty
gloom. In such positions it is that they delight to revel,
and though their fronds may sometimes perchance play with
the sunbeams, they must have moist crevices for their roots.
These cannot indeed survive even the temporary absence of
moisture, for in such circumstances they shrivel and die.
(We have seen that Fern spores are almost infinitesimal
atoms, countless myriads of which when blown from the
frond having but the appearance of a tiny cloud of brownish
dust. So light are these minute germs that they are readily
borne away by the faintest breath of wind. When dispersed
from the receptacles in which they have lain ensconced, vast
numbers of them undoubtedly perish through falling upon
uncongenial soil, or upon “stony places,” unprovided with
crevices moist enough to shelter and nourish the delicate life
12 THE FERN WORLD
of such minute germs. But in their very abundance, Nature
makes provision for the risks to which they are exposed.
The tiniest Fern is provided with the means of producing a
vast and uncountable number of germs for the perpetuation
and multiplication of its kind; and when the proper moment
arrives—that at which the fructification has reached its most
perfect stage, and the atomic life germs are separated from
the parent plant—the light and aerial messengers are sent
forth to seek in every corner of their immediate world, for
the resting places which can supply the peculiar conditions of
erowth that are essential to them.
From what has been said, it will be inferred that Ferns,
though hardy in their own particular way, cannot survive an
amount of drought that many other plants can bear without
material injury. Hence it is only in those positions in which
conditions of moisture can be perpetually maintained that
spores can live. Indeed, after germination has commenced
they hang upon the threads of an existence which is far more
fragile than that of seeds, for the temporary withdrawal of
shade and moisture would be fatal to their delicate life.
Spores oftentimes fall upon surfaces which, though suffi-
ciently moist to allow of the commencement and continuation
of germination, are not—either from the nature of the soil, or
the position—suitable for the proper growth and development
of the particular Ferns represented by the spores. Those
whose natural habitat is on the spongy soil which lies under
the deep shelter of a forest would not find the sides of rock
or wall congenial to their growth. The Sea Fern could not
live on the expanse of an open forest glade, where the Brake
often grows in wild luxuriance. Nor could the latter thrive
on the damp sides of a dark sea-cave. The Fern of the plain
is not the Fern of the dripping hollow, nor are the rock-and-
wall-loving species adapted to the soft soil of the spongy
hedgetop. It sometimes happens that Ferns which delight
CONDITIONS OF GROWTH 13
in a depth of spongy soil, and in the damp luxuriance of the
hedgebank, are found growing on the almost bare sides of
rock or wall. But in such situations they drag on but an
unhealthy existence, and become shrivelled in size, ungraceful
in form, and deficient in colouring.
The Common Polypody, the Hartstongue, and the Black
Maidenhair Spleenwort for instance, are often found growing
in stony places, their rootlets getting what moisture and
nourishment they can from the tiny seams of earth or leaf-
mould in the interstices between the stones. But forlorn-
looking indeed are these rock-and-wall-growing specimens
compared with those that are found in the moist hollows of
pollard trunks, on the dark margins of rushiug streams, or in
the depths of shady hedgebanks.
CHAPTER III.
STRUCTURE.
Havine ventured thus far into the Fern world, we must pause
ere we further pursue our explorations, in order to inquire
concerning the structure and constitution of its wonderful
and beautiful inhabitants. Their position in relation to the
rest of the vegetable kingdom we shall discuss anon. Here
our inquiry must be limited to the field suggested by the
heading of this chapter.
Ferns, as we have seen, stand at the head of their lower
world, and hence their structure more nearly approximates
to the upper—and sunnier—world of flowering plants than
any other members of their class. Like flowering plants,
they have roots, stems, and leaves. Let us call the two
latter by their proper names of caudices and fronds. The
last-named designation is especially necessary as a means of
distinguishing in Ferns those organs which, though in their
appearance the most nearly like what we call leaves in
ordinary plants, are nevertheless very different in some
important particulars from leaves. The caudex, or stem, is
the root-stock of a Fern. From it grow—downwards—the
fibrous rootlets, and—upwards—the fronds. There are two
principal kinds of caudex. The one-is generally upright
and trunk-shaped—sometimes, as notably in the case of tree
Ferns, raised to some height above the ground; the other is
creeping in its habit, and is called a rhizome. The rhizoma
in some Ferns creeps along or with its circumference half
STRUCTURE 1%
under the surface of the ground. In other Ferns—the
common Bracken is an instance—the rhizoma creeps quite
underneath the surface, throwing up its fronds at intervals
from its upper side, and sometimes descending to a consider-
able depth in the earth, whilst the rootlets, which are thin
and fibrous, insinuate themselves into the damp earth, or
into the soft veins of rock or stone on which the Fern may
be growing, drawing thence by absorption, and conveying to
the stem and frond the essential moisture. When the
rhizomas merely creep along the surface of the ground, they
are frequently furnished with hairs, or thick scales, which
give them a shaggy appearance, but serve as a protection
to the succulent root-stock which they cover. These creep-
ing stems are of various sizes in the various species, in some
being little more than stout fibres, whilst in other species
they are thick and fleshy. The rootlets, or root-fibres, are
in the same way proportioned to the size of the rhizomas ;
in the larger species growing to some thickness, and in the
16 THE FERN WORLD
smaller ones being but the tiniest of delicate filaments.
From various parts of the upper side of the creeping
rhizomas spring the fronds, and it thus happens that, as the
former advance—dividing sometimes into branches, and
penetrating the soil in all directions—the Fern multiplies,
often rapidly, throwing up a miniature forest of waving
fronds, and sending into the earth at each point where the
rhizoma develops into green life a mass of fibres, which
serve at these successive stages to infuse more vigour into
the plant.
There is something very beautiful in the arrangement by
which Nature provides for the collection by the rootlets of
Ferns of the moisture which the latter require for their
nourishment. In the earlier stages of growth it is found
that the rootlets are mostly supplemented by fine hairs,
which cover their surface, and, by capillary attraction—that
most mysterious and wonderful power—absorb moisture from
STRUCTURE 17
every damp surface, either of earth, stone, or rock. As the
rootlets acquire age, they become oftentimes tough and wiry,
insinuating themselves into the tiniest crevices, and often
extending their progress to considerable distances from the
root-stock. Should the situation of the plant be such that
possible drought might deprive it of moisture, the rootlets,
as if by instinct, penetrate deeply into the earth, bank, or
rocky seam, in search of distant and moister crevices than
those in the immediate vicinity of the caudex or rhizoma.
In such cases, and after a Fern has remained undisturbed
for years, the great mass of these delicate fibres, ramifying
in all directions, constitutes a marvellous and beautiful
system, built up as a protection against the plant’s great
foe—drought.
Before we conclude our remarks on the root-stocks of
Ferns, let us notice those which in a large number of the
species are upright in form, and raised above the surface of
the ground. Sometimes—and indeed in the majority of
instances—they are raised but slightly, often not more than
an inch above the ground level or bank on which they are
growing. ‘The upper portion of the root-stock is in such
cases formed into a crown, which is the basis from which the
fronds spring. The crown is practically formed of a circle,
or circular cluster of fronds, of the bases of fronds in a fully-
developed plant, and of the buds merely of the fronds in an
undeveloped or unopened state. Of the position and arrange-
ment of the fronds we shall have more to say anon. Here
we have only to explain how the elongation of the crown is
caused. Each year’s circlet of fronds as it decays leaves the
bases of its stems upon the crown of the plant. These stem-
bases, rising each year one stage higher, gradually heighten
the crown, the various sets of fronds all leaving their lower
parts in continuation of the process. We have already seen
that this process is carried on oftentimes, where the con-
Cc
18 THE FERN WORLD
ditions of growth are favourable, until the stem of the Fern
is raised, as in the gigantic cryptogamic growths of the
forest, to a height of as much as fifty feet. And from the
crown of the plant at this height continue to be thrown out,
as before, a beautiful circlet of fronds. There are some
British Ferns which exhibit this same tendency to an
elongation of the caudex, and one species exhibits a tree-like
"stem, which is often raised two feet or more from the ground.
But the absence of the extreme heat and moisture of tropical
climates prevents the stems of the majority of our native
Ferns from exceeding the moderate length of two or three
inches. From the crown of the caudex, and from various
points along the upper side of the rhizoma—in Ferns with
creeping stems—spring the fronds. These consist of two
distinct parts, which may be generally likened to a stalk and
a leaf. What would correspond in an ordinary plant to a
stalk is m Ferns named a sttpes—plural stipides—whilst
the upper portion, or the leafy expansion, is carried upon an
extension of the stipes called a rachis—plural rachides.
Tn compound fronds the continuation of the stipes, or the
mid-rib of the frond, is called the primary rachis. If the
leaf be divided, with divisions having mid-ribs branching
out on each side from the rachis, these mid-ribs become each
a secondary rachis. We return, however, to the stipes, or
stalk, of the frond. There is very considerable variety in
the Jength and appearance of the stipes in the various kinds
of Ferns. Sometimes it is so short that the lower leafy
portion of the frond almost touches the crown of the root-
stock. Sometimes it is of considerable length, and indeed
there are varying and intermediate degrees of length in the
different species. The colour and thickness also vary.
Sometimes the stipes is thin and delicate; sometimes stout
and fleshy. In some species it is bared of any covering ; in
others it is densely or sparsely covered with various-coloured,
STRUCTURE Ig
chaffy-textured scales. Sometimes it is extremely brittle
and herbaceous, and sometimes tough. Amongst the most
beautiful forms of the stipes in Ferns are those which are
clothed with scales. Occasionally they are so thickly covered
that when they grow up in a close circlet around the crown
they give a curios cup-shaped appearance to the plant, the
inside of the cup being a mass of downy scales. The stipes
tapers from its base, the rachis also getting smaller towards
the apex of the leafy portion of the frond. Both consist
generally of tissue—in fibro-vascular bundles—which is
mostly of a very succulent nature.
We now come to the leafy, or most beautiful and graceful,
part of the frond. Here, in the form and colouring of the
various species, we find almost infinite variations. The
explanation of all the differences observable in these ex-
quisite organs of Ferns would fill a large volume. Some-
times the leafy portion of a frond is simple and undivided
in form, presenting the appearance of an even-edged leaf.
Sometimes the leafy portion, though undivided, has its
margin beautifully cut in, or indented, the indentation
assuming various shapes, often being deeply incised. In
other cases the incisions reach down to the rachis, or mid-rib,
of the frond. From this form there is an almost infinite
variety of divisions of the frond, the rachis, or mid-rib,
giving origin to secondary mid-ribs, and these to others
branching from them, and so on, each mid-rib bearing its
leaflet, or series of leaflets, and the leaflets bearing their
more or less indented lobes.
The various divisions of the fronds of Ferns can, however,
be most readily understood by the use of two or three simple
terms applied in the descriptions of botanists. Where a frond
is a single undivided leaf, without any indentations in its
margin, it is termed simple. If it has a single leaf, deeply
incised, but the incisions not reaching down to the rachis,
ee
20 THE FERN WORLD
its form is described as being pinnatifid, the expression
being derived from two Latin words—pinna, ‘a feather,’
and jfindo, ‘I cleave.’ Should the incisions reach quite
down to the rachis, so as to entirely separate the leafy
divisions, the frond is called pinnate, and each division is a
pinna, becoming pinne in the plural. If, in the same way,
the pinne are again divided, the term bi-pinnate is applied
to the frond. When this mode of division is continued
through another stage, the frond is termed fri-pinnate. If
the frond be more than thrice divided, it is described as
being de-compound. A pinnule is the next subdivision of a
pinna, and a lobe the division of a pinnule.
It is the fronds of Ferns which afford the most ready
means of distinguishing them from other plants, and the
signs of distinction are principally two. The first which
may be noticed is the curious way in which fronds are,
not folded, but rolled in. When they first start from the
crown, they have somewhat the appearance, as they push
above it, of a nest of little scaly balls. As they grow
upwards, they look like scrolls in process of unrolling, or
like the uncoiling of a watch-spring. If the frond be simple
and undivided, the unrolling upwards goes on until the
whole stipes and leafy portion have been rolled outwards
from the base of the stipes to the apex of the frond. If it
be a pinnate, bipinnate, or tripinnate frond, the pinne,
pinnules, and lobes are similarly rolled out from their bases
to their apices. It is curious to note in the compound fronds
that the processes of unrolling in their upper parts and in
their lower or basal pinne-take place almost simultaneously ;
for.so soon as the first upward unrolling in the direction
indicated by the stipes and the principal rachis has liberated
the lowest pinnw, these commence to unroll, whilst the
primary unrolling is continuing upwards: and the next and
succeeding pinne above the lowest commence one after the
STRUCTURE aI
other, as they are alternately unrolled, the same process.
Tn the same way also, so soon as the pinne, beginning with
the lowest, which are always, as we have seen, the first to be
liberated, are left free from the principal coil of the frond,
they, if compound—ie. containing pinnules and lobes—set in
motion the same process, the first unrolling taking place—
the rolling being always from base to apex either of pinnule
or lobe—at that part of the pinna next the principal rachis.
The unrolling by alternation goes on in the same manner
throughout the whole length of the frond, the highest pinne
being the last to be unrolled. Briefly, then, the process
may, as we have seen, be described to be—in fronds other
than those which are simple—the unrolling of the principal
coil from base to apex, followed in alternation by the lateral
and perpendicular unrolling of pinne, pinnule, and lobe.
The chaffy and various-coloured—though usually brown
or rust-coloured—scales, which, as we have noticed, are
frequently found clothing the stipides of Ferns, are, in a
number of the species, continued along the backs of the
rachis and its branches sometimes covering the entire under-
surface of the fronds, and giving to them, in such cases, a
remarkably hairy or shaggy appearance. In some of the
species the scales give a singularly beautiful appearance to
the fronds. As to the size and arrangements of these scales,
they are found to be largest at the base of the stipes, getting
smaller upwards, and being smallest at the highest point of
the primary rachis, and at the points furthest from the bases
of its branches.
We have now to indicate the characters which especially
serve to distinguish Ferns from other plants. Under what
is called the ‘natural system’ of botany the vegetable king-
dom is divided into two great groups of plants, namely,
flowering and flowerless plants. At the head of this latter
division stand the Ferns. These beautiful plants, however,
22 THE FERN WORLD
though flowerless, are seed-bearing. But they do not get
their seeds, like other plants, through the medium of flowers,
for the curious fact is that their seeds or spores are always,
under a very beautiful but singular arrangement, borne
either upon the backs or on the edges of their fronds. The
vegetable tissue of which the fronds of Ferns are composed
is traversed by a series of veins arranged sometimes in
parallel lines, sometimes being forked in various ways, and at
other times variously radiating from the bases to the edges
of the pinne, pinnules, or lobes. The seed-clusters are
generally borne upon or attached to the veins at the backs
of the fronds, although in some instances the receptacle—the
name of that portion of the veins to which the spore cases
are attached—is projected beyond the edge of the fronds.
The particular form and position of these seed-clusters
serve as a means of classifying Ferns, or enabling them to
be grouped in accordance with a convenient arrangement.
When they are borne upon the back of the frond they are
usually arranged either in lines or in heaps. Sometimes
they are arranged in a double row along each side of and
parallel with the mid-ribs of the pinne ; sometimes in double
rows on each side of the mid-veins of the pinnules; and
sometimes they form two lines which meet at an angle on
each pinnule, the point of union of the lines being towards
the apex of the pinnule. In other cases they form oblique
lines on each side of the mid-veins, the lines starting from
near the mid-veins and proceeding outwards to the edges of
the pinnules. Sometimes they almost completely cover the
under-surface of the pinnules of the frond, whilst occasionally
they are in turn themselves concealed by a dense cloud of
seales which thickly cover them. Again, in some cases they
are borne along the outer edges of the under-surface of the
pinnules or of the lobes of the pinne, and sometimes, as we
have seen, they are projected beyond the leaf margins.
STRUCTURE 23
The manner in which the spores are collected on the backs
of the frond is extremely curious and beautiful. They are
contained in little cases which are known by the name of
sporangia—singular, sporangium, which means ‘a spore
vessel.’ The sporangium is of a thin or horny texture—
sometimes semi-transparent, and sometimes opaque—usually
consisting of a single cell, and generally either globe-shaped,
pear-shaped, or oval. Sometimes it is furnished with a very
short stalk. There are two kinds of sporangia in Ferns, the
one kind—including the great majority of known Ferns—
being surrounded by a jointed elastic ring which passes round
the sporangium, either in a horizontal, a vertical, or an
oblique direction, whilst the other kind is altogether destitute
of aring. The collection or cluster of spore cases is often
arranged under the protection of a scale-like covering called
the indusiwm. Where this organ is present, it continues to
cover the clusters of spore cases until the development of the
latter bursts the membranous scale. Each separate cluster
of spore cases whether covered or not, is called a sorws, from
a Greek word which means ‘a heap’—plural sori. Some
Ferns, however, have no indusia over their sporangia, the
latter being naked or non-indusiate. When the sori are what
is termed marginal, that is to say, when they grow along the
extreme outer edges of the backs of the pinnules, it often
happens that the leafy margin of the pinnule is turned back
to cover them and to serve as an indusium.
In the case of those Ferns whose sori are covered by
indusia we have seen that the growth of the spore cases
acting upon the indusia bursts the margins of the latter,
which are then either wholly or partially thrown off. Subse-
quently the bands or jointed rings which encircle the spore
cases either vertically, horizontally, or obliquely, are burst by
the elasticity of the rings, and the fine dust-like spores are
dispersed. Sometimes the indusiim takes the form of a cup
24 THE FERN WORLD
“
or urn in which the spore cases are contained, and which in
the same way at the proper season liberates the latter by
bursting.
Some Ferns possess two kinds of fronds, barren and fruit-
ful, the former bearing spores, and the latter being without
them. In some instances the two kinds of fronds are not
distinguishable from each other. But in other instances the
form of the fruitful frond materially differs from the barren
one. The relative lengths of the stipes and of the leafy
portion in fronds vary considerably in different species.
Sometimes they are equal, sometimes the stipes is much
longer than the leafy part of the frond, and sometimes the
contrary is the case.
CHAPTER IY.
CLASSIFICATION,
A DEEPLY interesting study is here opened up for the lover
of Ferns. These beautiful plants do not consist of a con-
fused mass of individuals, possessing no resemblance to one
another, and having no characters in common. They bear
such distinct relationship to each other as to admit of their
being arranged systematically into various large and small
groups.
If we regard the whole Fern world as itself but a class in
the sub-kingdom of cryptogamic plants, we shall find that this
class will admit of being further divided, according to certain
well-marked characters of the groups composing it, into orders.
The orders, in turn, admit of further grouping into genera—
singular genus, the latter into species, and species into
varieties. Let us, for the moment, lose sight of the minute
division of our flowerless plants into varieties, and regard
only that aggregation of individual plants which is termed a
species. A species, then, includes an assemblage of indi-
viduals, which, generally speaking, may be said to closely
resemble each other. The accidental circumstance of size may
temporarily prevent actual or immediate resemblance. But
it is assumed, for the sake of the comparison here instituted,
that two individual plants of the same species, of the same
age, and growing under precisely the same conditions, are
alike. If between individuals so closely resembling each other
there are certain minor, though well-defined and tolerably
26 THE FERN WORLD
constant distinctions, these constitute what are called varieties.
Ascending, however, from the collections of individuals
which we range under species, we come to what is called a
genus—a term which includes one or more—generally more
than one—species. A collection of species having certain
marked and important points in their structure in common
constitutes a genus, and an assemblage of genera, differing in
many respects from each other, but still having certain features
in common, constitutes an order. By such a method ot
arrangement or classification we are enabled to group the
inhabitants of the Fern world, and exhibit the relationship
which exists between them.
It will now be interesting to inquire what are the points
of resemblance or of disagreement which suggest the inclu-
sion or the exclusion of certain forms of Fern life under or
from particular orders or groups. Before the time of the
great Swedish naturalist, Linneus, a rude and imperfect
system of classifying plants had been adopted. The rougher
features of Ferns, for instance, were selected in order to
facilitate and guide systems of classifying them. When it
was found that there were points of resemblance in the
general appearance of the fronds and in the habits of the
plants, the fact was considered sufficient to warrant their
classification in groups, marked by these general or rough
characterizations.
Linneus, however, and those who followed him, invented
ani perfected between them a system of classifying Ferns
in accordance with the points of resemblance suggested
by the shape and position in the several species of the
seed clusters, which in general pass under the name of
fructification. As the fructification of Ferns takes place
upon some part—either in the middle or at the ends—
of the veins which intersect the leafy substance of the fronds,
the particular character of the veining of the fronds has
CLASSIFICATION 27
formed one means of establishing a basis of classification.
But the chief mode of distinction or association has been
suggested by the presence or by the absence of the scaly
covering of the seed clusters, which, as we have seen, is called
the indusium, as well as by the form of the latter, and the
particular manner in which it may be disrupted when the time
arrives for the ripening and setting free of the spores.
If we take those inhabitants of the Fern world which
are to be found in Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel
Islands, we shall find that the whole of them may, under
the system of classification based on the form and
arrangement of the spore cases, be included under three
principal groups comprehending lesser groups, which, in
their turn, comprise genera, containing a varying number of
species. The primary groups, which, as we have seen, are
three in number, are called—l. Polypodiacezx, a group con-
taining ten lesser groups, including sixteen genera and
forty-one species, and comprising Ferns whose fronds are, on
starting from the crown, found to be rolled up in a circinate
or seroll-like manner, and having their spore cases surrounded
by an elastic ring, which, when it bursts, does so by a
transverse fracture. 2. Osmundacee, comprising in Britain
only one genus, of which there is but one species. The group,
however, comprised under Osmundacez includes Ferns which,
although their young fronds are rolled up like those included
under Polypodiacez, have no elastic ring round their spore
cases, the latter, consisting of two valves, bursting in a
vertical manner. 38. Ophioglossacew, comprising two genera
and three species in Britain, and including Ferns whose
fronds are not rolled in in a cireinate or scroll-like manner,
but are folded up straight, and whose spore cases are—like
the Ferns comprised under Osmundaceze—deprived of an
elastic ring, and two-valved.
CHAPTER V.
DISTRIBUTION.
(Wx have seen that Ferns are distributed all over the surface
of the world, both on continents and islands, with the ex-
ception of the sterile parts of the polar regions! To give,
therefore, in detail a mere list of the numberless localities
in which they are to be found would necessitate the space
which a library of volumes alone could afford; and such a
list could never be complete, because the limits of the Fern
world are continually being extended under the operation of
the almost infinite power of reproduction possessed by those
beautiful plants. Wherever the conditions of existence con-
tinue to be favourable, Fern life is maintained ; and whenever
such conditions are created in localities where they did not
previously exist, there, in course of time,—the interval de-
pending on the proximity of ferny growths,—forms of Fern
life will appear. Hence no mere dry and detailed list of
the habitats of Ferns throughout the world would possess
much permanent utility; and such a list, if full and com-
plete, would, as we have said, vastly exceed the limits
of the present volume. When we come to deal with the
Ferns of the British Isles, we shall anticipate the especial
interest which English readers feel in this particular subject
by including in our chapters, under the heading of each
native species, the counties or districts in which it has been
found ; and to make this list in years to come, and in future
editions of this work, as perfect and complete as it is pos-
DISTRIBUTION 29
sible to be, we would here take the opportunity of inviting
the co-operation of our readers, by asking them to furnish
us with any facts of interest bearing upon any new localities
—not here enumerated—in which Ferns have been found.
The object of this chapter will be to indicate the situations
in which Ferns love to grow, having regard to the general
character or nature of the locality, the aspect, the position in
relation to the surface of the ground, and to the natural
features of the country, and to the nature and constitution of
the soil. If this part of the subject be mastered—and there
is little difficulty in mastering it-—the reader will know,
wherever he may chance to be, whether he is in or near the
confines of any portion of the Fern world; and when once he
has carefully noted his whereabouts, he can easily ascertain
whether the conditions which promote ferny growths are
present or absent.
Ferns are associated with the most beautiful portions of
this world’s surface. The most graceful of Nature’s garments,
they seek to clothe, not the dull expanse of level plain, or the
bare, straight side of hill or mountain. They do not grow
on sandy flats, on the even margin of a sluggish river, or
on the smooth and rockless lines of sea coast. Where the
scorching sun-rays fall unscreened upon arid earth, and
where no shadows relieve the course of a far-reaching ex-
panse of open country, no ferny growths are found. It is
where nature is in her wildest moods, and assumes her
grandest aspects, or where the beauty which is spread over
rock and wood and stream is of that dreamy kind which most
powerfully stirs the imagination and enthrals the soul, that
Ferns are found in the greatest perfection, waving their grace-
ful fronds in response to the mountain breeze, or bending under
the weight of spray drops flung upon them from the impetuous
mountain torrent.
Ferns love to grow where the land is musical with run-
30 THE FERN WORLD
ning water; where great woods fling their shadows upon the
hillside, and hang darkly over stream-crossed valleys; where
rivers, wandering over the crests of towering rocks, and
leaping from the sunlight, fall foaming into dark pools,
bristling below with sharp points of stone, to be carried
thence, in fury, down steep inclines to the sea; where for
long miles the landscape undulates into heathery waves,
broken by clumps of gorse on rocky mounds, sheltered by
prickly hawthorn or trailing sprays of blackberry ; where
undulating meadows, cleft into many a sheltered hollow, roll
gracefully away as far as the eye can reach; where storm-
tossed waves roar upon the rugged points of a rocky coast,
and echo into many a cavernous hollow moist with the per-
petual droppings of percolating water; where, in short,
mountain and valley or hill and glen commingle; and tower-
ing rocks or stately woods, jutting knolls and arching branches
play with sunshine and shadow and caress the sides of run-
ning streams, whose sparkling waters give birth to soft, moist
vapours.
Enough has been said to show that Ferns delight in moist
and shady places, and, thoroughly in keeping with their soft
and graceful habit, they love light and porous soils where
their roots can keep free from stagnancy. On shady slopes
and modest elevations they mostly like to dwell. Fibrous
peat and sand, and the spongy mould of fallen leaves, form
soils in which these plants delight. Through such soils
water always percolates freely ; for stagnant moisture is fatal
to Fern life. Hence the sloping sides of a mound or hedge-
bank ; the crest and sides of rocky elevations; the forks of
trees where leaf mould has accumulated ; the shaded margins
of running brooks or larger streams; the moist caverns in
the sides of cliffs above the tide-mark; the mossy crests of
islets in mid-stream ; the sloping, sheltered hill-sides; even
the moister hollows of the plain, and the bruken depths of
ter.”
ing wa
ical with runni
1s musica.
‘Where! the land
DISTRIBUTION 33
forest glades and forest coverts, are the sites which are most
congenial to ferny forms, and which most readily adapt them-
selves to ferny growths.
It will be seen that the presence of Ferns in any place
assumes the pre-existence 0? conditions favourable to their
growth. They are never found absent from an old forest.
Let us inquire the reason of this, and examine into Nature’s
preparations for their reception. The presence of clustered
trees for a long period of years gives rise to the formation of a
surface soil which is composed of the decomposed remains of
the crops of leaves which, in the deciduous species of trees,
annually fall to the ground, Leaves upon leaves accumu-
lating form the most perfect vegetable mould, and this, built
up upon the porous subsoil and largely intermixed with
the root fibres of plants which have sprung up and died
down each year, constitutes a soil—at once rich, light and
porous—in which Ferns especially delight, The sheltering
canopy of trees, whilst it keeps out the sunlight, keeps
in the moist emanations from the ground, and thus creates
other conditions which are essential to Fern life. Within
a forest the ground is generally uneven and diversified.
Banks of rocks or earth are found scattered about—the
former cleft into various shapes, forming hollows and
crevices of various kinds—the latter mostly covered by
some species of vegetation of dwarf or shrubby growth, and
overarched by the taller growths of the forest. In the
hollows and crevices of the rocks, and upon the top and
sides of the earthy banks leaves perpetually fall and decay,
and in course of time form a leafy soil, which mingles with
crumbling rock or earthy granules, it may be, of sand or
gravel. Upon such places Fern spores drop, and find the
situation suited for them by reason of its moist and sheltered
position, Soil and position being congenial, the spores
develop into plantlets, and these in time into full-grown
34 THE FERN WORLD
Ferns. The conditions which favour their early existence
are maintained. The soil is annually enriched by additional
deposits of leaf-mould, and, the moisture and shelter con-
tinuing, the Ferns grow to maturity, and then spread their
myriad atoms of reproduction, which, wafted to other rocky
holes, moist banks, and old, moist forks of trees, soon fill the
forest with graceful ferny forms, covering sloping banks,
waving from the crowns of pollard trunks, and draping rock
and river with their feathery tresses.
Or take the case of a stream which flows rapidly through
a mountain gorge, or along the boulder-strewn bed of a
valley. Vegetation of large growth—trees or giant shrubs
——will follow the course of such a stream, for its moist
channel is favourable to the development of vegetable life.
The stream brings moisture ; the trees or other growths bring
shelter; the force of the current makes and maintains holes
and fissures in its earthy or rocky bed. These are filled with
leaf-mould from dropping leaves, and with sand and fibres
from the carrying stream. Then Nature begins her work,
and plants her small growths of moss, lichen, and Fern on
the dark moist surfaces of earth or rock. The process of
dwarf-forestry commences, and slowly and surely the whole
ground-plan is draped with a mantle of living green.
Chance, perhaps, has thrown together in mid-stream some
shapeless masses of rock: the water brings down a con-
tingent of broken branches torn from their parent stems by
the force of high winds, or fallen under the process of
natural decay. The jutting masses of stone arrest the
woody fragments, and these in their turn catch the passing
whirl of stream-borne leaves, and dam the earthy substances
washed down from the banks of the stream above. SP > k
Sie S Ss * —- SS .
=< es “WS < . JINN SS ¢
IRN ~ a N aah . ‘ ~ = -
7 i asa Ss ‘ S 5 S >
en o ‘ : i Ss —
SNS —= € Sis
MMM Gy oh
SESE
eS
no
THE FERN WORLD:
JS
1,
THE BRACKEN.
Pieris aquilina.
Prate 2, Fre. 1, Pace 185.
THE most familiar form amongst the inhabitants of the Fern
world naturally claims the foremost place in these chapters
of descriptive enumeration. There are probably very few
people who can say that they have never seen a Fern of any
kind. Those who have had but little opportunity of visiting
the country, and can with difficulty indicate their hazy im-
pression of the points of difference between flowerless and
flowering plants, will perhaps attempt to shield themselves
from a suspicion of entire ignorance of the subject by de-
scribing how and under what circumstances they saw what
they believed to be ‘Ferns.’ If further inquiry be made, it
will generally be found that the ‘Ferns’ thus seen are
‘the common Brakes,’ or Bracken; on some hilly slope; by
the margin of an open stream; under the shelter of a little
wood, or upon the undulating surface of some wide extending
common—briefly noted, perhaps, during a hurried journey, or
during the short leisure of a holiday ramble.
Drscorrprion.—The botanical name of the Bracken conveys
some idea of the form and habit of this Fern: for it might
be freely translated as ‘Hagle’s-wing.’ Pteris is from the
Greek pteron, a wing or feather: aguilina from the Latin
aquila, an eagle. The generic name might apply to most
Ferns, on account of their feathery appearance, but it has an
188 THE FERN WORLD
especially appropriate application to the Bracken if taken in
connexion with its specific name, and understood to indicate
the most noble forms of this plant. But another explanation
of the specific designation aquilinu has been offered. If the
lower portion of the stipes of the Bracken be cut transversely,
a figure will be seen in the centre of the stem, by some
persons likened—and very naturally so—to a miniature oak
tree, but by others to a spread eagle, or to the German
double eagle. We prefer the more picturesque—if more
fanciful — designation of ‘Hagle’s-wing.” The Bracken
attains a length, varying according to favourable or other
conditions of growth, of from one foot to ten or twelve.
It is a deciduous species, the fronds disappeariny on
the approach of winter. They spring from various parts
of a rhizoma, black in colour, succulent in texture, and
velvety to the touch, and having an extensively creeping
habit. It creeps mostly a few inches only underneath the
surface of the soil, but sometimes has been known to grow
at a depth of fifteen feet below the surface. The rhizoma
varies in thickness from that of a small goose-quill to a finger
of the hand, and is provided with somewhat thick and fleshy
rootlets. The fronds—of the length already described—are
more or less divided according to the circumstances of their
growth, In shape they are somewhat triangular. Large
specimens are tri-pinnate, or three times divided. The stipes
—dark in colour under the ground and green above—is a
little more than balf the length of the frond. The rachides,
both primary and secondary, are smooth or roundish on their
under surface, but grooved on the upper surface or at the
front of the frond. On each side of the primary, rachis the
branches or pinn are arranged in pairs—euch nearly oppo-
site the other—of an oblong ege-shape, near the base of the
frond, and tapering as they approach its apex. Arranged in
opposite pairs along on each side of the pinne are lance-
THE BRACKEN 18g
shaped pinnules broadest at their bases, and attached to the
pinne by short stems. The pinnules nearest to the main
rachis are again divided, in luxuriant specimens, into oblong
blunt-pointed lobes, which, however, towards the apices of the
pinnules, are merged into the substance of the latter. The
fronds, pinne, and pinnules are always less divided towards
their apices than at their bases. One curious and charac-
teristic exception to this must however be noted. On each
pinna the pair of pinnules nearest the main rachis of the
frond is generally dwarfed—the pinnule on the upper side of
the mid-rib of the pinna being the smaller of the pair, so
small sometimes as to consist merely of an undivided blunt-
pointed leaflet-—and sometimes absent. Small and stunted
specimens of Bracken are often only twice pinnate, and
in such cases the pinnules, instead of being divided into
distinct and separate lobes, are merely what is called
pinnatifid, or deeply cleft, the lobes being run together
at their bases, Along on each side of the mid-veins of
the lobes are alternate veinlets, which are sometimes once
and sometimes twice forked as they run to the margins
of the lobes. It is along these lobe margins that the
fructification of the Bracken is produced in lines, the in-
dusia or coverings of the spore cases being formed by a
rolling back of the bleached edges of the lobes. When the
spores are ripe the under side of the Bracken has a very
beautiful appearance, the rust-coloured marginal lines of
spore cases meeting at the lobe points in the form of angles,
and finely contrasting with the dark-green colour of the rest
of the frond, From the normal form, which has just been
described, of the Bracken, there are in these Islands about
eight or ten departures or varieties. But this is the only
species which we possess of the genus Pterix, which consists
of Ferns whose sporangia are arranged in continuous lines
on the under edges of the lobes of the fronds, and covered by
N
Igo THE FERN WORLD
indusia, formed of the reflexed or bent buck margins of the
lobes. Our native species occurs at all heights, from the sea
level to two thousand feet above it. ;
DistripuTion.—The Bracken is found throughout Europe,
except towards the extreme north. In Asia it occurs,
amongst other places, in Siberia, Kamtschatka, China, India,
Ceylon, in the oriental Archipelago and in the Philippine
Islands. In Africa, north, east, west, and south, as well as
in a great number of the islands surrounding that vast con-
tinent. It occurs also in the United States of America, in
Canada and California, in Mexico and Guatemala, and in
various parts of South America. It is also found in the
Islands of the seas in various parts of the world. In the
British Islands it is to be found almost everywhere, in many
places literally covering large tracts of ground. It will
erow plentifully even on open downs exposed to the sun, and
where the soil is hard and sandy. But in such places it
becomes dwarfed and stunted. It is under the moist shelter
of woods and on the high and damp embankments of shady
lanes that it attains its greatest perfection, becoming in those
positions an object of extreme grace and beauty.
CuLtuRE.—-Amongst the hardiest of Ferns the Bracken will
grow readily, even in ordinary garden soil. But the soil
which will the best suit it is rich yellow loam with a cover-
ing of leaf-mould. The first possesses the especial advantage
of keeping the rhizomas and rootlets continually damp,
whilst the leaf mould supplies the nutriment which the rain
carries down to the loamy subsoil. The finest specimens of
Bracken—quite a forest of them indeed—we remember to
have found growing in a wood the subsoil of which was
stiff yellow loam, and the surface soil spongy leaf-mould.
In the garden the Bracken must have plenty of room for its
travelling rhizomas, and the position should be moist and
sheltered. Especial care, however, is needed in removing
THE BRACKEN I9gt
it from its native wilds, so that the whole of it may be
taken up uninjured. It is difficult to successfully remove
very large plants, on account of the depths to which their
rhizomas descend into the earth, Small plants are there-
fore the best for removal, and these should if possible be
taken up with a sufficient amount of earth, kept in an un-
broken mass, to prevent any disturbance of the rhizomas or
rootlets. Such plants will soon spread and develop into fine
specimens.
2.
THE HARTSTONGUE.
Scolopendrium vulgare.
Prats 2, Fras. 2 anp 3, Pace 185.
Next to the Bracken the most familiar amongst ferny forms
is the Hartstongue. In some places it is even better known
than the Bracken, on account of the fact that, unlike the
latter, it can withstand the frosts of winter and look fresh and
green throughout the year. It grows on the sides and upon
the tops of sheltered hedge-banks; in moist lanes; in the
damper and darker recesses of woods, loving especially the
shelter of underwood, and a position upon the side or at the top
of little knolls or undulations of the ground. It grows also
upon the sides of moist stony embankments ; upon perpen-
dicular stone walls, or upon the perpendicular sides of wells.
To the walls of an old ruin the Hartstongue frequently adds
a striking element of picturesqueness and beauty. It is
always, however, much smaller in size when growing in open
stony places than when it grows upon moist and sheltered
earth-banks or in shady woods.
Description.—Scolopendrium is derived from Seolopendra,
the name of the centiped, because of a fanciful resemblance
between the singular-looking lines of spore cases at the backs
of the fronds of the Hartstongue and the feet of the centiped.
The specific name vulgare refers to the fact of the plant
being so common and widely distributed. The fronds of the
Hartstongue—which is an evergreen species—rise from a
THE HARTSTONGUE 193
tufted rootstock, the crown of which is slightly elevated
above the surface of the soil. Large plants produce a great
number of fronds. The maximum length of the latter, in-
cluding stipes and leafy portion, is usually stated to be two
feet. But we have ourselves seen fronds of this handsome
Fern three feet long, and we believe it possible that this
length may be exceeded even in these Islands when the
Hartstongue is growing under conditions peculiarly adapted
to its development. When growing on walls, the fronds are
sometimes only an inch or two in length when fully developed ;
and they vary from this length to three feet, according
to the situation of the plant. The stipes is generally
about one-third the length of the entire frond. The leafy
portion of the latter in its normal form is simple or undivided
and tongue-shaped, tapering to a point at its apex, widest at
the centre, narrowing towards its base, but again expanding
into a kind of ear-shaped projection on each side of the rachis
where the latter commences. The base of the leafy portion
of the frond is thus hollowed upwards on each side of the
rachis. The fronds are usually a rich shining green, smooth
and leathery. A very distinct feature is the rachis or mid-
rib, which is carried up in continuation of the stipes, from
the base to the apex of the leafy portion of the frond. It is
thick and elevated into a kind of ridge. From each side of
it run towards the margin of the frond, a series of free veins
once or twice forked. The term ‘free’ as applied to a vein,
indicates that after it leaves the mid-rib—however much it
may itself become forked—it does not run into any neigh-
bouring veins, but proceeds ‘ free’ to the margin of the frond.
The veins run closely together, taking a somewhat oblique—
upward—direction. Their arrangement—a very beautiful
one—can be clearly seen by placing the frond against the
light. Upon certain of them on each side of the rachis, at
the back of the frond, and generally at intervals of about the
194 THE FERN WORLD
eighth of an inch from each other, are the lines of fructitica-
tion. Each line—running in the direction of the veins and
midway between the mid-rib and the edge of the frond—
consists of twin sori, covered when young with a thin whitish
cuticle which is the indusium. As the spore cases ripen, the
indusium splits in the centre and is thrown back. The sori
set face to face, then become confluent, and being brown in
colour look at a distance like brown caterpillars. The fruc-
‘tification is usually confined to the upper two-thirds of the
frond. The width of the latter varies from an inch, or even
less, to two or three inches, according to the length and
development of the plant. The stipes is sometimes of a dark
purplish colour, and the same colour is frequently continued
along the rachis. Both stipes and rachis are furnished—the
former often abundantly—with rust-coloured scales. If these
are examined with a powerful magnifying glass, it will be
seen that their substance is beautifully reticulated. The
rootlets of the Hartstongue are long, fibrous, and abundant.
It is of course the normal form of the plant which has been
described. This form, however, is subject to the most
extraordinary variation. Nearly five hundred distinct
varieties—which assume almost every conceivable shape—
have actually been named and described in the British Islands
alone ; and no doubt there are many undiscovered variations
which would still further swell the number. When once
the eye is familiarized with the form and habit of the Harts-
tongue, however, there will be no difficulty in recognizing
the varieties. Merely to enumerate and describe them would
fill a small volume. The species rulgare is the only one
which we possess of the genus Scolopendriwm, which includes
Ferns having on the backs of their fronds elongated clusters
of sporangia, running parallel with and close to each other,
and covered by indusia, which when the spores are ripened,
split down the centre longitudinally and between the twin sori.
THE HARTSTONGUE 195
Disrrizution.—The Hartstongue is to be found—from
the sea level up to six hundred feet above it—in almost
every country throughout Europe. In Africa it occurs in
Algeria ; also in the Azores, and in the island of Madeira.
Jn Asia, it is found in Erzeroum, in Persia, in the Ural
Mountains, and in the Caucasian Mountains. It inhabits,
though somewhat sparingly, the United States of America.
It occurs in every county of England, in some localities being
extremely abundant. In Wales it is found in Anglesea, and
in the counties of Brecknock, Carmarthen, Carnarvon, Den-
bigh, Glamorgan, and Pembroke. It is not so abundant in
Scotland, but nevertheless occurs in Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire,
Berwickshire, Dumfriesshire, Edinburghshire, Fifeshire,
Forfarshire, Kincardineshire, Kirkeudbrightshire, Lanark-
shire, Morayshire, Nairnshire, Renfrewshire, Sutherland-
shire, and Wigtonshire; also in the Isles of Islay, Orkney,
Shetland, and Skye. In Ireland it is found—often most
abundant and beautifully developed—in the counties of
Antrim, Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny ; in
King’s County, Limerick, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, and
Wicklow. It abounds in the Channel Islands, and is also
found in the Isle of Wight and in the Isle of Man.
CuLtTunr.—Shade, moisture at the roots, and a moist
atmosphere are essential for promoting the finest develop-
ment of the Hartstongue. It can be grown on rockwork in
the open air, on a shady bank in the open garden, in the
green-house, or in pots in the house. Small plants can be
grown in a closed Fern case. The simple form of its rich-
looking fronds makes it indispensable for providing a con-
trast to the more feathery fronds of other species of Ferns.
The best soil for it is a compost, consisting half of yellow
sandy loam, and half of rich peat and leaf-mould, mixed in
equal quantities. It must be well drained at its roots. In
planting, care should be taken to fix it firmly in the soil,
196 THE FERN WORLD
with the upper part of the crown well elevated. Within
reach of the spray of a fountain, or shadily placed amidst
stones on a bank overhanging water, it becomes a singularly
beautiful object, its fronds seeming to revel in the moist
atmosphere which surrounds them under such circumstances,
The rootstock of the Hartstongue can be divided with a
sharp knife into three or four pieces, so cut, that each
portion retains an equal share of the caudex and two or
three fronds. Each portion thus detached will grow if
separately planted.
198 THE FERN WORLD
INDEX TO PLATE 3:
Fig. 1. Lapy Fern
[Athyrium filix-femina]
2. Marre Fern
[Lastrea filix-mas |
Page Missing
n Pp | nti Nn Q an d
Binding
Page Missing
in Printing and
Binding
3.
THE LADY FERN.
Athyrium filix-femina.
Puate 3, Fie. 1, Pace 199.
‘ Not by burn, in wood, or dale,
Grows anything so fair
As the plumy crests of emerald pale
That wave in the wind, or sough in the gale,
Of the Lady Fern, when the sunbeams turn
To gold her delicate hair.’
Ports may fairly claim the right to describe the Lady Fern ;
for this beautiful plant is unquestionably the fairest and
most delicately graceful of ferny forms, whether large or
small. Those who would see this charming member of the
Fern family must—
‘Hie to haunts right seldom seen,
Lovely, lonesome, cool, and green,
Over bank and over brae
Hie away, hie away.’
They must go—
‘Where the copsewood is the greenest,
Where the fountains glisten sheenest,
Where the morning dew lies longest,’
for—
‘There the Lady Fern grows strongest,’
arching outwards its delicate fronds, whose feathery tips bend
gracefully downwards, as if to return to the earth or stream
below, with grateful acknowledgments, the silvery dew-drops
202 THE FERN WORLD
which have distilled upon them. It will be supposed from
what has been said, that it is in the most moist and cool of
moist and cool situations that the Lady Fern is to be found
—on the shadowed banks of running streams, where the
passing water dashes amongst stones and fills the air with
spray ; between the projecting stones at the sides and at the
feet. of waterfalls; in the dampest hollows of woods and
coppices where the ground is saturated by oozing water; or
upon the damp sides of shady hedge-banks; but, wherever
growing, always adding a singular charm to its surroundings,
Duscription.—The delicately beautiful aspect of this
plant has suggested its common name of ‘Lady Fern,’ and
its specific name of filia-foemina. Its generic name, Athyrium,
is derived from a Greek word, athyros, ‘opened,’ and refers to
the opening out of the indusium when it has been burst by
the growth of the spore cases. The rootstock of the Lady
Fern is thick and tufted, generally raised somewhat above
the soil, and it has an abundance of fibrous rootlets. From
the crown of the rootstock grow up a mass of light-green
herbaceous fronds, which vary in length according to the
position of the plant, from a foot to as many as five feet.
The stipides are usually about one-third the entire length of
the fronds, light green or yellowish in colour, but sometimes
purple, and furnished with a few scales at their bases. They
are very brittle and herbaceous. The fronds are lance-
shaped, tapering towards the base and towards the apex, and
widest about the centre. They are bi-pinnate, the pinne—
lance-shaped and tapering—placed in pairs on opposite sides
of the rachis—which is channelled throughout on its upper
side—or alternately along it on each side towards the apex.
The pinne are divided into serrated pinnules, somewhat
oblong and blunt pointed, and usually placed in pairs along
on opposite sides of the mid-stems, each pair becoming
smaller towards the apices of the pinne, until their distinc-
THE LADY FERN 203
tiveness is lost. In the same way the distinctiveness of the
pairs of pinnae becomes lost at the apex of the frond. The
veining of the pinnules can be very clearly seen if the frond
be examined against the light. The mid-vein of each pinnule
takes a wavy course from base to apex. From it proceed
alternate venules, sometimes single and sometimes forked—
terminating in the segments of the pinnule. Upon these
venules the spore cases are clustered in roundish or kidney-
shaped heaps, generally midway between the edges of the
pinnules and the mid-veins, and on each side of the latter.
The clusters, or sori, are so arranged that they look to the
naked eye like lines of little brownish spots—five or six in
each line—running parallel with and on each side of the mid-
veins. They are covered at first by kidney-shaped indusia,
which are fringed on the side towards the mid-veins of the
pinnules, and which as the spore cases grow and become ripe
burst and liberate them, and are then thrown back and
disappear. If the sori be then examined with a powerful
glass it will be seen that they are little heaps of shining,
roundish, or pear-shaped cases of a light-reddish, chaffy
colour, in which are contained the minute dust-like spores.
In the British Islands alone there are no less than three
hundred variations from the normal form of the Lady Fern
which has been described, each of which bears a separate
Latin name, and many of which—the Ferns, not the Latin
names—are extremely beautiful. It will be a delightful
occupation for the Fern lover to hunt for all the varieties of
normal species of these beautiful plants. But it is not
necessary to burden the memory with a Latin name for each
variety, especially if it be remembered that varieties are to a
large extent merely accidental departures from the normal
forms, and frequently do not preserve their peculiarities
under cultivation. All the varieties of the Lady Fern are
deciduous, their fronds disappearing on the icy approach of
204 THE FERN WORLD
winter. Filix-fwmina is, however, our only native species of
the genus Athyrium, which consists of Ferns distinguished
by having kidney-shaped indusia attached by one side to
the frond, whilst the other side is free and fringed with little
hairy segments.
Distripution.—The Lady Fern is found at various eleva-
tions reaching to three thousand feet above the sea in each
of the four quarters of the world. In Europe it inhabits,
besides the British Islands, Belgium, Crete, Croatia, France,
Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Lapland,
Portugal, Russia, Scandinavia, Spain, Switzerland, and
Transylvania. It occursin the islands of the Mediterranean ;
in the Caucasus andin the Ural Mountains; in India and
Russian Asia; in Algiers; in the Canary group of islands,
and in Madeira. It is found throughout North America,
including British Columbia, Canada, and the United States.
It occurs in Vera Cruz and in Cuba, as well as in the northern
part of South America, including Venezuela; also in Bolivia.
It is also found in Australia. In England it occurs in
the counties of Bedford, Berks, Buckingham, Cambridge,
Cornwall, Cumberland, Derby, Dorset, Devon, Durham,
Essex, Gloucester, Hants (Gncluding the Isle of Wight),
Hereford, Hertford, Kent, Lancaster, Leicester, Monmouth,
Norfolk, Northumberland, Nottingham, Oxford, Rutland,
Salop, Somerset, Stafford, Suffolk, Sussex, Warwick, West-
moreland, Worcester, Wilts, and York. In Wales it occurs
in Anglesea, Brecknockshire, Carmarthenshire, Carnarvon-
shire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Glamorganshire, Mont-
gomeryshire, and Pembrokeshire. In Scotland it is found in
Aberdeenshire, Argyleshire, Banffshire, Caithness, Cromarty,
Clackmannanshire, Dumbartonshire, Dumfriesshire, Edin-
burghshire, Fifeshire, Forfarshire, Invernessshire, Kirkcud-
brightshire, Lanarkshire, Morayshire, Perthshire, Renfrew-
shire, Roxburghshire, Stirlingshire, Sutherlandshire ; in the
THE LADY FERN 205
Isles of Arran, Cantire, Harris, Islay, Lewis, Orkney, and
North Uist. In Ireland it inhabits—being often very plen-
tiful where it occurs—the counties of Antrim, Clare, Cork,
Dublin, Galway, and Kerry; King’s County, Kilkenny,
Killarney, Louth, Limerick, and Waterford. It also inhabits
the Channel Islands.
Cutrure.—Though one of the most delicately-beautiful of
our native Ferns, Athyrium filiw-fomina is one of the most
vigorous growers, and in a certain sense one of the most
hardy. It will grow anywhere provided it can secure perfect
shade and abundant moisture—on the open rockery, in pots,
or under glass. A soil of peat and light sandy loam in equal
proportions, with a further admixture of leaf-mould equal to
one-fourth of the whole will admirably answer its require-
ments. It loves best the foot of a rockery, and it must have
plenty of room to display its exquisite fronds. Amongst
stones at the base of a fountain, within reach of the spray, or
at the shadowy mouth of a grotto or cavern where moisture
drops upon it, it will find an especially congenial place. If
kept in a pot the latter should stand in a saucer of water.
The moist atmosphere of the Fern house, subterranean
garden, or case, will also promote its vigorous growth, and.
aid its most perfect development.
206 THE FERN WORLD
INDEX TO PLATE 4.
Fig 1. Royat FERN
(Osmunda regalis|
2, Hay-SCENTED BucKLER FERN
[Lastrea recurva]
“THE FERN WORLD’ PLATE 4.
4.
THE HARD FERN.
Blechnum Spicant.
Puate 2, Fias. 4 anp 5, Pace 185.
Lovine to grow in just such situations as those in which
lthyvium filix-femina delights, the Hard Fern will often be
found in company with the latter, affording with it, however,
a contrast so marked as to be striking. Upon embankments
soddened by trickling water from some higher ground above ;
on the water-soaked bed of a wood; upon a wet and sheltered
stream bank; among stones ut the foot of a fountain, this
Fern is mostly found, sometimes however occupying a drier
situation. We have seen it for miles, for instance, crowding
the lower sides of hedge-banks skirting the high roads, But
it is always grandest in form and development when its roots
are soaked in moisture, and its glossy fronds are made yet
more glossy by being bathed in an atmosphere of moisture.
Descriprtion.—From the generic name of this handsome
Fern we derive little which is descriptive. Blechnum is from
the Greek Bleehnon, which only means ‘a Fern.’ The word
spicant, ‘spiked,’ however, at once gives us the idea of the
true character of the Hard Fern. ‘The hard, spiked Fern’
it might appropriately be called. It has in general a some-
what thin though tough rootstock, with an abundance of wiry
rootlets. From its crown grow two kinds of fronds—barren
and fruitful, the latter being always longer and sometimes
double as long as the former. The sterile fronds according
Oo
210 THE FERN WORLD
to the situation of the plant grow from six inches to two
feet, and the fertile fronds from twelve inches to three feet in
length. The stipes of the barren frond is seldom more than
one-fourth the length of the entire frond, and sometimes not
more than one-sixth or one-seventh its length. It is of a
reddish-brown or purplish colour, having a few chaffy scales
of the same colour, though sometimes darker, at its base. The
leafy portion is narrow and lance-shaped, varying from about
half an inch to two inches broad—according to the length of
the frond—where it is widest at its centre, tapering to a point
at its apex, and tapering even more rapidly downwards. The
rachis is mostly green, channelled throughout its upper side,
rounded underneath. On each side of it, almost—at first
appearance—in opposite pairs, but really in alternation, is a
row of pinnules, narrow, oblong, and almost straight-edged,
with blunt ends distinctly widened at their bases, and attached
by the whole width of the latter, and not by stems, and some-
times run together at their bases. The frond in fact has very
much the appearance of a double comb. As we have seen, the
pinnules decrease in length towards the apex of the frond,
retaining, however, until they are merged into a sort of leaty
point, their oblong form. But towards the base the pinnules
dwindle to little roundish lobes often no bigger than a pin’s
head. The venation consists of a principal vein running
down the lobes from their bases to their apices, and of forked
venules branching out on each side from the mid-veins to
the margins of the lobes, where they terminate in a kind of
club-shaped head. The fertile fronds have very much the
same general outline shape as the barren ones. The dis-
tinction between the two consists in the greater length of the
former, and the narrowness or contraction of the pinnules,
which are not more than the twelfth of an inch wide. The
venation of the pinnules is the same as in the barren fronds.
The spore cases are borne in lines along on each side of the
THE HARD FEKN 211
mid-veins of the pinnules, and at their earliest stage of growth
are distinct ; but as they develop they become confluent and
cover the entire under-surface of the pinnules. They are
covered by indusia which, as the spore cases become ripe,
burst on the side nearest the mid-rib of the pinnule, and are
thrown back, adhering however to the edge of the latter. At
this stage the whole under side of the fertile frond is covered
by rich brown masses of seed, giving to it a velvety
wppearance. The stipes of the fertile frond is about half the
length of the leafy portion, and it, as well as the rachis, is of
i purplish colour. In the barren fronds the pinnules are
frequently pinnatifid, but in the fertile ones they are never
so, being what is called simply pinnate. The texture of both
fronds is thick and leathery ; the barren ones being mostly of
a glossy green, and drooping around the taller and more
erect fruitful spikes which rise up in the centre of the barren
clusters. The latter are evergreen, but the fruitful spikes
disappear, as soon as they have shed their ripened spores,
on the approach of winter. There have been discovered no
less than seventy departures from the normal form of this
Fern; but this species is the only one in Britain of the genus
Blechnum, which consists of Ferns having their spore cases
borne at the backs of the pinnules in straight lines midway
between the mid-veins of the pinnules and the edges of the
latter, and protected by linear indusia.
DisTRIBUTION.—From the sea level to a height of four
thousand feet above it, this Fern is found to grow. It occurs
very generally throughout the countries of Europe ; in Japan ;
in the north of Africa as well as in the south at the Cape of
Good Hope ; also in the Azores, in the Canary group, and in
the island of Madeira; in the north-west of America, in
the Chilian province of South America, and in Australia.
In England it is widely distributed, occurring in the following
counties: Bedford, Berks, Cambridge, Chester, Cornwall,
o 2
212 THE FERN WORLD
Cumberland, Derby, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex,
Gloucester, Hants (including the Isle of Wight), Hereford,
Hertford, Kent, Lancaster, Lincoln, Leicester, Middlesex,
Monmouth, Northampton, Norfolk, Northumberland, Not-
tingham, Oxford, Rutland, Salop, Somerset, Stafford, Suffolk,
Surrey, Sussex, Warwick, Westmoreland, Wilts, Worcester,
and York. In Wales it is found in the counties of Anglesea,
Brecknock, Carmarthen, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Gla-
morgan, Merioneth, and Pembroke. In Scotland it is
an inhabitant of Aberdeenshire, Argyleshire, Banffshire,
Berwickshire, Caithness, Clackmannanshire, Cromarty,
Dumfriesshire, Dumbartonshire, Edinburghshire, Fifeshire,
Forfarshire, Inverness-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Kincardine-
shire, Kinross-shire, Lanarkshire, Morayshire, Perthshire,
Renfrewshire, Roxburghshire, and Sutherlandshire, of the
Orkney and Shetland Isles, and of the Isles of Arran, Cantire,
Harris, Islay, Lewis, and North Uist. In Treland it occurs
in the counties of Antrim, Clare, Cork, Down, Dublin,
and Galway (including the Arran Isles); in King’s County,
Limerick, Mayo, Tipperary, Waterford, and Wicklow. It is
also found in Jersey and Guernsey.
CtuLturE.—The handsome evergreen fronds of this Fern
and its hardy nature render it a most desirable acquisition to
the open rockery. It may also be grown in pots or under
glass. But in the latter case it is suitable rather for the more
roomy Fern house, than for the small Fern case, although
small specimens, and the smaller varieties of the normal form
of Blechuum spicunt, make pretty ornaments for rockery in
small cases. But absolute shade and abundant moisture
both for roots and fronds are essential for this Fern. The
lower tiers of an out-door rockery are the most suitable, and
the aspect in which it is placed should be northern. We
have found some of the finest specimens of Blechium grow-
ing in stiff reddish or yellowish loam, and sometimes in
THE HARD FERN 213
wovds, in a shallow bed of leaf-mould, upon a sub soil of
clay. Hence in cultivation half the compost may with
advantage consist of stiff yellow loam, whilst the other half
may be made up, in equal proportions of peat, leafsnould
and sand; or the Fern may be planted with its ultimate
rootlets touching a stratum of stiff loam or light clay, whilst
the surface soil may consist of pure leaf-mould. The position
which, as to shade and dripping moisture, will best suit the
Lady Fern will be found admirably to accommodate Blechnum
spicant,
5.
THE ROYAL FERN.
Osmunda regalis.
Puate 4, Fig. 1, Pace 207.
Amonest the most moisture-loving of our native species Is
this noble Fern. It loves excessive moisture for its roots,
growing indeed in greatest perfection in bog soil. It is
especially fond of inhabiting the sheltered banks of streams ;
and at the lakes of Killarney it attains the grandest form
which it has ever been known to assume in these Islands.
In small lake islands it sometimes takes entire possession of
the ground; anda legend has been handed down from the
time of the Danish invasions of Britain, explanatory of the
generic name of Osmunda—an island, covered with large
specimens of this Fern, figuring prominently in the story.
Oxsmund, the ferryman of Loch Tyne, had a beautiful child,
who was the pride of his life and the joy of his heart. In
those days, when the merciless Danes were making their
terrible descents upon our coasts, slaughtering the peaceful
inhabitants and pillaging wherever they went, no man could
say how long he would be free from molestation and outrage.
But Osmund, throughout the troublous times, had lived
peacefully with his wife and beautiful daughter. The
peaceful calm of his life was, however, destined to be broken.
One evening the ferryman was sitting, with his wife and
child, on the margin of the lake, after his day’s work. The
setting sun was tinging with roseate glory the fleecy banks
THE ROYAL FERN 215
of cloud, piled up against the horizon, silvering the surface
of the rippling lake and adding a richer hue to the golden
locks of Osmund’s darling child. Suddenly the sound of
hurrying footsteps startled the quiet group. Men, women,
and children came running from the neighbouring village,
and, breathlessly, as they passed, they told the ferryman that
the terrible Danes were coming. Quick as thought Osmund
sprang to his feet, seized his wife and child, and hurried
them into his ferry boat. Away he rowed with them—
pulling for very life—in the direction of a small island in
the loch, densely covered with the tall and stately fronds of
the Royal Fern. He quickly hid his precious charges
amongst the clustering fronds, and then rowed rapidly back
to his ferry place. He had rightly divined that the Danes
needed his assistance, and would not hurt him. For many
hours of the ensuing night he worked with might and main
to carry the fierce invaders across the ferry. When they
had all disappeared on the opposite bank, Osmund returned
to his trembling wife and child, and brought them safely
back to his cottage. In commemoration, it is said, of this
event the fair daughter of Osmund gave the great island
Fern her father’s name. Those who care not to accept this
fanciful origin of the name Osmunda, will perhaps incline to
the suggestion which has been made, that the generic name
had been derived from an old Saxon word signifying strength,
the specific name indicating its royal or stately habit of
growth.
DescripTion.—The largest of our native species, Osmunda
regalix, more nearly than any other amongst them, approaches
the form of a tree Fern. It grows from a height of two or
three feet to twelve. The caudex or rootstock is stout and
tufted, and in old and finely-developed plants it is raised to
a height of two feet or more from the ground, in this
particular more especially resembling the habit of a tree
216 THE FERN WORLD
Fern. From the crown of the rootstock is thrown up a
cluster of fronds of a dull yellowish green, with a stipes—
about the same length as the leafy portion—of a sort of hay
colour. The form of the fronds is broadly lance-shaped,
and they are of two kinds, barren and fertile, twice pinnate,
having rachides the same colour as the stipides, and channelled
along their upper sides. The pinne in the barren fronds are
arranged in pairs along the rachis, almost opposite each
other. They are longest at the base, decreasing in length
as they approach the apex of the frond, where they become
merged into simple pinnules. Along on each side of the
pinne arezrows of pinnules attached to the mid-stems of the
pinne—the secondary rachides—by very short stalks, which
are in reality a continuation of the mid-stems, and placed
each somewhat distant from the other. Sometimes the
pinnules are placed along the pinne in opposite pairs, and
sometimes in alternation on the opposite sides, largest and
longest near the main rachis of the frond, and getting
eradually smaller towards the points of the pinne, where
the pinnules merge into a single, pointed lobe. The pinnules
are oblong, blunt-pointed, from about an inch to three inches
long, according to the size of the plant, and from about a
third of an inch to half an inch or more broad. The venation
consists of a mid-vein, from which—on each side—branch to
the margin of the pinnule a series of venules once or twice
forked, and running nearly parallel with each other. The
fertile frond differs from the barren one in having the
pinnules of the highest of its wpper pairs of pinne con-
tracted, and bearing upon their margins, attached to the
system of veins, spore cases whic]: aro somewhat globular in
form, stalked, and two-valved. These spore cases cluster so
thickly on the contracted leaflets or pinnules as to give to
them, when brown and ripe, somewhat the appearance of a
flower spike. Hence the name of ‘Flowering Fern,’ which
THE ROYAL FERN 217
is often, though of course erroneously, given to this species.
Sometimes in the fruitful fronds the fertile pinnules are not
confined to their upper portions, or even to the upper portion
of any of the pinnules, for the bases or the middle parts of
pinnules which are in other respects barren, are sometimes
contracted, and what is called sporiferous or spore-bearing.
The venation in the fruitful fronds is the same, as in the
pinnules of the barren fronds, the only difference being that
in the former the mid-veins are the only veins which are
fully developed. Osmunda regalis is a deciduous species, its
fronds not being able to withstand the frosts of winter.
Three or four varieties from the normal form of this Fern
have been discovered in the British Islands; but the species
itself is the only one we possess of the genus Osmunda.
This genus belongs to a group of Ferns called Osmundacee,
which includes Ferns which when still unfolded have their
fronds rolled in spirally downwards, the apices occupying the
centre,—their globular or oblong spore cases being without
the elastic rings,—which in most of the genera of Ferns gird
the sporangia,—and bursting, when fully developed, by a
vertical split. The genus Osmunda of this group consists of
Ferns with marginal-borne globular spore cases, arranged in
dense and branching though irregular clusters, on the pinnz
at the apices of certain of the fronds.
DistrRipuTion.—From the fact that the Royal Fern loves
to grow in marshy or boggy situations, it will be inferred
that it is not found at great altitudes; and consequently it
is very seldom that it occurs in any place which is more than
three hundred feet or so above the sea level. Under that
elevation, however, it is very widely and plentifully dis-
tributed, sometimes almost mouopolizing considerable areas.
It is found in the following countries of Europe, namely,
Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland,
Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-
218 THE FERN WORLD
land, Turkey, and Transylvania. It occurs in Algeria, in
the Azores, in the island of Madagascar, in India, in the
United States and Canada, in Mexico, in Newfoundland, and
in Brazil.
In England it is found in the counties of Bedford, Berks,
Bucks, Cambridge, Chester, Cornwall, Cumberland, Devon,
Dorset, Durham, Essex, Hants, Hereford, Lancaster, Leicester,
Middlesex, Monmouth, Norfolk, Northumberland, Notting-
ham, Salop, Somerset, Stafford, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex,
Warwick, Westmoreland, Wilts, Worcester, and York. It is
found also in the Isle of Wight, in the Isle of Man, in Jersey,
and in the Isle of Purbeck. In Wales it occurs in the
counties of Anglesea, Carnarvon, Carmarthen, Denbigh, Flint,
Glamorgan, Merioneth, and Pembroke. In Scotland it is
found in the counties of Aberdeen, Argyle, Dumbarton,
Dumfries, Fife, Forfar, Kincardine, Kirkcudbright, Lanark,
Perth, Renfrew, Ross, Stirling, and Sutherland, as well as
in the islands of Arran, Bute, Harris, Islay, Lewis, Mull,
Orkney, Shetland, and North Uist. It grows in the ‘Green
Isle,’ in the counties of Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway,
and Kerry; in King’s County, Mayo, Tipperary, Waterford,
and Wicklow.
CuLroure.— Within reach of the spray of a fountain, or on
the banks of a running stieam, where its roots can reach
and touch water, this handsome species will thrive best.
If planted in ordinary rockwork it should be in the lowest,
most moist, and most shady tier. The soil should chiefly
consist of good peat, which from its spongy nature, keeps
around the roots of Osi:nunda constant and abundant moisture.
But if to the peat be added a mixture, in equal proportions,
of rough sand and leaf-mould, the compost will be improved.
Peut, however, should form at least three-fourths of the com-
post, one-fourth only being leaf-inould and sand. A small
case is unsuited for the Royal Fern, on account of the large
THE ROYAL FERN 219
size to which it grows; but in a Fern house it may be very
successfully grown. It grows very well also in pots; but
in all cases the soil for it must be the same. In removing it
from its native home care must be taken to secure the whole
of its large caudex, as well as the mass of its rootlets; fur
success in its culture will largely depend upon the care which
is taken in removing it to its artificial home.
6.
THE TRUE MAIDENHAIR.
Adiantum capillus-Veneris.
Puate 5, Fie. 1, Paar 225.
OnE of the most delicately-beautiful, as also one of the
rarest of our native Ferns is the True Maidenhair. It in-
habits chiefly the moist, rocky nooks of our sea cliffs and
their dripping caverns. It but seldom grows inland, for
the sea air, in its wild state, appears to be essential to it.
Its favourite habitats are on limestone coasts, and it loves
—on the open seaward side of a cliff, and not within its
cavernous recesses—a situation where a trickling stream
of water from the cliff-top flows over or near its delicate
rhizomus. But it mostly is found in the highest and least
accessible parts of a cliff, nestling, perhaps, under the
dark shelter of a jutting fragment of rock, or growing in
the dark, moist depth of little hollows in the cliff side. The
Fern hunter, who has boldly scaled a precipitous rock in
search of the Maidenhair, may look into such a hollow, and
for a moment, perhaps, can see nothing but darkness, and
hear only the soft trickling sound of water. But after he
has been looking for « moment he will, perhaps, begin to
recognize some delicate forms of the Maidenhair Fern,
revelling in the coolness and moisture. Often the Maiden-
hair will grow on the perpendicular side of the cliff, if the
position be sheltered by some shrub or plant.
Description.—The botanic name of the True Maiden-
THE TRUE MAIDENHAIR 221
hair is descriptive of two prominent peculiarities of this
beautiful Fern. Adiantwm is derived from the Greek word
wdiantos, which means dry or unmoistened, and refers to
the singular power which the pinnules of the fronds have of
resisting the contact of water. If water be poured on to
these pinnules it never succeeds in wetting them, but rolls off
in silvery drops. The specific name—capillus-Veneris—
‘hair of Venus,’ refers to the beautiful hair-like stipes and
rachides of this Fern. It is an evergreen species, growing
from a creeping stem or rhizoma, which-is thin and delicate,
covered with black scales, and furnished with black fibrous
rootlets. From various parts of the rhizoma grow the fronds
—varying from six inches to two feet, and supported on
fine, hair-like black and shining stems, which are usually of
the same length as the triangular-shaped leafy portion of
the frond, but sometimes double and sometimes treble that
length. Small specimens are often only bi-pinnate; but
good specimens are tri-pinnate, Taking the latter form for
description we find that branching out jalternately from the
principal rachis on each side are pinne, the mid-stems of
which are more finely hair-like than the mainrachis. Placed
alternately along these mid-stems or secondary rachides, are
yet finer black hair-like stems, upon which are borne some-
what bluish green fan-shaped lobes, attached by means of the
finest of hair-like stalks. The lobes also are mostly placed
alternately along the branches which support them. They
have pointed bases, and their upper margins are notched or
lobed. ‘The venation of the lobes consists of two principal
veins starting from the pointed base in continuation of the
connecting lobe stem, each principal vein being forked
two or three times. The ultimate venules proceed to the
notched margins of the lobes, where they terminate—in the
barren fronds. Tn the fertile fronds the outer edges of the
lobes are turned back or bent under, to form the indusia or
222 THE FERN WORLD
covering of the sori. The part thus turned back is bleached,
and bears on its under surface the spore cises, which are
connected with the venation of the lobes. When the spores
are ripe, the bleached turned-back cuticle of the lobes
turns to a dark brown colour. Like the Ferns already
enumerated the True Maidenhair is the only British species
of the genus Adiantum, which includes Ferns whose sporangia
ave distributed in patches on and under the bent-back
margins of the lobes of the frond pinnules, which margins
constitute the indusia.
Distrisution.—In Europe the True Maidenhair is found
in Belgium, Dalmatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal,
Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey. It is especially abundant,
on account of the warmth of the climate, on the shores of
the Mediterranean. It is found in China, India, Java,
Persia, and Syria. In Africa, it inhabits Algiers and Abys-
sinia, and’is found in Madeira, the Canary and Cape de
Verd Islands, the Azores, and Madagascar; also on the
south and south-east coasts of Africa, at Natal and Algoa
Bay. It is also found in California, Texas, Mexico, and
Guatemala; in South America, Dominica, Jamaica, St.
Vincent, and Trinidad, as well as in the Sandwich Islands.
In no part of the world, however, is it more abundant than
in the islands of the Atlantic. In England it is very
sparingly distributed. In Cornwall it has been found at
Carclew; in a sea cave, called Carrick Gladden, between
Hayle and St. Ives, and at Penzance. In Devon we have
ourselves taken specimens from the cliffs at Ilfracombe and
at Mewstone Bay, near Brixham. In Somersetshire it has
been found on the Cheddar cliffs, and at Combe Down; and
in Shropshire at Titherstone Clee Hill. In Wales it has
heen discovered on rocks at Dunraven, at Port Kirig, and at
Barry Island, Glamorganshire. In Scotland it has been
found on the banks of the river Carron in Kincardineshire.
THE TRUE MAIDENHAIR 223
In Ireland its habitats have been discovered on the Cahir
Conree mountain, near Tralee ; near Roundstone, Connemara,
in the county of Galway ; at Lough Bulard, near Unrrisbeeg ;
on the coast of the county of Clare, between Cremlin Point
and Ballyvaughan, and in the Isles of Arran. In the Isle of
Man it has been taken between Douglas and Peel, and also
in Glen Meay. In Jersey and Guernsey also it has been
found. There “are, probably, many other habitats than
those which have been given. But they have not been
discovered because of the inaccessible places in which this
beautiful Fern frequently grows. Even on accessible but
little-known cliffs it may be discovered; and the Fern
hunter will always find the search for it a delightful and
healthful occupation.
CuLture.—It is only in very moist, warm, and sheltered
situations that the True Maidenhair can be induced to grow
on open rock-work. But under glass, whether in the Fern
house or case, it will grow luxuriantly. Even in an open
pot indoors if the atmosphere be cool and equable it will
grow successfully. The soil should consist of one half light
peat and sand, and light loam also one half. But inter-
mixed with the soil there should be some small pieces of
limestone ; and it will be advantageous to plant the rhizomas
between blocks of limestone in the pot or case. Under
glass, in a warm sitting-room the Maidenhair becomes
thoroughly at home, and will throw up an abundance of
its beautifully delicate and delightfully green fronds. As it
has a creeping rootstock it is desirable not to give it too
great a depth of soil in the pot or case where it is grown.
Hence the compost should be laid upon a deep substratum of
drainage consisting of broken pieces of soft brick or stone,
broken crocks, and one or two little pieces of charcoal to
keep the whole sweet. In this way good drainage will be
secured, a special necessity of this charming Fern.
lo
tw
a5
Fic. 1.
to
ray
10.
THE FERN WORLD
INDEX TO PLATE 5:
.
TRUE MAiDENHAIR
[Adiantum capillus-Veneris]
ALPINE BLappER FERN
[Cystopterts regia]
Motntatn Branper FERN
[Cystopteris montana]
Brittle BLADDER FERN
( Cystopteris fragilis]
-ADDERS-TONGUE
LOphioglossum vulgatunt]
Little ADDERS-TONGUE
[Ophcoglossum lusttanicunt]
Moonwort
[Motrychium lunaria]
ANNUAL MAIDENHAIR
[Gymnogramma leptophylla]
Mountain Parstty FERN (FERTILE FROND)
[Aflosorus crispus]
MovuntTain Pakstry FERN (BARREN FROND)
PLATE 5.
“THE FERN WORLD:
a
THE ANNUAL MAIDENHAIR.
Gymnoyramma leptophylla.
Puate 5, Fie. 8, Pagn 225, |
Tats pretty little Fern, to which botanists have given a
formidable name of no less than twenty-two letters, is the
only representative amongst us of the charming group of
gold-and-silver-fronded Ferns comprehended within the
genus Gymnogramma. It has a peculiarity shared by no
other British species ; for it is an annual plant, dying each
year soon after it has shed its spores. It inhabits the moist,
shady sides of hedge-banks. From its love of warmth, as
well as moisture, it prefers to grow in a position facing
either the south or the south-west. But curiously enough,
whilst it likes the shade of the dwarf vegetation on the
hedge-sides, it avoids the deeper shale caused by the over-
hanging of trees. The moist oozing of water over the bank
on which it grows is congenial to its luxuriant growth. It
is a sociable little Fern, growing in the company either of
moss or of other vegetation which loves a continually
moistened soil, The growth of the spores of Gymnogramma
leptophylla is unusually rapid. The process of germination
is commenced in the early autumn. In the January follow;
ing fronds have appeared an inch or a little more in length.
These are succeeded by other and taller fronds; and the
latter by still taller ones, which attain a height of eight
or nine inches. By the end of April the full growth has
P
228 THE FERN WORLD
been accomplished, whilst by about the end of July the plant
is dead.
Derscriprion.—The likeness of the delicate pinnules of
this Fern to those of the True Maidenhair has no doubt
suggested its English name. It has a small tufted rootstock,
which throws up a few fronds, varying from three or four
to eight or nine inches long. The stipes is dark brown,
nearly black at the base, but bright green above—the rachis
being also bright green. The first fronds thrown up—an
inch or so in length—are, mostly, simply pinnate with alter-
nately placed fan-shaped pinnules notched or cleft into lobes.
The larger and later fronds are twice pinnate, the rachis
bearing, alternately on each side of it, a series of pinne
somewhat narrowly egg-shaped in outline, divided into
alternate, fan-shaped, indented pinnules. The apex of the
frond is blunt pointed, its general outline being, like its
pinne, egg-shaped. The veining of the lobes in the pinnules
is somewhat similar in general appearance tu that in the
True Maidenhair. It consists of a principal vein entering at
the base of the pinnule and then becoming three or four
times forked, the branches proceeding to the edges of the
lobes of the pinnule. Along these branch veins the spore
cases are placed in lines. They are uncovered, having no
indusia, and hence the origin of the word Gymmnogramama,
which is compounded of two Greek words, gymnos, ‘naked,’
and gramme, ‘a line:’ the spore cases being arranged along
the veins in naked lines. Leptophylla, as applied to the
British species just described comes from leptos ‘slender,’ and
phyllon, ‘a leaf;’ and very accurately describes this delicate
little Fern, which is sometimes and appropriately called ‘The
Slender Gymnogram.’
Distripution.—The little plant has a wide geographical
range, inhabiting warm countries in all the quarters of the
globe. In Europe it inhabits France, Germany, Greece,
THE ANNUAL MAIDENHAIR 229
Italy, Portugal, Sicily, Spain, and Switzerland. It is dis-
tributed also over the Canary Islands, and is found in the
Azores, and in Madeira ; also in Abyssinia, Algiers, Morocco,
and at the Cape of Good Hope. Itis an inhabitant of India,
and the Islands of the Persian Gulf; also of Mexico, Vera
Cruz, and Victoria; of New Zealand and Tasmania. Like
its namesake, the True Maidenhair, it is particularly abun-
dant on the shores of the Mediterranean, and in the islands
of the Atlantic Ocean.
In the British Islands, however, its only known habitat is
Jersey. It is therefore politically and not geographically a
British Fern; as it would be a natural and obvious arrange-
ment to include the flora of the Chanvel Islands in the flora
of France and not in that of the British Isles. In Jersey,
where it was first discovered in the year 1852, it is tolerably
abundant in one or two localities. It is often found grow-
ing on moist sheltered hedge-banks facing southwards, in com-
pany with Marchantia. The localities named as its Jersey
habitats are St. Aubin, La Haule, and St. Lawrence. No
varieties from the normal form of this Fern have been dis-
covered in Jersey.
CuLTURE.—The best method of growing Gymnogramma
leptophylla is under glass. Its culture is interesting on
account of its rapid development from the spores. The soil
must be light sandy loam, with leaf-mould for one-fourth of
the compost. If the plant be kept in the Fern house, the
spores will freely drop from the ripe frond, and germinate
on almost any damp porous substance they may chance to
fall upon. If it be desired specially ‘to raise the spores, a
shallow seed-pan wide enough to admit within it a small
bell glass, should be filled to three-fourths of its depth with
drainage consisting of soft broken brick. Upon this should
be placed a thin layer of sphagnum moss, and upon this
again, a compost an inch or twe deep consisting of light
P 2
230 THE FERN WORLD
sandy Joam three parts and Jeaf-mould one part. When the
compost has been thoroughly moistened, the spores should be
shaken on to it from a ripe frond, and a bell glass put over
it, and pressed down a little into the earth, so as to well
keep in the moisture. Watering should be accomplished not
by wetting the surface with a watering-pot, but by standing
the pan for a few minutes in water until by capillary attrac-
tion the moisture has thoroughly soaked the soil through.
Air for a few minutes must be given occasionally and with
care, and the kind of attention which all Ferns more or less
require, the rapid growth of this pretty and delicate little
plant will be assured.
8.
THE MOUNTAIN PARSLEY FERN.
alllosorus crispus.
Puare 5, Fras. 9 ano 10, Pace 225.
We have here another Fern which is the only one of its
genus inhabiting the British Islands—a genus which in-
cludes Ferns whose spore cases, massed in little round heaps
at the backs of their fronds, become confluent when fully
developed, and have no special indusium, but are covered by
the frond margins, which are turned back over them. The
Mountain Parsley Fern, as its name indicates, loves rocky
habitats in mountainous districts, growing, indeed, in such
localities from the level of the sea to an altitude of three
thousand five hundred feet above it. It sometimes densely
covers a considerable space on the mountain sides, its roots
penetrating the earthy seams in its rocky home, and its
fronds, adding freshness and beauty by their bright green
verdure to their surroundings.
Derscrrption.—The generic name, -lllosorus, comes from
two Greek words allos, ‘ various,’ and sorus, ‘a heap,’ and
indicates, it is probable, the variation in the clusters of spore
cases which, at first massed in separate heaps, become, by
accretion, confluent. Crispus refers to the crisped or some-
what curled appearance of the barren fronds, which also bear
a very marked resemblance, at first sight, to a tuft of parsley.
Hence the common name of this pretty Fern. It grows
from a thick tufted rootstock, which possesses a great
232 THE FERN WORLD
abundance of fibrous roctlets. The fronds grow up in a
mass of tufts, and are of two kinds, barren and fertile. The
former grow to a height of from four to eight inches, and
the latter to a height of from six or seven to twelve inches.
In both the stipes is longer than the leafy portion of the
frond, and of a very pale green, sumetimes almost white.
The barren fronds are bi-pinnate, sometimes in large highly
developed specimens, nearly tri-pinnate. The general outline
of the barren frond is triangular, broadest at the base, and
somewhat bluntly pointed at the apex. Alternately placed
on each side of the rachis are the pinne, or primary divisions
of the frond, and these are of the same general shape as
the frond, namely, triangular. Alternately placed along the
pinne, and on each side of their mid-stems ave a series of
bluntly wedge-shaped pinnules, which, when they become
again divided, making the frond tri-pinnate, are also bluntly
wedge-shaped. The lobes—or ultimate divisions of the
frond—have their outer margins deeply fringed, cleft, or
serrated. The venation of the lobes consists of a tortuous
mid-vein, with forked venules running from it to the
segments of the lobex. In the fertile fronds the general
outline and arrangement of pinnee, pinnules, and lobes are
the same as inthe barren ones; but the lobes or ultimate
divisions of the pimne are much contracted, in order to
provide a kind of rough cover for the spore cases. The
latter are borne on the venules of the lobes, and are covered
by the lobe margins, which on each side are reflexed or bent
under, to cover them, the edges of the lobes at first almost
meeting midway ; but afterwards becoming opened or thrust
back, to admit of the escape of the ripened spores, which, as
we have seen, have by that time run together, or become
confluent at the backs of the lobes,
Disrrisution.—In Europe the Parsley Fern is found in
Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lapland,
THE MOUNTAIN PARSLEY FERN 233
Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. It is also an
inhabitant of the western coast of North America. In
England it is found in the counties of Chester, Cumberland,
Derby, Devon (in this county only one or two plants have
been obtained from Exmoor), Durham, Hereford, Lancaster,
Northumberland, Salop, Somerset (Exmoor being partly in
Devon and partly in Somerset, the few specimens of Allosorus
cvispus found on Exmoor have been referred to both counties),
Westmoreland, Worcester, and York. In Wales it is very
ubundant in some localities. Its habitats include the
counties of Anglesea, Carnarvon, Cardigan, Denbigh,
Glamorgan, Merioneth, and Montgomery. It inhabits the
Isle of Man. Its habitats in Scotland are in the following
counties :—Aberdeen, Argyle, Ayr, Berwick, Dumbarton,
Dumfries, Fife, Forfar, Inverness, Kirkcudbright, Moray,
Perth, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Ross, and Sutherland. Also in
the Isles of Arran, Harris, Mull, and Skye. In Ireland it is
extremely rare, a few specimens only having been gathered
at Carrickfergus, in the county of Antrim; at Black Head, in
the county of Clare; at Sleive Bignian and on the Mourne
Mountains in Downshire, and on the Carlingford Mountain
in the county of Louth.
CuLTURE.—On the open rockery, in the garden, in the
Fern house or case, or in pots, the Parsley Fern can be
grown under cultivation. But wherever planted it must be
well drained, and, in common with all rock or wall-growing
Ferns, it will not succeed if kept too wet at the roots.
Hence, the perpetually moist atmosphere of a Fern case is
not so suitable for it as a shady situation on the open
rockery. The soil, which should be of peat and leaf-mould,
in equal proportions, with sand enough to make one-fourth
of the whole, should have mixed with it lumps of brick or
soft broken stone.
234 THE FERN WORLD
INDEX TO PLATE 6.
Fic. 1. BristL—E FERN
[Zrichonanes radicans]
TunsRIpGE Finuy FERN
(Ay menophyllum tunbridgense]
b>
3. ONE-SIDED Firmy FERN
[Aymenophyllum unilaterale]
4. ALPINE WoopsIA
['Voodsia Alpina]
Ostonc Woopsia
[ Woodsia ilvens?s]
On
6. Common MaIpENHaIR SPLEENWORT (UPPER SIDE OF FROND)
[Asplenium trichomanes]
7. Common MAIMDENHAIR SPLEENWORT (UNDER SIDE OF FROND)
8. Sea SPLEENWORT
[Asplenium marinum]
9. RUE-LEAVED SPLEENWORT (UNDER SIDE OF FROND)
[Asplenium ruta-muraria]
10, RUE-LEAVED SPLEENWORT (UPPER SIDE OF FROND)
II. LaNCEOLATE SPLEENWORT
[-4fsplentum lanceolatus)
12, ScALY SPLEENWORT (UNDER SIDE OF FROND)
[4 splentum ceterach]
13. ScaLy SPLEENWORT (UPPER SIDE OF FROND)
14. ForKED SPLEENWORT
[Asplentum septentrionale]
Brack AMAIDENHAIR SPLERNWORT
[Asplenium adiantum-nigrum]
_
rn
16. ALTERNATE SPLEENWORT
[-Asplentum germanicuim]
17. Rock SPLEENWORT
[-Asplentum fontanum)
PLATE 6.
‘THE FERN WORLD’
9.
THE BRISTLE FERN.
Trichomanes radicans.
Pirate 6, Fia 1, Paar 235.
Ir the sparkle of dripping water adds a charm to the wealth
of greenery clothing the rocks in a mountain stream, there
is not less of beauty when the same water, gently trickling
along the stones, forming the sides of a mossy cell, tips
with silver the dark green fronds of its ferny occupants as it
falls upon them. Those who would see such beauty in its
greatest perfection must seek an opportunity—rarely to be
enjoyed, but the more enjoyable on account of its rarity—of
seeing the Bristle Fern growing in its home in the land of
waterfalls. This beautiful species is amongst those Ferns
which require the deepest shade and the most abundant
and unceasing moisture. Not merely must its rhizomas
and fronds be kept soft with cool vapours; they must
be bathed in vapour until it shines upon them, and rolls
off in silvery drops. It will follow that the habitats of
this Fern are always close to water,—so close that the
air around it becomes heavily charged with moisture.
It grows upon the dripping rock, over the wet surface of
which its rhizomas travel, whilst its rootlets form a
spreading network of filmy threads, which cling to the stony
pores.
Descrivtion.—The Bristle Fern would be amougst the
most beautiful of our native species, if only on account of
238 THE FERN WORLD
the elegant configuration of its fronds, But it possesses an
indescribable charm in the pellucid and almost transparent
texture of its leafy substance. The fronds grow from
various points of a creeping rhizoma covered with black
scales, and attain a length, according te circumstances, of
from six to eighteen inches. The leafy portion is triangular
in shape, the stipes being about the same length as the
leafy portion, though sometimes shorter. Both are of ‘a
dark green colour., Along, on opposite sides of the rachis,
the pinnee are arranged in pairs which are longest and
broadest at the lowest part of the rachis, shortening and
narrowing upwards. The lowest pair of pinne are trian-
gular in shape, becoming lance-shaped, or narrowly ege-
shaped upwards. The pinne: are again divided into pinnules
—narrowly egg-shaped in form—and these into irregular-
shaped more or less deeply-cleft lobes. The venation is most
beautiful. From the mid-ribs of the pinne branch the mid-
veins of the pinnules, and from these the venules of the
lobes. These venules are several times forked, the forks or
veinlets proceeding to the margins of the lobe segments.
Throughout the whole of this beautiful system of veining
there run leafy wings, green and pellucid in texture, along
on each side of the stipes, and along on each side of the
rachis, and of its branches. These green leafy wings
can be readily seen, by placing a frond against the light.
The pinnules, lobes, and the segments of the latter are
not set out in a straight line with the mid-veins, but are
very much crisped and curled, giving a beautiful appearance
to the plant when growing. The fructification is produced
at the ends of the ultimate veinlets of the lobes in little
urn-shaped receptacles. The veinlets pass through the
centre of these receptacles, becoming hair-like, and upon and
around the hairy filaments are produced the spore cases. But
the points of the filaments, after passing into the receptacles,
THE BRISTLE FERN 239
continue through them, and project beyond their outer edges,
thus giving a bristly appearance to a frond fully ripe, and
originating the name of this Fern. T'richomanes comes from
two Greek words, thrie ‘hair, and manos ‘soft,’ and appa-
rently refers to the hair-like bristles and to the soft-looking
and delicate texture of the fronds. Padicans refers to the
‘rooting’ of this Fern from its creeping rhizoma. This
species is evergreen, and is the only one which we possess of
the genus T'richomanes, which includes Ferns having their
fructification borne on the margins of their fronds, in little
cup-shaped or urn-shaped receptacles, which are in reality
expansions of the substance of the fronds.
DistRIBUTION.—Trichomanes radicans is, on the continent
of Europe, found only in Spain. But it is found in the
Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira; in the islands
of the Atlantic, where it is very abundant; in India, in
Jamaica, Granada, and Martinique; in Mexico, Panama,
Venezuela, and Brazil. In the Pacific Ocean it inhabits
Galapagos and the Society Islands. It is said that in the
year 1758 it grew abundantly near the town of Bingley,
in Yorkshire. But even by the year 1782 it had almost
disappeared from that habitat; and there is no other
part of Great Britain where it has been found. It has
been affirmed that it grows not only in abundance, but
with great luxuriance, in one part of Wales; but its
precise habitat in that country is a profound secret,
known only to a few persons. Its actually known habitats
are confined to Ireland ; and from the circumstance
that amongst the chief of these is the neighbourhood of
Killarney, has arisen the name given to this charming
plant of the ‘Killarney Fern. The counties of Cork,
Kerry, Limerick, Waterford, and Wicklow, are the only
counties where it grows. The localities named are as
follows: in the county of Cork, in Glendine Wood; at
240 THE FERS WORLD
Glenbour and Killeagh, near Youghal; at the base of a
dripping rock in Temple Michael Glen, and at Ballinhasy
Glen, near Cork; near Bandon; at the fall of the Clash-
gariffe; near Glandore; in the neighbourhood of Bantry ;
beneath a shelf of rocks, and at an altitude extending
from a thousand to twelve hundred feet on Carrigeena
Kildorrery, in the north of the county. In the county
of Kerry, at the Tork Waterfall, and on the Tork Moun-
tain, in several places extending to an altitude of fifteen
hundred feet; at Glengariff, on the island of Valentia;
inavavine of the Cromaglaun Mountain; on Mount Kagle
near Dingle ; at Gortagaree, a place lying between Kenmare
and Killarney ; at Blackstones, in Glouin Caragh (in this
locality growing abundantly in aromantic cave) ; at Inveragh,
and at Curaan Lake, Waterville. In the county of Limerick,
on the Cumailte Mountains ; in Waterford, along the valley
of the River Blackwater ; and in the county of Wicklow,
in Hermitage Glen, and at Powerscourt Waterfall.
CuLtuRE.—From what has been said it will be imagined
that the only method of cultivating this beautiful Fern is
under glass, unless a natural condition of growth can be other-
wise imitated. ‘To obtain success Nature must be copied, as
far as possible, by keeping around the plant an atmosphere
constantly loaded with moisture. Exposure of the delicate
pellucid fronds of Trichomanes radicans for a few minutes to
the air, unprotected by any glass covering, will cause its fronds
to dry, and commence to shrivel. The soil for case culture
should be peat, leaf-mould, and silver sand, placed upon the
usual drainage of broken bricks. Small or moderately-sized
blocks of freestone, or soft porous sandstone should be
placed about, upon, and partly embedded in the soil. Be-
tween these blocks the rhizomas of the Bristle Fern should
be placed, the rootlets being covered with earth. On first
planting, the rhizomas should be pegged closely down to
THE BRISTLE FERN 241
the soil, so that they may be firmly pressed against it, and
yet be left lying on it. Then they must be watered
gently, until the whole of the compost is thoroughly
moistened, after which the glass covering must be put on,
and kept close for some time. Air will very seldom need to
be given, and water only occasionally, because the almost
hermetically-closed glass will keep in the moisture. We have
found it an excellent plan to put the Fern in a small pan,
with a bell glass over it, and to cover the latter with a
second and larger glass. This is a most effectual method of
keeping in the moisture. The case containing it should
always be kept in semi-darkness, and if all these conditions
are observed this exquisite Fern may be grown with the
most perfect success.
10.
THE MOONWORT.
Botrychawm lunaria.
Puate 5, Fie. 7, Paar 225.
THE Moonwort, in general appearance, hardly realizes the
idea of a Fern, although it is, in reality, one. It is mostly
found on heaths, moors, or open pasture-lands, generally
erowing on land which is slightly elevated, and not caring
for abundant moisture, although loving the dampness
afforded by the roots of grass, and the shelter of grassy and
other dwarf growths of vegetation. It has, indeed, been
asserted—and, apparently on good grounds—that this little
plant is a sort of grass parasite, feeding, in some way, on
grassy roots. In any case it is a fact that it will not succeed
in cultivation unless it be removed from its habitats with
undisturbed roots embedded in a portion of the turf in which
it was found growing.
Desoription.— Unlike most Ferns, Botrychium luawria
does not throw up a number of fronds from the same root.
It has but one, and that a kind of double frond, which con-
sists of a barren leafy portion, and of a seed-bearing spike.
Both start from a scaly sheath of a reddish brown colour,
surmounting a small, fleshy and brittle root, with fleshy
rootlets. In its rudimentary state this sheath encloses the
frond bud, which, as it develops, grows upwards. 384-7
Culture . ‘ . 387
Description 385-6.
Distribution 386-7
Habitats . 384-5
fontanum ‘ 364-6
Culture . . . 366
Description 364-5
Distribution 365-6
398
AsPLENIDM fontunum—
Habitats .
germanicun
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
lanceolatum
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
martarene
Culture .
Description
Distribution
Habitats
puba-murared
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
septentrionale
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
trichomanes
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
viride .
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
ATHYRIUM filiv-feomine .
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
B.
Breeco Ferny .
Berry Head . 156, 161-2, 164
Bideford ‘ ‘ . 136
Black Maidenhair Spleen-
wort . : 355-9
Plate 6, Fig. 15 » 235
Calture 308-9
INDEX
PAGE PAGE
Black Maidenhair Spleenwort—
. 364 Description . 356-7
847-9 Distribution . 357.8
348-9 Habitats . 309-6
347-8 | Bladder Ferns 284-98
348 | BiecHnux spicant 209-13
. 3d7 Culture 212-13
360-3 Description. 209-11
. 363 Distribution -211-2
361-2 Habitats . 3 . 209
362-3 | Bogearth . ‘ : . O83
360-1 | Botanical names 181-2
380-3 paper for drying Ferns 103
. 383 | Botany,‘ Natural system’ of 21
381-2 | Borrycurum lunariv 242-5
Bao Culture ALS
380-1 | Description 242-4
Bad | Distribution . . Det
353-4, | Habitats. . . 242
351-2 | Bracken . 187-91
352-3 Plate 2, Fig. 1 ; . 185
350-1] Culture 190-1
344-6 Description 187-90
546 Distribution . 10
340-6 Habitats . s . 187
346 | used for making beer 36-7
BLL-5 as a vernifuge a7
o1o-9 as food for horses 37
378-9 as foodforman . 37
376-7 ax food for pigs . 37
377-8 as manure . . 32
375-6 for fuel : 38
371-4 for covering potatoes 38
373-4 for growing potatoes 38
371-2 for house thatching 38
372-3 for packing fish . 38
aya for packing fruit. 38
201-5 in making glass . 38
205 in making leather 38
20)2-4. ‘In making soap . 38
204-5 , Brendon Water, near Lyn-
201-2 mouth . 120-1, 123, 127
| Bristle Fern . ‘ : 237-41
| Plate 6, Fig. 1 . 235
Culture 240-1
3 Description 237-9
259-62 Distribution 239-40
Habitats . P . 237
British Ferns 27, 177-396
Classification of . 27
Habitats of . . 183
Introduction to 181-3
Normal forms of 182-3
INDEX
PAGE
Brittle Bladder Fern . 284-7
Plate 5, Fig. 4 225)
Culture . 287
Description 284-6
Distribution 286-7
Habitats . 284
Brixham és . 161
Broad Buckler Pera 314-7
Plate 9, Fig. 1 801
Culture » BLZ
Description 315-6
Distribution 316-7
Habitats . . &bl4
Buckler Ferns 310-43
Buck’s Mill, near Bideford Pes ies
C.
* CAPILLAIRE, INGREDIENTS OF 36
Cases for Ferns . 88-9
Construction of . 88-9
Drainage in «of
Form of . . 88-9
Castle Rock, near Lynton 2 15
‘Catching’ Fern seed . beh
Ceremony of . Ad
Charm of Ferns . : ‘ (
Churston Cove é . 160
‘Class,’ Definition of . . 25
Classification of Ferns . » BDF
of British Ferns . 27
Fructification as a
basis of . 26-7
Imperfect systems of 26
Linnean method of . 26-7
Clovelly 136-49
Beach at. 3 . Lia
High Street of 146-9
Coast from Portlemouth to :
Prawle Point 172-6
Collecting, Fern 97-101
Combe, Down a 113-16
Common Maidenhair Spleen-
wort . 875-9
Plate 6, Figs. 6 and 7 235
Culture 378-9
Description 376-7
Distribution 077-8
Habitats . 375-6
used for cleansing
the lungs
for curing coughs
and colds . 39, 41
399
PAGE
Common Maidenhair Spleen-
wort—
used for curing yellow
jaundice *. 3
for diseases of the
spleen 39, 41
for making hair
grow 41
for making tea 39
for rectifying the
blood 41
for restoring the
hair . : 41
for shortness of
breath 41
for staying the
falling of the
hair. 89, 41
Common Polypody 255-8
Plate 7, Fig. 3 253
Culture 258
Description 256-7
Distribution 257-8
Habitats . 255-6
Countisbury . 113
Hill 2 123, 117
Crested Buckler Fern 327-9
Plute 10, Fig. 2 325
Culture 320
Description 328-9
Distribution 329
Habitats 027-8
Crowns of Ferns ‘ 17
Elongation of . 17
Planting of 57
Cryptogamic plants . 25
Culbone - . Ill
Culpeper on Ferns 37, 40-1
CystorreRis fragilis 284-7
Culture 287
Description 284-6
Distribution 286-7
Habitats . 284
montana " 295- 8
Culture 297-8
Description 295.7
Distribution 297
Habitats . . 295
regia 295-8
Culture 297-8
Description 295-7
Distribution 297
Habitats . 295
400 INDEX
PAGE PAGE
D. Fern hunting and scenery 93-7, 183
land, Rambles
DANES AND OsMUND THE Frr- through 109-176
RYMAN 214-5 land, Introduction
Dartmouth 167-9 to ‘ ; 109-12
Castle 169 life, Conditions es-
Devon, Scenicpre-eminenceof 111 sential to . 11, 12, 33
Distribution of Ferns 28-30, 33-5 life, Germs of . . &- 10
British Ferns 28-9, 181-3 of the dripping hol-
Drainage for Ferns in pene . 84-5 low. 12
in cases . » 89 of the plain ‘12, 35
Drying Ferns ‘ . 103-6 of the sea cave oo
Dwart forestry. BL of the sloping bank. 35
of the waterfall . 85
rockery 748
seed conveys gift of
invisibility . 44:
E. seed ‘catching’ » dd
smoke for driving
Earty ror Fern Rockery 76 away noisome in-
Electuary made from Ferns a7! sects and serpents 37
Exmoor. 111 soil, Artificial sub-
stitute for . . o4
Leaf-mould for . 58
K.
Farry Cross, NEAR BipEForp 136
Fern collecting 96-101
collecting, Advice as
to ; . 98-101
collecting, Tools re-
quired for 98-9
culture 47-89
culture, A passion
for é . 48
culture in pots . 82-6
culture, Introduction
to % : .47-50
culture, Subterra-
nean . 67-8
dell . . 67-8
garden . 69-75
garden in miniature 73
garden in winter . 80-1
glen under glass. 64-6
holidays . 95-6
house . 79-81
house, Construction
of rockery in . 80-1
house in miniature. 88
hunting . . — 93-106
hunting healthful . 95-6
valley under glass . 64-6
world, Inhabitants of
the 3-4
Ferns, an élement, of beauty
at home . 87-9
in the landscape 6
as ‘asparagus’ 2. Oh
British 6, 28-0, 177-396
Caudices of 14, 15
charm of . , ic
Classification of 26-7
Conditions of growth
of ‘ 5 .11-18
Crowns of : a Lk
Culpeper on . 37, 40-1
Disposition of case. 89
Distribution of 28-30, 33-4
Drainage of case . 89
Drying . 103-6.
Effect of heat, ‘mois
ture, and shade on 6
Effect of sunshine on 6.
Electuary from . 37
Filmy =. 388-96
Folk-lore of . 42-4
Fronds of 14, 19-21
Fructification of . 26-27
Functions of rootlets
of ; . 16-17
Ferns—
INDEX
PAGE
Germ atoms of 8-9
Grace and beauty of 4
Habitats of 29-30, 33-5
in cases, Cultivation
of" : ‘ . 87-9
in pots . 82-5
in the EE
zones ;
in the torrid zone
in tropical forests
Ei teinee ot bpp wih
0 , : ;
Number of species of
to flowering plants
BO Las
throughout the
world, Proportion
of ‘ ‘ : 4
ditto, in England
and Wales . ; 4
ditto, in Scotland A
ditto, within the
polar regions 4
Rachides of 18
Rhizomas of . If
Rock-and-wall-loving 18
Rootlets of 15, 16
Sensitive to thought-
ful tenderness 49
Spores of . 9-10
Stems of trec . 18
Stipides of 18
Structure of 14
Suggestions for
packing . 100-1
Time for repotting . 85
Tropical gold and
silver . ‘
Tropical tree . 5
Uses of ; 36-41
Varieties of : 4
Ferny Combe, A . 113-16
Ferryman of Loch oe 214-5
Filmy Ferns . B88-96
Forked Spleenwort 2314-6
Plate 6, Fig. 14 235
Culture . 346
Description . 345-6
Distribution . 346
Habitats . 841-5
Frond buds 10, 62-3
Fronds, Arranging LOL-5
Barren 24
401
PAGI
Fronds—
Beauty and grace of 19
Bi-pinnate 20
Botanical paper for
drying . 103
De-compound . 20:
Divisions of . 19-20
Drying sheets for .103-6
Form and colouring
of 19
Fruitful . - 24
Gathering 102-6
Lobes of . ‘ 20-21
Method of pressing 104-5
Pinne of. 20-21
Pinnate . 20
Pinnatifid 20
Pinnules of . 20
Preservation of 102-6
Receptacles on 22
to stipides, Relative
lengths of 24
Scales on 21
Simple 19
Tri-pinnate . 20
Unrolling of . 20-21
Veins of . 22
G.
GarpEN, Ferns IN TUE. 69-73
Gathering fronds . 102.6
General treatment of Ferns 55-8
‘Genus,’ Definition of . 26-27
Germination of spores . 8-10
Germs of Fern life 8-10
Glass covering for Ferns . 56
Glen Lyn 129.33
Glenthorne 111-153
Goodrington Sands 158
Greenhouse for Ferns . 56
Green lanes . : : 151-7
Green tunnel of twigs . 152-5
Green Spleen wort 371-4
Plate 12, Fig. 1 369
Culture . 373-4
Description . 371-2
Distribution . 372-3
Habitats 371
Groups of Ferns 26
402
PAGE
Gymyoeramma leptophy?la 227-30
Culture 229
Description 228
Distribution 228-9
Habitats . 227
H.
Hapirats or Britisu Ferns. 183
Hard Fern . . 209-13
Plate 2, Figs. ‘A and 5 185
Culture . 212-13
Description 209-11
Distribution 211-12
Habitats. . 209
used for splenetic
disorders. . 39
Hard Prickly Shield Fern 272-5
Plate 8, Fig. 3 293
Culture . . 275
Description 273-4
Distribution 274.5
Habitats . 272-3
Hartstongue. 192-6
Plate 2, Figs. 2 and 3 185
Culture - 195-6
Description 192-4,
Distribution 195
Habitats . . 192
used for the bites of
serpents A 40
used for passions of
the heart. 40
for weak or diseased
livers . 40
to help the failing
of the palate . 40
varieties of —. . 182
Hay-scented Buckler Fern 318-21
Plate 4, Fig. 2 . 207
Culture . 320-21
Description 318-20
Distribution 320
Habitats . . 3ls
eee of Fern hunt-
5 . 95-6
Hobby Drive, Clovelly | 138-46
Holidays, Fern . 95-6
Holly Fern ; 280-3
Plate 8, Fig. 2 293
Culture 282-3
Description 280-1
INDEX
PAGE
Holly Fern—
Distribution 281-2
Habitats . 280
Home of the Sea Fern . 172-6
Hoops, near Bideford . 1837
Hunting after Ferns 93-106
HymenoruyiLtum tunbrid-
gense f : 388-92
Culture . 392
Description 389-91
Distribution 891-2
Habitats 388-9
unilaterale . 393-6
Culture . 396
Description 394-5
Distribution 395-6
Habitats . 393-4
i,
Inpusium in Ferns. 28
Form of . 23-24
Invisibility and Fern seed ids
Js
JUPITER AND HARTSTONGUE . : 40
K.
KInGsBRIDGE CREEK 172
Kingswear 167-9
L.
Lapy Fern . 201-5
Plate 3, Fig. 1 199
Culture 205
Description 202-4
Distribution 204-5
Habitats . 201-2
Lanceolate Spleenwort 360-3
Plate 6, Fig. 11 235
Culture . . 363
Description 361-2
Distribution 362-3
Habitats. 360-1
INDEX
5 ‘ PAGE
Lastrra‘cristata . : 327-9
Culture . ‘ 329
Description 328-9
Distribution . 329
Habitats . 327-8
dilatata 314-7
Culture . . 317
Description 315-6
Distribution 316-7
Habitats . . 314
filix-mas 310-13
Culture . . 313
Description 311-12
Distribution 312-15
Habitats . 310-11
montana. ‘ 336-9
Culture . Ss . 32
Description . 337-8
Distribution 338-9
Habitats . 336-7
recurva j 318-21
Culture . 320-1
Description 318-20
Distribution 320
Habitats . . 318
rigida . 322-3
Culture . 323
Description 322-3
Distribution 323
Habitats . . 322
spinulosa 333-5
Culture . . 335
Description 338-4
Distribution 334-5
Habitats . 333
thelypteris . 340-3
Culture . 342-3
Description . ddl
Distribution 841-2
Habitats . . 340
Latin names . 181-2
Leaf-mould, Formation of 30, 338,35
Limestone Polypody 266-8
Plate 7, Fig.5 253
Culture . 268
Description - 266-8
Distribution 268
Habitats . 266
Linnwan System . 26-7
Linnzus é . 26-7
Little Adders- “tongue 249-50
Plate 6, Fig. 6 225
Culture . 250
40%
PAGE
Little Adders-tongue—
Description . 249
Distribution 249-50:
Habitats . 249
Lyn, East ‘ ; 120-9
Glen ‘ 129-33
Valleys of the 119-33
West 129-53
Lynmouth 119, 129, 133
Lynton. 113, 117, 129
M.
Mate Fern . 310-13
Plate 3, Lig. 2 199
Culture . 318
Description 311-12
Distribution 312-13
Habitats . 310-11
abounds in alkali . 387
contains starch . 37-8
used as ‘asparagus’ 37
asavermifuge . 37
as food for cattle. 37
asanelectuary . 37
for dressin 8
leather. 37
for driving away
serpents and
noisome crea-
tures ; 37
for making ‘ beer? 36
for medicine . 37
for making soap. 37
for making tea . 36
220-3, 227-30
355-9, 375.9
Maidenhair Ferns
Mansands . 164
Marsh, Buckler Fern 340-3
Plate 11, Fig. 3 . 331
Culture 342-3
Description 341
Distribution 341-2
Habitats . . 340
Mewstone Bay 162-3
Midsummer eve and Fern seed 44
Minehead. . 110
Moon and Cancer and Moon-
wort . : ‘ s . 40
Moovwort . 7 249-5
Plate 5, Fig. 7 225
Culture 244.5
Description 240-4
Bba2
404
PAGE
Moonwort—
Distribution 24-4,
Habitats . , Bae
saddle . 42-3
unlocks doors . . 43
unshoes horses 43
used by alchemists. 43
by witches . . 43
for wounds . 40
Mountain Bladder Fern 295-8
Plate 5, Fig. 3 . 225
Culture 297-8
Description 295-7
Distribution 297
Habitats . 295
Mountain Buckler Fern 336-9
Plate 11, Fig. 2 331
Culture . 339
Description 337-8
Distribution 338-9
Habitats . 3°6-7
Mountain Parsley Fern 231-3
Plate 5, Figs. 9 and 10 . 225
Culture ~ 235
Description 231-2
Distribution 232-3
Habitats . : « 23!
Mountain Polypody 259-62
Plate 7, Fig. 8 253
Culture 261-2
Description 259-60
Distribution 261
Habitats . 259
Multiplication of Ferns . 50-63
Mystery about Fern ‘ seed-
ing’ . 45-4
Mystic power of ‘Fern seed’? 44
N.
NATURE, GRAND ASPECTS OF . 173
Charms of . . AF
Processes of . 31-5, 51
Study of 52-4, 77-5, 93-4
101
Teachings of 50, 77, 5U
88, 101
O.
Oak Fern.—See “ Three-
branched Polypody.” . 263-5
INDEX
raGE
Oblong Woodsia 303-6
Plate 6, Fig. 5 235
Culture . 306
Description 303-5
Distribution 305-6
Habitats . . 303
One-sided Filmy Fern . 393-6
Plate 6, Fiy. 3 . 236
Culture . 396
Description 204-5
Distribution 395-6
Habitats . 393-4
‘ OprtogLossace®,’ Definition
of ; i
Oru1o0eLossuM vudgatum 246-8
Culture 248
Description 246-7
Distribution 247-8
Habitats . . 6246
lusitanicum . 249-50
Culture 250
Description . 249
Distribution 249-50
Habitats . . 249
‘ Order,’ Definition of . 25-26
Osmund, The Ferryman 214-5
Osmunda, Saxon origin of
word . 5 ‘ 215
Osmund’s beautiful child 214-5
“OsmunpacEs&,’ Definition of 27
OsmuNDA regalis 214-9
Culture . 218-9
Description 215-7
Distribution 217-8
Habitats . 214
PR:
Packixe Frrns ; - 100-1
Paignton 150, 155, 158
Parsley Fern 237-41
Peat Earth . < : . 83
Pillars in Fern house . . 80
‘Ponyroptace.t, Definition of 27
Polypodies, The 255-71
Potyropium a/pestre 269-71
Culture 271
Description 270
Distribution 271
Habitats . 269-70
culeareum
266-8
Potyropium caleareum—
Culture .
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
dryopteris .
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
phegopteris .
Culture .
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
vulgare
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
PouystTicHuM aculeatum
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
angulare
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
lonchitis
Culture
Description
Distribution
ESI
Porlock . :
Portlemouth . A
Pot culture of Ferns
Pots, Drainage of .
Method of filling
Watering Ferns in.
:172,
Potting, Caution in
Prawle Point
Prickly-tootbed Buckler
Fern . :
Plate 11, Fig. 4
Culture
Description
Distribution
Habitats .
Propagation of Ferns .
Fern spores
Prothallus, Nature of
INDEX
PAGE
268
"966-8
268
266
263-5
. 265
. 263-4
265
. 263
259.62
. 261-2
259-60
261
. 259
. 255-8
258
. 256-7
. 257-8
. 255-6
. 272-5
275
273-4
274-5
. 272-3
. 276-9
279
.277 8
. 278-9
. 276
. 280-3
. 282-3
. 280-1
. 281-2
280
113
172
52-6
. B45
. 84-5
86
. 85-6
175-6
333-5
331
. 835
033-4
.3dd-5
. 333
. 59-63
. 69-61
9
405
sf PAGE
PTERIS aquilina 187-91
Culture . . 190-1
Description 187.90
Distribution 190
Habitats . 187
Q.
Quren Mas amonest THE
FrErns : : . 42-3
R.
Racurpes In Ferns. . 18
Primary . i 18
Scales on : 21
Secondary 3 . 18
Structure of . 18
Rambles through Fernland 109-76
Removing rock Ferns 100
Re-potting Ferns . 2 . 85
Best time for . . 85
Rhizomas é . 14
Scales or hairs on. 15
Rigid Buckler Fern . 322-3
Plate 10, Fig. 1 325
Culture . 323
Description . 822-3
Distribution 823
Habitats . 322
Rings around spore cases 23
Elasticity of . . 23
Rockery for Ferns . 74-8
Arrangement of
Fernson eo 07
Building of . 76-7
Earth for ‘ « 26
In Fern house 80-1
Method of pine
on :
Stone for : » 72
Use of . . 62
Rockford Inn, Ashford. 123
Rock Spleenwort . 364-6
Plate 6, Fig. 17 235
Culture . 366
Description 364-5
Distribution 365-6
Habitats . és - 3864
Rocks, Valley of the. 154-5
Rootlets of Ferns 15-16
406 INDEX
PAGE PAGE
Rootstocks in Ferns, Furm of 17-18 | Sea Spleenwort—
Royal Fern : 214-19 Description . 381-2
Plate 4, Fig. 1 207 Distribution . 382-3
Culture . 218-9 Habitats . 380-1
Description - 215-7 used for burns eo 339)
Distribution .217-8 | Seed clusters of Ferns . . 22
Habitats . . 214 | Silver Cove . é 160
Used for colic . 89 | Site for rockery . i . 75
for healing Slapton Lea Sands. - Tvl
wounds 39 | Soft Prickly Shield Fern 276-9
for splenetic Plate 8, Fig. 1 293
diseases. . 39 Culture . . 279
for starching Description . 277-8
linen : . 39 Distribution 278-9
Rue-leaved Spleenwort . 300-4 Habitats 276
Plate 6, Figs.9 and 10. 285 | Soil and aspect . O14
Culture . - 353-4 Character of Fern . Odd
Deseription .851-2 | Somerset, Scenery of 110
Distribution . 352-3 | Sorugin Ferns. . . 23
Habitats . . 350-1 | South Poole . : . 172
‘Species,’ Definition of . 25-6
Spermatozoids, Nature of . 10
Spleenworts . . 855-74
8. Uses of 39, 41
Sporangiain Ferns. . 23
St. Joun’s Eve anp ‘Frrn Non-indusiate » 2B
SEEDING’ . ‘ ; 44 Textureand shape of 23
Salcombe. 5; 172 | Spore cases in Ferns . 25-4
Sandy loam for Ferns . 53 ‘vessels’ in Ferns . 28
Saxon origin of word ‘ Os- Variations in . » 23
munda’ . . 215 | Spores, Abundance of. . 12
Scaly Spleenwort . . 384-7 Arrangement of . 23
Plate 6, Figs. 12 and 13 235 Destruction of . i
Culture . . 93887 Development of . 10
Description . 385-6 Embryo cellsin . 9
Distribution . 386-7 Germination of 8-10, 60-1
Habitats . . 884-5 Infinitesimal size of 11
Used for bait for fish 39
for melancholy
diseases . °. 39
Scenery of Somerset 110
Scenic pre-eminence of Devon 111
ScoLoPENDRIUM vulgare . 192-6
Culture . . 195-6
Description . 192-4
Distribution 195
Habitats . 192
Sea and sky and waving
green. 150-157
Sea Fern, Home of the . 172-6
Sea Spleenwort . 380-3
Plate 6, Fig. 8 235
Culture 383
Markings of . . 9
Shapes of 9
Singular vitality of 10
Sperm cells in 9
Structure of ‘ 9
Start Point . . 170-1
Stems of tree Ferns. . 18
Stipes of Ferns . ; . 18
Colour of . 18-9
Length of . 18-9
Nature of . 18-9
Relative length of
fronds to . . 18
Scales on . 18-9
Thickness of . . 218
Variations in . . 1
INDEX
PAGE
Stoke Fleming ‘ . 170
Stone for Fern rockery yD
Structure of Ferns . 14 24
Study of Nature 48-50, 77, 96, 99
Subterranean Fern-cultnre . 67-8
Sunlight as an element in
the landscape : . 156
Superstitions concerning
Ferns. . 43-4
T.
Teacuines or Nature 50, 77, 80
88, 101
Three-branched Polypody . 263-5
Plate 7, Fig. 4 ; . 253
Culture . . 265
Description - 263-4
Distribution 265
Habitats . 263
used for coughs . 4i
for fearful dreams 41
melancholy or
quartanagues. 41
shortness of breath 41
Torbay 150, 155-6, 158 67
‘Torcross : . vl
Torquay : 155, 159
Teapieal Forests, Ferns in . 5
Tropical tree Ferns. ‘ 5
TRICHOMANES radicans . 237-41
Culture . . 240-1
Description . 237-9
Distribution 239-40
Habitats . . 237
Tunnel of green twigs . . 152-3
True Maidenhair . . 220-3
Plate 5, Fig. 1 225
Culture . 223
Description . 220-2
Distribution . 222-3
Habitats . 220
Devon habitat of 161
used for ‘Capillaire’ 36
Tunbridge Filmy Fern . 388-92
Plate 6, Fig. 2 235
Culture . 3892
Description 389-91
407
PAGE
Tunbridge Filmy Ferna—
Distribution . 891-2
Habitats . 888-9
U.
“UNSEEN Sprrits’ AND ‘FERN
SEED’ GATHERERS . . Ad
Uses of Ferns . 36-41
Vv.
VALLEY oF tHE Rocks . 134-5
Valleys of the Lyn 117-33
Variations of British Ferns . 182
‘Varieties, Definition of . 25
Veins of Fronds . ; . 22
Ventilation of Fern cases . 89
Fern houses . 79-80
Vermifuge from Ferns. . 37
W.
Watt-Rvue . 350-4:
Watchet ‘4 . 110
Water for Fern Garden . 73
Watering Fernsin house . 80
Watersmeet, near Lynmouth 120-1
126-7
Waving green, Sea and
sky and . ; 150-57
Wherrington Cove . 170
Window-garden of Ferns . 88
Winter Fern Garden . . $821
Witches and Moonwort » 43
Woodsias . 803-7
Woopsta alpina . 3807-9
Culture . 309
Description 3807-8
Distribution . 308-9
Habitats. . 3807
Tlvensis . 803-6
Culture . 306
Description 8038-5
Distribution . 805-6
Habitats . 303
Worcestershire superstitions
concerning ‘Fern seed’ . 44
LONDON:
PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LD.,
ST. JOHN’S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL ROAD, E.G
aes
eh
rk