. British ferns and their varieties. Ferns. BRITISH FERNS. Fig. 256. Pte7-is aquilana (part of pinna). being rolled back so as to form an indusium, or protecting cover. P. aqiiilina has a lleshy, travelling, underground rootstock, which sometimes penetrates very deeply into the soil, and produces its fronds at a considerable distance from each other. As a result of this, it is all but impossible to remove a plant successfully in the growing season, and the only way is to lift it in the winter, by digging up a good mass of soil pervaded by these rootstocks, and without disturbing them by breaki
. British ferns and their varieties. Ferns. BRITISH FERNS. Fig. 256. Pte7-is aquilana (part of pinna). being rolled back so as to form an indusium, or protecting cover. P. aqiiilina has a lleshy, travelling, underground rootstock, which sometimes penetrates very deeply into the soil, and produces its fronds at a considerable distance from each other. As a result of this, it is all but impossible to remove a plant successfully in the growing season, and the only way is to lift it in the winter, by digging up a good mass of soil pervaded by these rootstocks, and without disturbing them by breaking the mass, drop the latter en bloc into a peaty station provided where a plant is desired. The spores, however, germinate very freely, and the resulting plants rapidly assume a good size, so that where valuable varieties are concerned they are easily propagated in this way. Curiously enough, however, despite its reputed hardiness, and wide distribution as a hardy plant, in the seedhng state hard frost is often fatal, especially if the youngsters have been raised under glass. We have been successful in raising very fine varieties from spores in small pans, and transferring them to the garden by sinking the pans containing young plants with five or six inch long fronds, into prepared peaty stations in the late summer, at a depth permitting a mulch of about two or three inches of similar soil. The travelling rootstocks will then climb over the pan edges, and plunge into the adjacent soil sufficiently deep to be safe during the winter, and the following season they will establish themselves so strongly as to commence to exercise their usual monopolizing tendency at the expense of the plants in the vicinity. We have seen splendid specimens grown in sunken tubs, which have been adopted to check such invasions. Obviously, indoor culture for so robust a Fern is a mistake, nor should it be installed outside unless there is ample room for it to spread. An exception to this remark is P.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectferns, bookyear1912
