I N T H 0 ]) u c T 1 0 N.
F brns, or, as they are usually termed, Flliccs, are the highest
division of cryptogamie botany. T hey are leafy plants, the
leaflets, or fronds, rising from a rhizoma, this rhizoma creeping
upon, or below, the surface of the ground, or rising upwards
into the air.
In the Linnæan system. F erns are the division FiUces, of the
twenty-fourth class, termed Cryptogamia. T hey are in the
second class of “ L in d ley ’s N a tu ra l System,” and are called
Acrogens, the division being Filicales. T here are no less than
one hu n d red and ninety-two genera, and two thousand and forty
species, about one half of which are now cultivated in Great
Britain.
Ferns, b y their exquisite beauty, great variety, and singularity
of the reproductive organs, deservedly rank h igh amongst cultivated
plants. Among them may be found innumerable diversity
of form, size, and habit of growth; they are to be met with
in almost all parts of the globe, b u t most abundantly in the
tropical regions. Some species grow to the h e ig h t of forty or
fifty feet, bearing their elegant fronds in the most graceful
attitudes, those of the Norfolk Islan d T re e F e rn , the Dich-
sonia A n ta r c tica , frequently measure twenty feet, while on the
other h an d those of the diminutive HymenoplujUum Tanhrid-
gense—a British example, scarcely exceed an in ch ; others, as
the Lygodium trib e , twine rou n d the nearest support in fantastic
wreaths in every direction. Some varieties owe their chief
beauty to the farinose powder covering the un d e r side of the
fronds, sometimes of a rich golden hue, in others of a silvery
whiteness.
As decorative plants in our hothouses and conservatories. Ferns
stand unrivalled. T ru e they do not possess the gorgeous colour,
which at one p eriod or other of their growth forms the
chief glory of most other plants which we so diligently cultiv
ate; b u t, notwithstanding this, the evergreen species of Ferns
maintain an unfailing in te re st; young fronds, with their delicate
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