"^*_ a/- THE C > ' ' THE BRITISH FERNS POPULARLY DESCRIBED, AND ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS OF EVERY SPECIES. FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE FAMILY AS REGARDS THEIR CHARACTERISTICS, PECULIARITIES, NATURAL PLACES OF GROWTH, AND THE MOST SUCCESSFUL METHODS OF CULTIVATING THEM. BY GEORGE W. JOHNSON, ESQ., EDITOB OF " THE COTTAOE GARDENER," &C. THIRD EDITION. LONDON : COTTAGE GARDENER OFFICE, 20, PATERNOSTER ROW. TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1859. > WINCHESTER: PK1NTED BY HUGH BARCLAY, HIGH b T K E E T. INTRODUCTION. No Natural Order of plants attracts more attention than the Ferns, and that attention is attracted by their elegance, the freshness of their verdure, the peculiarity of their structure, and the ease with which most cf them are cul- tivated. To assist the searcher after, and the cultivator of these plants, and to afford him a guide as free as possible froir the jargon of botanical language, were the leading considerations in preparing these pages. The engravings, for the most part, will enable any one, without other assistance, to ascertain the name of any species he may possess, or, if he knows its name, the al- phabetical order of the work and the index will enable him to refer readily to full particulars concerning its history, description, and cultivation ; but some readers may wish for a guide to the systematic arrangement of the British Ferns, and for their use we offer the following information. The Ferns (Filices) are flowerless plants, with a root-stock spreading underground (rhizoma), from which arise, un- coiling usually in a spiral form (circinnate) the fronds or leafy stems ; the under surface of the fronds is traversed 2091075 iv INTRODUCTION. by veins, producing, in British Ferns, one-celled cases con- taining the seed (spores). Mr. Sowerby having objected to our use of the classifica- tion we adopted in the First Edition of this work, and also to some of the magnified portions of the parts of fructifica- tion, we have been led to a closer consideration of these subjects, and we rejoice in being able to say that the resrlt of such consideration is a greater amount of correctness. The improved classification is as follows: POLYPODIACE^:. Fructification placed on the back of the frond, naked, having neither the usual covering nor covered by the margin of the frond. Eing vertical. Vernation coiled. CETERACH. Masses of fructification oblong, or nearly linear, straight, covering not apparent; mid-veins parallel or oblique, vein-branches uniting at their points. POLYPODTOM:. Masses nearly circular, scattered in spots, without covering. Edge of frond not bent back. GYMNOGKAMMA. Capsules seated on the forked veins of the fronds; covering none ; seeds triangular. Fructification placed on the back of the frond, and either furnished with a cover or having the margin of the frond turned back over it. Eing vertical. Vernation coiled. WOODSIA. Masses nearly circular, scattered \n dots; receptacle membranaceous, flat, somewhat plate-shaped, fringed with incurved hairs. PoiYSTiOHUsf. Masses circular, covering circular, fixed INTRODUCTION. V to the frond by its centre on the upper branches of the side- veins. LASTBZA. Masses nearly circular on the back of the side-veins ; covering irregularly kidney-shaped, attached to the frond at the indentation in its kidney shape. CYSTOPTEBIS. Masses small, nearly circular, seated at the back of the main side-veins; covering hood-like, fixed by its broad base beneath the masses, which it covers when young, the margin where it opens fringed, finally turned back. ASPLENIUM. Masses in lines, placed on the lateral veins ; covering membranaceous, fiat, opening towards the mid- vein. ATHYBTUM. Masses nearly circular, scattered; covering solitary, circular, peltate, or kidney-shaped, attached to the frond by its centre or side, opening on the side next the mid-vein, and edge of opening fringed, the fringe turning back. SCOLOPENDBIOTI. Masses line-like, oblique, double, op- posite, parallel; covering membranaceous, opening in the middle over the masses in opposite pairs. PTERIS. Masses on the margin of the leaflet in an unin- terrupted line ; covering opening from the bent-in edge of the frond. ALLOSOBUS. Masses circular, placed on the transverse forked veins, finally covering the back of the contracted leant ; covering very narrowed, formed by the rolled-back edge of the leant ; seeds triangular. BLECHNUM. Masses in continuous line next each side of the mid-vein ; covering membranaceous, flat, opening next the mid- vein. I. Masses line-like, or partly round, on the VI INTRODUCTION. margin of the leant, inserted in the covering; covering, being a continuation of the leafit's outer skin, scale-like, opening on inner side. HYMENOPHYLLACE^:. Fructification placed on a receptacle at the margin of the frond at the end of a vein. Ring horizontal. Vernation coiled. THICHOMANES. Masses on the margin in a somewhat bell-shaped receptacle, with a central bristle-like column, to which the masses are attached. HYMENOPHYLLUM. Masses attached to a central, rather club- like column, in an erect two-valved receptacle. OSMTJNDACEJB. Fructification naked, arranged in a cluster on a stalk at the end of a frond. Vernation coiled. OSMIWDA. Masses in cases nearly globular, netted, stalked, opening lengthwise from their base as high as a transparent dorsal projection ; the cases borne in a cluster or panicle. OPHIOGLOSSACES:. Fructification naked, arranged in a cluster on a stalk attached to a frond. Vernation straight. OPHIOGLOSSUM. Masses in a jointed two-rowed spike, in cases joined at the base, one-celled, opening at the side. BOTRYCHIUM. Masses in compound one-sided spike, adnate; capsules globular, stalkless, leathery, half two- valved, opening rather on the side. THE BRITISH FERNS. FERNS have long been popular plants; nor is their popularity confined to one class of society, and for this reason, while all Ferns are beautiful, some of them are so cheap as to be within the purchasing power of all, and others are so scarce and costly as to be worthy companions of all that is rich and rare among the gems of the Stove and Conservatory. The popularity of Ferns, however, does not rest only upon their beauty and their price, for they have, as an additional cause for their ready access to the good graces of the cultivator, that there is scarcely any place in which Ferns of some genera refuse to grow. Most of them thrive best in the shade ; others prefer the brightest light; a third group will live only on dry walls and chalky rocks ; a fourth succeed nowhere, except in abundant moisture; a fifth revel in the freest air of the mountain top; and a sixth flourish verdantly for months, and even years, within the close confinement of a Wardian case. Thus all purses and all situations if B 2 BRITISH FERNS. neither the one nor the other are absolutely barren can command a supply of Ferns. Notwithstanding their accessibility, and notwith- standing their popularity, it is as extraordinary as true that no popular work upon even the Hardy Ferns, com- bining a description of each species and its culture, has yet been published. We have excellent scientific works upon the Ferns, and we have general directions for their cultivation, but nothing which an amateur can read with pleasure, or consult for specific directions. It is hoped that this volume will supply this deficiency; for our notes will not be a mass of dry technical terras, which only the palate of a mere botanical collector can relish, but will be a mingling of what we think will be interesting to all, whether derived from our own observa tions, or from the observations of others. Moreover, we shall endeavour to use terms which all can under- stand ; for our object, especially, is to benefit and gratify those who love plain truths in plain words. Ferns are flowerless plants with stems, yet in this country the leaves are far more strikingly developed than are the stems " In our Ferns," says Mr. Henfry, " the stem is indeed occasionally erect, rising a few inches from the ground, and expanding its wide leaves (or fronds, as they are usually called) in a circle; but in a greater number it creeps along beneath the ground, being, in fact, a rhizome similar in the nature of its growth to that of the Sedges, and other flowering plants. This rhizome bears small separate (adventitious) roots on the BRITISH FERN'S. 3 under side, while at intervals from the upper spring leaves, which, when young, are very pretty objects, being curled up in a kind of scroll, that gradually unrolls as they rise upward. The bodies which repre- sent the seeds here (called spores) are usually produced in formations growing upon the backs of the leaves, and it is principally upon the mode of arrangement of these formations (called sori) that the classification of Ferns is founded. " The common condition of the apparatus in which the spores are produced may be described as follows : On the backs of the leaves, round patches, or streaks, or lines running round the borders of the divisions, appear, which in a perfect state have a brown, powdery aspect. This appearance is concealed in many kinds, in the early stages, by a membranous cover enclosing the brown dust ; when the spores are more advanced, these coverings (called indusia) become either wholly or partly detached, and if examined with a magnifying glass, are found to have peculiar forms in different kinds of Ferns, and to be attached sometimes by little stalks, and sometimes hy their edges, if we place some of the brown dust-like substance under a microscope, we find it to consist of a number of little cases, which, when ripe, burst, and discharge the very minute spores which have been produced within them. The bursting of the cases results from the elasticity of a kind of thickened band (the annulus), which extends around the mem- branous case, or spore-fruit (tlieca). The spores are mostly so small as to be invisible singly to the naked 4 BRITISH FERNS. eye, and consist of single vesicles of various shapes, often beautifully ornamented with markings on the exterior. " Some Ferns bear their spore-fruits in a somewhat different way. In the Osmunda, or Koyal Fern, the division forming the end of the leaf consists of a spike covered with capsules (spore-fruits), which differ slightly from those above described. In the Adder's-tongue aud Moonwort, the spores are produced in fronds (called fertile fronds), which are quite changed in character for this purpose, and appear like spiked inflorescences. These three last kinds are sometimes wrongly called Flowering Ferns. " In germination, the spore, which is a mere vesicle and not a miniature plant, such as we find in a seed, grows and divides into a number of vesicles, which multiply and enlarge until they form a miuute green, leaf-like patch, and from the surface of this the first leaf arises, as it does from the plumule, or terminal bud of tho embryo in the flowering-plants." " The root of the tribe of Ferns," observes Mr. Keith, " assumes a great variety of different aspects in different species. In BotryoTiium Lunaria it is fibrous ; in Aspidium dilatatum it is tuberous; and in Polypodium vulgare it is creeping and covered with scales. In Pteris aquilina, or Common Brakes, it is sometimes described as being spindle-shaped : yet this is not strictly the fact. If a frond is taken and pulled up with the hand, the portion of it is indeed spindle-shaped; but the real root, or rather rhizoma, or root-stock, from which you have BRITISH FERNS. 5 thus detached the frond, remains still in the soil, elongating in a horizontal direction at the depth of from three to four inches, sometimes simple and some- times branched, but always furnished with lateral fibres. " The trunk of Ferns if trunk ' it can be called which trunk is none' is a stipe supporting the frond ; or rather the whole of the herbage is a frond, that is, an incorporation of stipe (or stem), leaf, and fructifica- tion. If the stipe of a Fern is cut open, it will be found to consist of a firm pulp, or pith, interspersed with bundles of longitudinal fibres of a dusty brown colour, assuming an arrangement proper to the species. On a transverse section of the stipe of Pteris aquilina (Common Brake), taken a little above the surface of the soil, the divided extremities of the bundles exhibit a slight resemblance to an oak-tree in full leaf. This has been noticed even by the peasantry of the country, among whom it is known by the name of ' King Charles's Oak.' But if the section is taken in a slanting direction, then the resemblance exhibited is that of the Eagle of the Koman standard; whence we have the specific name, aquilina. " It was for a long time believed that Ferns are destitute of seeds, and propagated nobody knows how. Yet no botanist of the present day doubts the reality of Fern-seed, or, at the least, of sporules from which new plants spring. Some have even fancied that they had detected the parts of the antecedent flower. But ad- mitting that such detection is impracticable, the botanist 6 BRITISH FERNS. can, at least, direct his attention to the mode of fructi- fication, and to the fruit produced. In Ferns, strictly so called, it is dorsal ; that is, scattered in clusters or patches on the back of the frond. These patches are generally accompanied with an integument called the Indusium, which, at the period of the maturity of the seed, bursts open, sometimes towards the nerves, and sometimes towards the margin; but in plants of a similar habit, uniformly in a similar manner. The merit of this discovery is due exclusively to Sir J. E. Smith, who found it to be a most decisive criterion for the determining of natural genera, and the only sure ground on which the botanist can rely. When this integument bursts, the fruit, now ripe, escapes, which is for the most part a capsule surrounded by an elastic and jointed ring opening transversely, and discharging the enclosed seed or sporule, which is a small and minute globule, discoverable only by the microscope, and capable of giving origin to a new plant. Ferna were raised from the sowing of their seeds in 1789, by Mr. J. Lindsay, of Jamaica, as also by Mr. J. Fox, of Norwich, about the same time." From that time Ferns began to obtain more notice from gardeners, and there is now no order of plants of which the propagation and culture are better understood. ADIA'NTUM CAPI'LLU.S VBNK'HIS. ADIANTUM. ADIANTUM CAPILLUS VENEEIS This most elegant Fern was not known by our early botanists to be native of this country. Gerarde says, " The right Maiden-hair groweth upon walls, in stoney, shadowy, and moist places near unto fountains, and where water dropeth. It is a stranger to England; notwithstanding I have heard it reported by some of good credit, that it groweth in divers places of the west country of England." Parkinson had heard it " re- ported that it is found in Gloucestershire." Ray, in 1686, says, "it rarely or never occurs in England;" nor was it known for certainty that it is a native of this country until found by Mr. Llhwyd (Lloyd) at Barry Island and Forth Kirig, in Glamorganshire, about the year 1700, and it was first announced in the third edition of Ray's Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britani- carvm (vol. i. 123), published in 1724. Boot black, scaly, and with wiry, fibrous rootlets. Fronds usually six inches high, but under favourable culture twice that height ; evergreen in sheltered situa- tions, but usually dying in winter and reappearing in May. Stipe, or stem, of the frond, slender, and dark purple, the lower half of its length without leaflets. The branches of the stem are very slender, and alter- nately on opposite sides of it, and the leaflets are similarly placed on the branches. Leaflets irregularly fan-shaped ; the fertile leaflets deeply cut on their edges, and the barren leaflets sharply-toothed. They are all of 10 ADIAXT UAI. a pale, semi-transparent, bright green colour, and having doubly-branched veins. The fructification forms a kind of margin to the lobes of the fertile leaflets, and when perfect, in July, becomes of a deep brown, as shown on the magnified leaflet in our drawing. This Fern is of rare occurrence in this country, being found chiefly in our mildest and moistest districts, Devon, Cornwall, South Wales, and Ireland. It has been found, however, on the Islands of Arran, and on the banks of the Carron, in Scotland. Much more abundantly does it occur in the warmer countries of Europe, Northern Africa, Asia, and North America. CULTURE. Although a native of Great Britain, yet it is only found here in moist, sheltered situations ; and, therefore, it is useless to attempt to grow it either upon ordinary rockwork or borders, in the open air. It requires to be cultivated under glass in a moist, moder- ately warm air. It is generally kept as a pot plant in the frame, greenhouse, or moist stove. In the latter it grows and flourishes marvellously. In its wild state, the little plant may be found growing from three to six inches in height, whilst in the moist, shady part of the stove it is to be seen varying from six to twelve inches, forming one of the most beautiful and interesting of evergreens all the year round. It is said, by Mr. Houlston and Mr. Moore, that in the warmer climate of the south of Europe, the Channel Islands, and Madeira, this Fern attains the height of eighteen inches, and is then called Adiantum Moritzi- anum; but our native plant, if cultivated in a moist ADIANTUM. 11 stove, with a high temperature, will produce fronds of magnitude equal to those from the south of Europe or Madeira, with which they are precisely identical. The best way to cultivate it is to keep it as a pot plant ; and the pots should be always placed in pans, and the pans should be nearly always supplied with water, whether in the stove, greenhouse, frame, or window. Whenever the pots or pans become foul, or the smell of stagnant water is perceptible, withhold the water for a day or two, and let the pots containing the plants be nicely washed, and the pans too. This should be attended to particularly at all times. Old, well- established plants, thus attended to, will stand and flourish in the same pots for many years undisturbed. Occasionally remove all decayed fronds from the plant. If one season is better than another, the month of April is the best time for potting or dividing this Fern, as it is readily increased by division. The best soil for it is lime-rubbish, sandy-peat, and pebbles, in equal proportions. The pots should be always thoroughly drained, using broken potsherds for this purpose, with a little moss over, to prevent the earth from getting in among the drainage. The little root fibres seem to delight in finding their way among the broken crocks. USES. In the days of the old herbalists the true Maiden-hair Fern was considered not only efficacious in many diseases, but especially potent in promoting length of tresses, and to this attributed power it owes its name, both among the Latins and the moderns. So succulent are the leaves, that under strong pressure 12 ADIANTUM. they yield about three-fourths of their weight of juice. This juice gave the name to a well-kuown syrup Capillaire. If this has any medicinal virtue it arises from the Orange-flower water forming one of its ingre- dients. To MAKE CAPILLAIRE. Maiden-hair leaves five ounces; Liquorice-root, peeled and sliced, two ounces; boiling water five pints. Let them remain for six hours ; strain, and then add thirteen pounds of the finest loaf sugar, and one pint of Orange-flower water. ALLOSO'l'.US CRI'SPUS. AJ,I,OSORUS. ALLOSO'RUS CRI'SPUS. This has various local names, such as Crisped 01 GurUd Fern, Parsley Fern, Stone Brakes, and Mountain Parsley. Names allusive to some one or other of its peculiarities. Crisped and Curled refer to the form of the leaflets; Parsley, to its resemblance to that plant; Stone, to its love of rocky or stony soil; and Mountain, to its frequenting Alpine localities. Its generic name is derived from the Greek allos, diverse, and soros, a heap, referring to the varying forms of the patches of its fructification, or sori. The specific name, crispus, or curled, is explained by what we have said already relative to one of its English names. A friend used to call this his " pet, pit, pot Fern," and of a truth, it is not only most beautiful of form, but of that diminutive size which seems so needful to entitle anything animate or inanimate to the worthiness for being petted. The main body of the root lies horizontally just be- neath the surface of the soil, producing many fibrous rootlets. The fronds arise in May, or early in June; their stalks are from two to six inches long, slender, smooth, waved, and pale green. The leafleted portion is of a further length of from one-and-a-half to three inches. There are two kinds of fronds, one kind being barren, and the other fertile. The leaflets of the barrert fronds are altogether alternate, by which we intend that 16 ALLOSORUS they are alternate on the branchlets, and the leafits and their lobes are also alternate. By " alternate " is meant, first on one side, and then one on the other side, each leaflet, leafit, and lobe, being opposite to the space between two leaflets, leafits, or lobes, on the contrary side. The leafits of the barren fronds are pale bright green, wedge - shaped, finely- toothed on the edges, and frequently crisped or curled. The fertile fronds are considerably taller than the barren fronds, and their leafits are spear-head-shaped, and smooth-edged. The fructification, or sori, are in lines along the under margin of the leafits, as represented in the magnified leafit of our engraving, but the margin is so rolled back as to conceal the sori, as on one side of the leafit in that engraving. After the spores or seeds have ripened and been discharged which in their native state occurs in September the sori so spread out, that they cover the whole of the back of the leafit, except its midrib. In our engraving, which is of the natural size, the fertile frond is in the centre Allosoms crispus is a 1'eru rather rare in this country, being confined to its northern parts and mountains. It affects rocks, heathy places, and old walls. It has been found in Rutlandshire ; at Tenterfell, near Kendal, in Westmoreland ; on Cader Idris, in Merionethshire ; and on Snowdon, in Carnarvonshire; at Borrowdale,.in Cumberland ; and in the Highlands of Scotland. It was unknown to old Gerarde and to bis editor Johnson ; nor do we find any mention of it as a native ALLOSORUS. 17 plant until 1696, when Ray, in the second edition of his Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum, de- scribes it as found in Westmoreland, and other places, by Mr. James Sutherland, the first curator of the Edin- burgh Botanical Garden. Ray calls it, as it was called by its first describer, Schwenkfeld, Adiantum album crispum alpinum (Cui'led Alpine White Maiden-hair). Linnaeus, who knew less about Ferns than about any other of the great divisions of the vegetable kingdom, named it at one time Osmunda, and at another time Pteris crispa, whilst some botanists have called it Cryptogramma, and others Phorolobus, but the best authorities now agree that J. J. Bernhardi, at the com menceinent of the present century, was correct when he separated it from all other Ferns, and named it Allosorus. USES. We have seen that Ray and other early herb- alists considered this Fern an Adiantum, or Maiden-hair. In those days plants were chiefly examined for their medicinal qualities, and all herbalists then agreed with our earliest writer on Plants, Dr. William Turner, that of the Adiantums, " the juyce stayeth the heare that falleth off, and if they be fallen off, it restoreth them agayne." But it is quite certain that his remedy is as defective as his spelling and grammar. Though deficient in medicinal qualities, this Fern, as we have already noted, is well worthy of culture for its elegance. CULTURE. When cultivated, it should be grown upon well-drained rockwork, moderately shaded, kept moist, c 18 ALLOSOIIUS. and planted in a mixture of loam and peat, and all the better if a portion of bricks, broken up into small pieces, be mixed with it. But with all the care bestowed upon such plants, they will disappear at times, there- fore, the cultivators of such heautiful and interesting plants should always keep duplicates in well-drained pots, and the pot-kept plants should always have winter protection, but during the summer months such pots can always be placed out-of-doors in some suitable place. The plants should always be well-established in pots before being turned out in the border or rockery. This Fern is readily increased by division in the spring months. It grows luxuriantly in the green- house or vinery, under the shade of the Vines. A little protection can be given to any of these choice little Ferns, even when they are planted out upon the rockery, or in the border, by placing a hand-glass over them. ASPI.E'KIUM ADIA-'NTUM-NI'GHUM. ASPLENIUM. 21 XASPLE'NIUM ADIA'NTUM-NI'GRUM. THIS, the Black Maiden-liair-like Spleenwort, is popu- larly known as the Black Maiden-hair, and Oak Fern. Its main root is black, scaly, and furnished with many wiry, dark-coloured rootlets. The fronds rise from the crown of the root, and vary in height from three inches to nearly two feet. The specimen fronds from which our drawiug was taken, and which is about one-third the natural size, were about fifteen inches high. These greater heights are attained by the Fern when growing in a shady situation and rich soil, as was our specimen at Sherfield, in Hampshire. The stem of the frond is dark chesnut-coloured, and glossy; the part joining the root scaly; about half of its length bare, and the other half leafy. The leafy portion has a lengthened - tri- angular form, the lower pair of the leaflets being longest, each pair above them being gradually shorter and shorter, until they pass insensibly into the single terminating leaflet. The leaflets are also lengthened, triangular in form, and are more or less alternate, and so are the leafits composing each leaflet. The leafits are spear- head-shaped, and so finely toothed at their edge as almost to appear fringed. The pair of leafits nearest the main stalk of the frond are so deeply cut as to be divided into still smaller, or sub-leafits. They all are bright light green on the upper surface, but the under surface is much paler. The fructification (sori) appears at first in oblique -'U ASPLENIUM. whitish lines, varying in number from three to seven, on the under surface of the leafits. The whiteness arises from a thin covering (called the indusium), which bursts with a smooth edge on the side next the mid-vein of the leant. The covering finally peels off, and then the sori, which are brown, spread until they cover the entire back of the leafit, all but the edge. This spread- ing, or running together, of the fructification is called confluent by botanists. The seed, or spores, are in various states of growth from April to October. There are two varieties, acutum (very pointed), and obtusum (blunt). The only differences between these and the species we have described are that the fronds, the leaflets, and leafits of acutum extend to a longer and sharper point, whilst those of obtusum are more rounded. The intermediate forms are so various, that we really consider the above not entitled even to the subordinate distinction of a variety. Variegatum is a more certain variation, for it is very distinctly variegated with cream-colour. It was found on the church of Shottisbrook, in Berkshire, during 1847, by Mr. Silver. The generic name, Asplenium, is derived from a, not, and splen, the spleen, alluding to the supposed medicinal power of some of the species to lower the activity of the spleen. The specific name, Adiantum iiigrum, is literally translated in the popular title, Black Maiden-hair. This is one of the common Ferns of the British Islands, being found very generally on old walls and ASPLENIUM. 23 among stones in shady places. It is spread over all Europe, and was known as a native plant to our earliest herbalists. Gerarde says it grows " upon trees in shadowie woods, and now and then in sbadowie banks, and under hedges." We never found it upon trees, nor have we spoken of it to any one who has. Ray is more correct in stating that it is found " in shadowy places at the roots of trees and shrubs ; in shaded fields, and on old walls generally." The same author is the first of our native botanists who gave an accurate description of this Fern ; a description which he pub- lished in the first volume of his " Historia Plantarum." This Fern is one of the best among our native Ferns to examine as an illustration of the peculiar packing, or rolling up of the fronds previously to their expansion to the light and air. The point of the frond is turned inwards, so that as the frond unrolls the upper surface is always outwards, and the lower, or seed-bearing surface is always within and protected In Bay's time, the latter half of the 17th century, this Fern was believed to be a beneficial medicine in coughs, asthma, and some other diseases, and even Hoffmann recommended its use as an anti-scorbutic, but it is no longer employed even by herbalists. It is a Fern very useful to the cultivator of this Natural Order of plants, for it is evergreen, and will thrive in pots under glass even better than upon rock- work in the open air. Hence it is a good tenant for a Wardian case. It will endure continued exposure to bright sunshine, and is then of a dwarf stature, but 24 ASPLENIUM. under shade, and in a favourable soil, it attains a medium size. The soil best suited to it is a mixture, in equal parts, of sandy loam, leaf-mould, limy rubbish, and pebbles. It is easily propagated by dividing the crowns" in early sprint. April is as good a month as any for this purpose. ASPLE'NIUM FONTA'NUM. ASPLENIUM FONTANUM. 27 ASPLE'NIUM FONTA'NUM. THIS bears the English names of the Rock Polypody, Slender-stemmed Polypody, and Smooth Rock Spleenwort. Why the specific name fontanum was ever applied to it we cannot discover, and such specific name is sin- gularly inappropriate, since so far from delighting in fountains, it is found only on dry rocks and old walls. The root is dark-coloured, short, and thick, furnished with many rootlets, and terminating in a scaly tuft, from among which arise the fronds. These fronds vary in height from three to eight inches, but rarely exceed four inches. They grow in an erect tuft, as represented jn our drawing. A very small portion of the stem, or stipe, is without leaflets, and the scales of the root are continued up a part of that unleafleted portion. All the leafleted part of the stem has a narrow wing of a leafy texture running up opposite sides, between the stalks of the leaflets. The leaflets are pale green, alternate, and lengthened egg-shaped, some being divided into leafits similarly shaped, but others near the top of the stem are only deeply notched. The fructification, or sori, is very accurately described by Mr. Moore as being produced two or three (sometimes five, as in our magnified specimen) on a leaflet, on the side veins, and near where they join the mid-vein. The sori, he adds, are short, oblong, sometimes distinct, but often running together (confluent), and, occasionally, occupying nearly the whole under surface of every leaflet. " They are 28 ASPLENIUM PONTANUM. covered by an opaque, white, oblong skin (indusium), more rounded on the loose edge, which is turned towards the mid-vein, than on that edge by which it is attached to the leaflet; the loose edge being, also, waved and rather toothed." (Moore's Handbook of British Ferns. 150.) Many botanists have doubted the claim of this Fern to be considered a British species, but we think its claim as fully established. That it has been found but seldom, and in few places, is no counter-evidence. It is often passed by, probably, without examination, being mistaken for Asplenium trichomanes, and other common species. The first to announce this as a British Fern was Mr. Hudson, in the first edition of his Flora Anglica, pub- lished during the year 1762. He states that it grew upon " rocky places near Wybourn, in Westmoreland." Mr. Bolton, in his Filices Britannic, or History of British Proper Ferns, published in 1786, states that this Fern was found on the walls of Agmondesham (Amersham) Church, in Buckinghamshire. In 1838, Mr. Readhead found it on rocks in Wharncliffe Woods, Yorkshire. Mr. Charles Johnson discovered it, in 1845, on an old wall on Tooting Common, Surrey. More recently it has been found by the Eev. W. Hawker, on a wall at Ashford, near Petersfield, in Hampshire. Mr. Shepherd, of Liverpool, sent specimens to Mr. Moore, which bad been collected at Matlock, in Derbyshire. Mr. Hutcheson, formerly gardener at Boxley Abbey, Kent, and a Fern cultivator, gathered it in 1842, on ASPLENIUM FONTANUM. 29 rocks near Stonehaven, in Kincardineshire. Thus, it has been found by competent judges in various parts of England, in Ireland, and in Scotland, and it would be worse than irrational to maintain that in all these places it had been accidentally introduced by spores brought from continental Europe. The rarity of this Fern is in a considerable degree accounted for by the fact of its being unable to sustain our climate, except in sheltered, and thoroughly suitable situations. To grow it in perfection, and to preserve it ever- green, it must be cultivated as a pot plant, and have glass protection the whole year, with shading from the scorching sun's rays during the summer months. It may stand in a pan to receive water, when required, but, in general, it should be sparingly watered, compared with the generality of Ferns, and yet never allowed to go dry. Like most of the family, it is readily increased by careful division of large or old plants, in open weather during the spring months, and being planted in a mixture of sandy peat and broken bricks, or old mortar, or both. A little of this mixed with the soil is found beneficial to the plants, and particular attention is re- required to have good drainage. This drainage is best formed of fresh broken bricks. The roots of all Ferns seem to delight in finding their roots among this ma- terial. The pots should, in all cases, for this particular kind, be better than one-third filled with drainage, then a little moss over the drainage to prevent the earth 30 ASPLENIUM FONTANUM. going down among the broken bricks. When the drainage is thus all right, the plants may be watered more freely and safely. When shifting these plants into larger pots the drainage should be as before directed, and the crowns of the plants should be kept consider- ably higher than the rim of the pots. This is an essential. One of the greatest points in the culture and keeping these scarce and choice Ferns, is carefully to give them water, and to shade them when needed, and not to disturb them so long as they are doing well. The out- side of the pots the specimens stand in should be washed occasionally, as well as the pans which the pots stand in. Ferns, like other plants, sometimes become infested with Aphides, to destroy which they should be fumigated with tobacco-smoke. When specimens are seeming to tire of their soil, or are become too large, then is the best time for division, or to make a number of plants out of one scarce one, for not till then would we divide a fine specimen of a Fern. ASPLE'NIUJI G ASPLENIUM GERMANICUM. 33 ASPLE'NIUM GERMA'NICUM. THIS, among many other names, has also been called Asplenium alternifolium, because the leaflets are more distinctly alternate than in most other Ferns, but a? all the species are, for the most part, alternate-leaved, this is an objectionable name ; and so, indeed, is germanicum, for this species is native of other countries besides Germany. However, it is better to put up with an in- appropriate name, rather than to encumber the student with synonymes. Our drawing is of the life-size ; for this Fern varies but little in height between three and five inches. Its main root is black, furnished with many rootlets of the same colour, and crowned with a tuft from amid which arise the fronds. The stem of these is so deep a purple at the bottom as to appear black ; the lower half is unleafleted, and the upper half is green, and furnished with but a few widely separated leaflets, very distinctly alternating. The leaflets are pale green, narrow-wedge-shaped, tapering into slender stalks, and the top of each leaflet is deeply notched, and one notch in the lower leaflets is so deep as to form a lobe. There is no mid or main vein to the leaflets, but small parallel veins, some of which have the fructification along their inner edge. The fructification (sori) are covered by a narrow membrane, the opening edge of which is whole, or at most indented, but never jagged. The spores, or seed, are ripe in August, at which time the fructifica- B 34 ASPLENIUM GEBMANICUM. tion on each leaflet has united together, or become confluent. Linnaeus considered this a mere variety of the Asplenium ruta-muraria, or Wall Hue ; and it is decidedly much resembling that, as it does also Asplenium septen- trionale, or Forked Spleenwort, yet it is very distinct from each. It is found, but not abundantly, in Germany, Switzer- land, Italy, France, Hungary, and Sweden ; but was not known to be a native of Great Britain until dis- covered at the close of the last century, somewhere about 1792, by Mr. Dickson. He found it on some rocks in the south of Scotland, and published his discovery in the second volume of the Linnajan Society's Transactions. In that country it has been found on rocks in the Tweed, near Kelso, in Roxburghshire ; on the Stenton Rocks, near Dunkeld, in Perthshire; and near Dunfermline, iu Fifeshire. In England it has been found at Borrow- dale and Scaw-fell, in Cumberland; on Hyloe Crags, in Northumberland; and in Wales near Llanrwst, and in the pass of Llanberis. These are the only localities at present known as its dwellings, and even there it is not abundant, so that it is one of the rarest of our Ferns. It seems entirely to have been passed unnoticed by Gerarde and others of our earliest botanists. In its wild state its fronds die during the winter ; but cultivated in a cold greenhouse, from which frost is ex- cluded, it remains evergreen. It requires a very light, poor soil, and we have found it thrive most and permanently in a mixture of equal ASPLEN'IUM GERMAMCUM. 35 proportions of sharp river sand, sandy peat, and limy rubbish. One-third of the pot in which it is planted should be filled with drainage of broken potsherds Nothing destroys this Fern so soon ns an excess o' water either about its roots or its foliage. The soil in the pot should rise to a conical point, ana in that point the Fern should be planted with the tufted head of its root well above the surface, so that watei cannot settle in it. If grown under a bell-glass, this should be taken off daily, and be raised at the sides almost continually to avoid a close, damp atmosphere, for such an atmosphere is injurious and even fatal tc the plant if long continued. We prefer growing it in a greenhouse where a bell-glass is not needed. It must be shaded from the sun; and in watering, no watej must be poured over the crown of the root. Unless all these precautions are taken this Fern wi! not live under cultivation. Its dislike of a close at mosphere precludes it from the Wardian case, for which its diminutive size renders it peculiarly suitable S3 ASPLENIUM LANCEOLATUM. ASPLE'NIUM LANCEOLA'TUM. IN English this has been called Spear-shaped Spleen- wort, Lanceolate Spleemvort, and White Oak Fern. The main body of the root is black, tufted, and covered with bistle-like scales; the rootlets are also black and numerous. The stem, or stipe, of each frond, up to where the leaflets commence, is purplish- black, and throughout its entire length is more or less sprinkled with fine, bristly scales. The length of the fronds varies as much as from three to fifteen inches. Mr. Moore says they are sometimes eighteen inches. They attain the greatest height when favourably cul- tivated under shade in a warm greenhouse. The speci- men from which our drawing was taken is six inches high. The outline of the entire leafy portion of each frond is spear-head shaped, or lanceolate, to which the specific name alludes. The upper half of each stem and the leaflets are very bright, pale green. The spear- head shape of the frond is caused by the lowest leaflets being shorter than those immediately above them, and then the upper leaflets again gradually diminish in size. The leaflets have a triangular, or arrow - head outline, and though sometimes in opposite pairs, yet they are generally alternate ; they for the mobt part stand at a right angle with the stalk, but sometimes droop slightly. The leafits are reversed - egg - shaped, Olunt at the upper end, but deeply, and sharply-toothed, the teeth being as fine as bristles ; the leafits at their ASPLE'KIUM LANCEOIA'TUM. ASPLEXIUM LANCEOLATUM. 39 lower end taper off gradually into a fine foot-stalk ; they have a slightly twisted mid-vein, from which proceed forked side-veins, one to each division between the teeth. The fructification, or son, is in irregular- placed masses, several on each leafit, at first longish oval in form, but gradually running together, and spreading over nearly the whole leafit, and becoming of a rusty brown ; the cover or membrane (indusium) is oblong, whitish, with a jagged margin, always sepa- rating at the side towards the mid-vein. The spores, or seeds, are ripe in August and early in September. This species is found in the crevices of rocks and on old walls in the south of England. Upon rocks on the north side of the Isle of Jersey, and other parts of the Channel Islands ; about St. Ives and other places in Cornwall ; at Tonbridge Wells and its vicinity ; and in a few places in Oxfordshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Sussex, Somerset, Carnarvonshire, Denbighshire, Gla- morganshire, Merionethshire, and Pembrokeshire. Mr. Bolton states that he found it on a wall in a village near the river Wharf in Yorkshire, and Link says it occurs near Gilphead, in west Scotland, and in Ireland, but these localities require confirmation. Mr. Sweet, ia his " Bristol Flora," says it occurs there in " Old bury Court Woods, and in lanes about Stapleton. The area of this plant is not more than half-a-mile, occurring on the Old Red-Sandstone." Sometimes the outline of the frond becomes almost triangular, the lowest leaflets being the longest, and it is then very much resembling Asplenium adiantum- 40 ASPLENIUM LANCEOLATUM. nigrum, so much so, that Mr. Bolton thought it only a variety, but from this species it is always to be distin- guished by the form aud position of the fructification. The first author we find mentioning the Asplenium lanceolatum, is Lyte, in his translation of Dodoen's Herbal, published in 1578, if it is what he there calls Dryopteris Candida, or White Oak Fern ; and if so, Lyte adds " Mathiolus and Ruellius, both men of great knowledge, do call it in Latin, Osmunda. Where- . fore we, considering the property of this herb in tak- ing away hair, do think good to name this herb in our language, Osmund Baldpate, or Pilled Osmund" to pill being an old word for to rob. We are not certain that either Lyte, or Johnson (the editor of Gerarde), or Parkinson, really alluded to this species of Asplenium under the title of Dryopteris Candida, but we bow to the judgment of the late Sir J. E. Smith, who so states in his "English Flora," iv. 298. It was not until the second edition of Ray's " Syn x>sis Stirpium Britannicarum " appeared, in 1696, that U is Fern was announced as a native of the British do- minions, for it is there stated that Dr. Sherard had found it " on the rocks on the north side of the Isle of Jersey." In 1724, in the third edition of the same work, its discovery in England was first noticed. " Mr. Bobart having found it in the north porch of the church at Adderbury, in Oxfordshire. Dr. Woodward found it also in England." Although an English Fern, it is of a delicate habit, and only grows wild in peculiarly - sheltered, well- ASPLENIUM LAXCEOLATUM. 41 drained, yet moist situations. It grows well in a warm greenhouse, shaded from the sun, and kept moderately moist. Its stature is then much increased, and the brightness of its evergreen verdure is intense. The test soil for it is a mixture of peat, limy rubbish, bricks broken as small as filberts, and leaf-mould, in equal proportions; the pot it grows in being filled one-fourth with broken crocks for drainage. It may be propagated by division in April, but every piece separated must have a crown. It will not bear the close, damp air of a Wardian case. 42 ASPLEKIUM MARIXUM. ASPLE'NIUM MAEI'NUM. IN English this is known now as the Sea Spleenwort, Sea Maidenhair, and Dwarf Sea Fern, but Gerarde, and others of our early herbalists, called it the Female Dwarf Stone Fern. Its main root is black, scaly, and tufted, furnished with many intricately interwoven rootlets. From the tuft arise the fronds, which vary in height from three to nine inches. About one-third of the lower part of each stalk is naked, and brownish-purple, crooked at the bottom, and from where the leaflets commence, up to the summit of the stalk, there is a narrow, thick wing, or border, on each side, joining the base of the leaflets to each other. The leaflets are dark green above, but paler underneath, leathery, more or less alternate, very short-stalked, very irregular in form, but where most regular somewhat of an egg-shape, and almost always less than an inch in length, and mostly about half that length ; often lobed on the upper edge at the broadest end, and the margin more or less toothed or cut throughout. They are nearly all of equal length, so that the outline of the frond is strap-like but pointed. T'le mid-vein of each leaflet is prominent, and the side-veins are variously forked. Attaehed to the upper edge of these side veias is the fructification, which, following their direction, slants sideways but upwards. The fructification is on almost every side vein, and spreads, but is never conflueut, nor even crowded. The ASPI.C'MCM MABI'SUM. ASPLENIUM MARINUM. 45 membrane, or cover of the fructification is uninter- rupted, even, of a pale brown, and opens towards the mid-rib of each leaflet. The surface of each capsule of the fructification is curiously netted, and of a chesnut- colour. This has been known as one of our native Ferns aa long since as the time of Gerarde, 1597; at least so we conclude, from his saying that it " groweth under shadowy rocks, and craggy mountains in most places." This, however, is giving it too wide a range, and his editor, Johnson, in 1633, confines himself to saying, " It grows in the chinks of the rocks by the sea-side in Cornwall." Ray found it " on the rocks about Prest- holm Island, near Beaumaris, and at Llandwyn, in the Isle of Anglesea ; about the Castle of Hastings, in Sussex, and elsewhere on the rocks of the southern coast." It has also been found on Marsden Bocks, Durham; Isle of Man; Black Rocks on the Cheshire side of the Mersey; near the Dingle, Liverpool; Hulme Stone Quarry, near Warrington ; west coast of Cornwall ; Ormeshead, near Bangor ; Nigg, in Ross-shire ; near Port Patrick, Wigtonshire; Moray; Isle of Staffa ; Fifeshire, Aberdeenshire, and Berwickshire. In Ireland it has been found on the Sutton side of Houth Moun tain, Underwood Killiney Hill, and other places near Derrinane, in Kerry; and frequently on the western, and southern coasts. It has been gathered on the rocks under the Powder House, Shirehampton, near Bristol, where the water is brackish, but Mr. Swete observes that " this can hardly be considered a natural station 46 ASPLENIUM MARINUM. of this Fern, it' being seldom found higher up the Bristol Channel than Clevedon." Ray, who, like many clergymen of his time, combined the study of Medicine with that of Divinity, is rather strong in the narration of the medicinal qualities of this Fern. He says " It is given in obstructions of the viscera, but especially of the spleen. Its gurnmy extract applied outwardly to burns has afforded relief when all other applications have failed." (Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum. 119.) We know of no one who has succeeded in cultivating this Fern in the open air. Its roots cling so firmly to the sides of the chinks of the rocks where it grows naturally, that they are scarcely capable of being separated from the rocks undestroyed, and seemingly afford a warning that the soil and situation they prefer must be sedulously provided for them. It should be planted in a well-drained pot, in a mixture of equal parts sand, small fragments of brick, and peat, and kept in the most shady part of a greenhouse, where the temperature never fulls below 35. The water employed should have half- an-ounce of common salt dissolved in a gallon ; and this Fern should not be watered over the leaves, though it delights in a moist atmosphere, and, therefore, flourishes under a glass shade. When grown " in a hothouse it will attain a large size, and when the air is kept moist, does not require a glass. In such circumstances, I have seen the fronds eighteen or twenty inches long ; certainly it ASPLEXIUM MARIKUM. 47 luxuriates in warmth."* (Sowerby's* Ferns, by Mr. Charles Johnson.) Two sligbt varieties of this Fern have been noticed. One has the leaflets much narrower, and more pointed, so as to have a spear-head form, and has been named Asp^nium marinum var. acutum. The other variety was mistaken by Mr. Hudson for the Adiantum tra- peziforme, of Linnaeus, and was called by him Asple- nium trapeziforme, but it is only A. marinum with leaflets more deeply toothed and jagged, than ordinary. It was sent from Scotland by Dr. Alston to Mr. P. Collinson, and was subsequently found in that country in coves of the sea-shore near Wemys, by Mr. Lightfoot. * An evidence of its liking warmth is afforded by its being found a native not only of the south of France and Spain, and in northern Africa, the Canaries, and Madeira, but in no other part of Europe. 48 ASPLENIUM KUTA-MURARIA. ASPLE'NIUM EU'TA-MUEA'KIA. THIS is called ruta-muraria, or Watt Rue, because its young leaves somewhat resemble those of the common Rue, and because, when away from its native mountains it is rarely found growing anywhere but in the mortar on old walls. It is also called White Maidenhair, be- cause its full-grown leaves slightly resemble those of the true Maidenhair Fern, and because they have upon their surface a mealy, or glaucous secretion. It is sometimes called the Rue - leaved Spleenwort, White Spleenwort, and Tentwort. The main, cone-shaped tap root is dark brown, scaly, furnished with black wiry rootlets, and tufted. From the tuft arise the fronds, which vary in height from one to four inches. Our cut represents them in both their dwarf and more luxuriant growth. They are most dwarf when growing upon walls, and tallest when found upon the mountains. Leafstalk green, except quite at its base, and there it is dark brown. About one-half of the stalk naked, and the other half clothed with leafits mostly in threes, and two threes together, the middle branch only being alternately leafleted, and that not always. The leafits are stout, deep green, wedge-shaped, or partly rhomboid, stalked, spreading horizontally, or slightly drooping, their end blunt, or rounded, and deeply, irregularly notched. The barren leafits are broader and shorter than those which are fruitful. All have equal-sized veins spreading in a fan RU'TA-MDRA.'BIA. A8PLENIUM RUTA-MURARIA. 51 form, and extending to the notches or teeth. The fruc- tification is in lines on the inner side of the veins, and when ripe is dark brown, but at first covered with a white membrane (indusium), which is soon lost as the fructification spreads, runs together, and finally covers the whole underside of the leafit. The indusium bursts with a jagged edge on the inside; but, as Mr. Charles Johnson observes, this is of small importance in specific distinction unless far more decided than in this instance. This Fern sends up its new fronds in May and June, and they retain their verdure all the winter. The fruc- tification is ripe in August. It is found in moist, shady clefts of limestone rocks and in the crevices of old walls, abundantly in the midland and southern counties, but more rarely in those of the north and east of England. It is a native, also, of most parts of Europe, and from New York to Carolina, in America. It was known to our earliest herbalists as a native of this country. Thus, Gerarde says, " Stone Rue groweth upon old walls near unto waters, wells, and fountains. I found it upon the wall of Dartford Church, in Kent, hard by the river side, where the people ride through ; and also upon the walls of the churchyard of Sitting- bourne, in the same county, in the middle of the town, hard by a great lake of water ; and also upon the church walls of Rayleigh, in Essex; and in divers other places." Matthiolus was the first to call it Ruta muraria, or rather Ruta muralit, and Gerarde names it after him, " Wall Rue, or Rue Maiden-hair," as well as Stone Rue 52 ASPLENIUM BUTA-MURARIA. < Jtliers, says Gerarde, call it " Salvia vita (Preserver of Life), but wherefore I know not, neither themselves, if they were living." The best mode of raising this Fern, if desired for cultivation, is to collect the spores, or seeds, when ripe in August, and to sow them in a mixture of limey rubbish and leaf-mould, in a pot under a bell-glass, until the seedlings appear. Keeping it moist, and in a shaded part of the greenhouse. The glass must be removed when the seedlings are up. If attempted to be transplanted from a wall, it can very rarely be done successfully, unless the two bricks between which it is growing can be previously removed, so that the roots may be but slightly injured. The best time for thus moving it is just when it begins to grow in April. Plant it in a soil composed of three parts of rubbly limey-rubbish, one part sand, and one part leaf-mould. The pot must be well-drained, be kept constantly slightly moist, and in the shade. It requires a free ex. posure to air, which is the cause of its languishing under a Wardian Case. It is not improbable that the way in which the cone like main-root of this Fern tents or probes between the rocks or bricks where it grows, may have given rise to its old name of Tent-wort, which in that case is synony- mous with Probe-wort. Shakspere makes use of this now almost obsolete word in more than one passage. Thus, when Hamlet proposes to have " something like the murder of his father" performed before the king, he says : " I'll observe his looks I'll tent him to the quick ' \\ ASPLE'NIUM SEPTE-'NTBIONA'LE. ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE. 55 ASPLE'NIUM SEPTE'NTRIONA'LE. THIS is known to English herbalists by the name of the Forked Spleenwort, a name given to it on account of the form of its fronds. Its specific name, Septentrionale, alludes to its frequenting the northern districts of Great Britain. Its root is woody, branched, tufted, and furnished with a mass of crooked, fibrous rootlets. From the tufts arise very numerous fronds, forming dense patches. They vary in height from two to four inches. The stalk, which is naked for about half its length, is wiry, and dark green, except at the base, where it is dark purple. The upper part spreads into one, two, or three forked leaflets, which are narrow, strap-shaped, upright, smooth, and in colour a dull dark green. Each section of the fork has one or more teeth, and the sections are alternate. The upper surface of each leaflet is furrowed, but beneath, at first, they are covered with long white membranes (indusium), originating from the inner edge of the veins, and meeting over the middle. There is no mid-vein, but the veins arise from the base of the leaflet, and run parallel, and divide into as many branches as there are teeth at the end of each section of the leaflet. The fructification is dark brown, and as it increases in size, and runs together, it gradually throws off the mem- brane, and curiously twists the leaflet. The spores are ripe in August. It can scarcely be called a rare Fern, for although it 3 ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE. has been found only in the extreme northern and western districts of England, partially in Scotland, and not at all in Ireland, yet wherever it does occur, there it is pretty abundant. It occurs in clefts of rocks, on mountains, and on old walls, and has been found at Craig Dhu, and Carnedd Llewelyn, and Snowdon, in Wales; on Ingleborough, in Yorkshire ; at Patterdale and Keswick, and above Am- bleside, in Westmoreland ; on rocks in Edinburgh Park; on Stenton Rock, near Dunkeld ; and on rocks on the southern side of Blackford Hill, near Edinburgh. It is not uncommon throughout Europe, but is espe- cially frequent in Germany and Switzerland. Gerarde is the earliest of our botanists who notices this Fern, and he mistook it for a Moss, calling it "Muscut corniculatus, Horned or Kuagged Moss." The drawing he published of it, however, shews that it is the same as our Forked Spleenwort. Parkinson recognises it as a Fern, and describes it as the Naked Stone Fern (Fdix saxatilis Tragi). Ray writes of it under the same Latin name, but also calls it Horned or Forked Maidenhair. It may be cultivated as we have directed for the Asplenium ruta-muraria ; but Mr. Charles Johnson is quite right in stating that "it is less adapted for expo- sure in the open Fernery, at least in the eastern parts of England, the evergreen fronds being liable to suffer from frost, and especially during the dry, piercing winds of Spring. It will, however, live and flourish when planted in a sheltered cavity better than under confine- ment If potted, a cold, close frame, where it may be ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRTOJTALE. 57 kept with Asplenium marinum, A. fontanum, and such others, sheltered alike from the sun and cold, will answer for its culture better than the greenhouse, bearing in mind that the absence of all superfluous moisture must be strictly secured, and that the fronds of larger Ferns must not be allowed to spread over it." The tufted crown of the root should be raised well above the surface of the soil, which soil may be the same as for A. ruta-muraria. 58 ASPLEMTJM TRICHOMANES. , ASPLE'NIUM TRICHO'MANES. THIS is the Common Maidenhair Spleenwort, Common Wall Spleenwort, English Maidenhair, and English Slack Maidenhair of our native herbalists. The main body of the root is short, thick, dark pur- plish-chesnut, tufted, and furnished with many wiry rootlets of the same colour. From the tuft of the root arise many evergreen fronds, usually erect, but often spreading. They vary in length from two to twelve inches, and are simply a stalk clothed from the very bottom to the top with leafits. The stalk is smooth, very stiff, purplish-brown, and channelled in front. The leafits are very dark green, numerous, nearly stalk less, more or less alternate, about a quarter-of-an-inch long, gradually diminishing in size towards the top and bottom of the frond, oval but blunt at the upper end, and partially and irregularly scolloped at the upper edge. Fructification in six or eight masses, oblong, parallel to each other, but attached to the lateral veins passing obliquely from the mid-vein. The lateral veins divide into two, and sometimes three branches ; the upper branch bearing the fructification. The membrane, or indusium, which covers the fructification, is whitish, and it separates with a wavy edge from the oblique vein to which it was attached, and then exposes the capsules of sori, which are dark buff, or brown, and soon run together, or, as it i technically termed, become confluent. TRICHO'MANES. ASPLBNIUM TRICHOMANES. 61 There are three varied forms of this Ferri. One, called incisum (cut), has the edges of each leafit deeply and irregularly cut, so as to resemble the leaf of some of the Cratseguses. Another form has the leafits so crowded together, that they overlap each other like the tiles of a house-roof ; and in the third form, sometimes called monstrosum (deformed), the end of the frond is branched, or forked. This last variety was found by Mr. D. Dick, at St. Mary's Isle, Kircudbright, and by Mr. J. R. Kinahan, at Quin Abbey, Clare This Fern is found in all parts of the British Islands, on the shady sides of rocks, old walls, and hedge-banks. In the situation last named it attains the greatest height. It is not confined, however, to our country, nor even to Europe, for it is found in various parts of Asia, Jamaica, and North America. It was known as one of our native plants to the earliest of our herbalists, for in " The seconde parte of William Turner's herball," published in 1568, he calls it " English Mayderis heare," and the woodcut leaves no doubt that it was our Asplenium trichomanes. He says "the juice stayeth the heare that falleth of, and if they be fallen off, it restoreth them agayne." Many other of our old medical writers speak of this Fern as that from which Capittaire is made, and there is little doubt but that it would impart as much virtue to that compound as does the Adiantum capillus veneris, or True Maidenhair, of which it ought to be made. It has, however, still some local reputation, the Highland dames of Scotland often forming from it a tea which 62 ASPLENIUM TRICHOMANES. they administer to those who are afflicted with coughs or colds. Gerarde is the first writer who mentions any place in England where it was native. He says " I round it growing in a shadowy, sandy lane in Betsome, in the parish of Southfleet, in Kent. It groweth, likewise upon stone-walls at Her Majesty's (Queen Elizabeth's,) Palace of Richmond, and on most stone-walls of tne west and north parts of England." It will grow freely on the shady side of rockwork in the open air, but the soil must be composed only of sandy peat, old mortar, and fragments of brick in equal proportions. It can be grown in a Wardian Case, and in a greenhouse, but requires the same soil, perfect drainage, and a frequent change of air. The best time for transplanting this Fern is in April. Those growing on a hedge-bank should be preferred for transplanting, because, unless the bricks can be taken with, them, those growing on walls can scarcely be moved without a fatal injury to the roots. Those growing in the fissures of rocks are moved with quite as much difficulty and uncertainty of success as those on walls. Young plants should be preferred before old ones for removal. They should have a bell-glass turned over them for a few days after their transplanting. Plants already in cultivation may be propagated by division also in April. In dividing the tuft, a crown must be preserved to each division. We have never raised it from seed, but we have no doubt that spores collected when ripe in August, and ASPLENIUM TBICHOMANES. 63 sown upon the surface of the soil, such as we have directed for the growth of the plants, covered with a bell-glass, and placed in a shady part of a greenhouse, or of a cold frame, would give birth to seedlings. 64 ASPLKXIUM VIR1DB. - ASPLE'NIUM VI'RIDE. ;'.;.- THIS is called, in English, the Green Spleenwort, Green- ribbed Spleenwort, and Green Maidenhair Spleenwort, and, indeed, it is its greenness, lighter and brighter in the leafits, and entirely so in the stalk, which chiefly distinguishes it from Asplenium trichomanes. The main root is dark chesnut-coloured, and some what more carrot-shaped than that of A. trichomanes , the fibrous roots are also less numerous than in that species. The top of the root is tufted, and from the tuft arise the fronds. Of these the stalks are rather more upright, and more free from leafits at the bottom than in A. trichomanes; this bottom part is dark chesnut-coloured, but the whole of the upper part is green, and this is the chief permanent character dis- tinguishing it from A. trichomanes, The stalk is smooth, the lower third without leafits, and the whole varying between about three and ten inches in height. The greater stature being found in specimens growing in moist, sheltered situations. The end of the frond is sometimes divided into two or three branches. The leafits vary much in form, being mostly rbomboidal, but sometimes egg-shaped, and at others spear-head shaped, usually tapering towards their sta'k, which is very short and slender, not always alternate, and not so close together, nor blunt-ended, as in A. trichomanes, but their upper edges are much more scolloped than in that species. The mid-vein produces side-veins, usually ASPLE'NIUH ASPLENIUM VIRIDE. 67 alternate, which are mostly, but not always, forked, and their ends rarely extend to the edge of the leafit. The fructification is from two to six masses on each leant, more yellowish-brown than in A. trichomanes, and more in the middle of the leafit than in that species, and though they finally usually run together and cover the back of the leafit, yet they never reach its edge, but leave a regular border of the leant round the ripe fructifica- tion. At first the fructification- is covered with a narrow membrane ; but this is thrown off as the seeds (spores) ripen, which occurs about the end of August. The frond branching at the end is not permanent even in the same plant, yet some botanists have distinguished it as a variety. It is the Asplenium trichomanes ramosum of Linnsaus, and the Trichomanes ramosus of Bauhin and some others. It will be seen from the above description that the species very closely resembles A. triehomanes, though, as observed by Mr. Francis, it is immediately dis- tinguished from it by the lighter colour of all its parts, and especially the greenness of the stalk, its less- spreading fructification, differently shaped and more alternate leafits, which leafits on the lower part of the frond are generally wide apart, whilst the leafits near its top are more crowded, and the whole plant is much more delicate and graceful. T- (Analysis of British Ferns. 52.) It is found on moist rocks and old walls in some of our mountain districts. In England, not further south than Derbyshire ; but it has been gathered in Northum- 68 ASPLENIUM VIRIDE. berland; between Widdy Bank and Caldron Snout in Durham ; on Mazebeck Scars in Westmorland ; at Gordale, Ais-la-beck, Eicbmond, Settle, near Halifax, and at Black Bank, near Leeds, in Yorkshire. In Wales, on Cader Idris, Crib y Ddeseil, Clogivyn, and Snowdon. In Scotland, in Boss- shire, in Cawdor Woods, near Nairn, at the foot of Benmore, Sutherlandshire, and all over the Highlands. In Ireland, on Turk Mountain, Killarney; Ben Bulben, Sligo; and near Lough Eske on the Donegal Mountains. The branched sub-variety was found, by Mr. Plukenet, on a stone wall in Mr. Owen's garden, at Maidstone, in Kent, but we think this must have been introduced there. Another sub-variety has been found with its leafits deeply lobed and cut. It scarcely can be doubted that the old botanists and herbalists confounded this species with A. triehomanes, and we should not have been aware that they had noticed it at all, if Gerard, Bauhin, Bay, and others, had not mentioned the branched-fronded sub-variety, which Gerard called Triehomanes fcemina, whilst Eay and others described it as T. ramosum, The first botanist recognising it as a distinct species was Cordus, who, in 1561, published it in his " Historia Stirpium," under the title of Adiantum album, though he gives the same woodcut of it as he does for Triehomanes. The first to name it Asplenium viride, we believe, was Hudson, in his " Flora Anglica," published during 1762. It is usually removed with much difficulty from its ASPLENIUM VIRIDE. 69 native places, but we have succeeded in cultivating it by adopting the same precautions as we have directed for A. trichomanes. It requires, even more than does that species, attention to avoid stagnant air and stagnant water. ATHYRIUM F1LIX FCEMINA. ^ATHY'EIUM FI'LIX FCE'MINA. THIS most graceful of all the British Ferns, on that account, well deserves its popular name of TJie Lady Fern. It is also known as the Female Shield Fern, Female Polypody, and Drooping Lady Fern. Its root is large, brown, and tufted, often becoming, in old plants, very large and stem-like, but even then lying upon the surface of the soil. The fronds are re- markably lightly formed, plume-like, and graceful, rising in considerable numbers from the tuft, and forming a strikingly beautiful group. They vary in height from nine to eighteen inches; but whatever the height (which is greatest in moist, shady, sheltered situations), about one-third of the lowest part of the stem is without leaflets, but swollen at the base, which is also usually covered with long scales. The general outline of the frond is narrow spear-head-shaped. The leaflets vary much in their arrangement, being usually alternate, but, sometimes, opposite, and, sometimes, far apart, but in other instances very close together. They vary in num ber from twenty to forty pairs, are narrow spear- head" shaped, very gradually tapering to a single leant, lower ones and upper ones often bending back, or drooping. The leafits very numerous, linear-oblong, or broad spear- head-shaped, sharp-pointed, lobed, and deeply-toothed, the lower lobes the largest. The veining very distinct, mid-rib, or vein, waved. Fructification on the upper edge of side veins in segment-of-circle, or kidney-shaped ATHY'BICM FI'I.IX FCE'MINA. ATHYBIUM FILIX FCEMINA. 73 masses, becoming, finally, nearly routd, but never running together; cover, or indusium, white, at first oblong with a broad base, afterwards kidney-shaped, but not swollen ; it opens towards the mid-rib, the edge of its opening side being finely jagged. The seeds (sori) are numerous and brown. No Fern native of the British Isles is so variable in its forms as this, and Mr. Charles Johnson justly remarks: " Such differences have afforded a wide scope for specula- tive botanists to indulge their fancies in the multiplication of species and varieties, and were the wishes and advice of all my kind correspondents to be attended to in regard to the latter, I might exhaust the Greek alphabet from alpha to omega in prefixes. The claim advanced on behalf of a few of the varieties to rank as species, should be very cautiously examined before its admission; those who recommend or incline to their adoption would do well to bear in mind the plasticity of vegetable nature, and the very uncertain tenure of specific distinction in the aggregate, not in this class only, bat in groups far higher in grade, and in which features of more determinate character can be arraigned in evidence of supposed dissimilarity. The three principal forms, includ- ing the normal one, that are considered best entitled to the rank in question, are thus characterized : " 1. incisum. Fronds more or less drooping, broadly lan- ceolate : pinna (leaflets) distant: pinnules (leafits) lan- ceolate, distinct, flat, pinnatifid with toothed lobes. Sori distinct. A. Filix-fcemina, Roth. " 2. molle. Fronds nearly erect, lax, lanceolate : pinnae ap- proximate : pinnules oblong, connected by the wing of the midrib, flat, toothed. Sori distinct. A. molle, Roth. " 3. convexum. Fronds nearly erect, rigid, narrow-Ian ceo- 74 ATHYRIUM FILIX FCEMINA. late : pinnae distant, convex : pinnules distant, linear, toothed or pinnatifid, convex, with deflexed margins. Son short, numerous, eventually confluent. A. rhaticum, Roth. Mnore, Hanb. 186. Aspidium irriguum ? Smith. E. B. 2199. This is, unquestionably, the most decided charactered of all the forms, and less positively associated with them by inter- mediates. " Besides the numerous slight variations in habit, and in the outline and division of the frond, several remarkable monstrosities are met with in cultivation ; of these the variety crispum is the most common, and its dwarf, clustered, and much-divided fronds resemble a tuft of curled parsley a figure of one of the fronds is given by Mr. Moore, Handb. 142. It was originally found by Mr. A. Smith, on Orah Hill, Antrim, Ireland, and since by Sir W. C. Trevelyan, in Braemar, Scotland. Another Irish variety, still more pecu- liar, is given by Mr. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 21 8." It is not at all uncommon in the southern and mid- land counties of England, and is still more abundant in Ireland ; indeed, so abundant upon its bogs as to be used as the common Brake Fern is in England, for packing fruit and fish. Except in particular localities, it is more rare in the northern parts of Wales, England, and Scotland. Sir Walter Scott correctly described the situation it most delights in when he said Where the copse wood is the greenest, Where the fountain glistens sheenest, Where the morning dew liest longest, There The Lady Fern grows strongest, It is found in many other parts of Europe and North America. ATHYRIOM PILIX FCEMINA. 75 The Lady Fern is first mentioned as a British plant by Johnson, in his edition of Gerard's " Herbal," and we have the very rare pleasure of knowing not only the year but the day of its discovery. " Never," says Johnson, " have I seen any figure resembling this plant. It groweth abundantly on the shadowy, moist rocks by Mapledurham, near Petersfield, in Hampshire John Goodyer. July 4, 1633." It was known, however, both to Gerard and Bauhin, as a species of Filix mas, and the editor of Ray's " Synopsis " of British Plants, as late as 1724, describes it as " The Male Fern with thin-set, deeply indented leaves." Modern botanists have not been unanimous about this Fern's characteristics, hence we find it m their volumes, not only as an Athyrium, but as an Aspidium, Polypo- dium, and Asplenium April is the best season for propagating, either by transplanting, or by division of established plants. It is one of the easiest cultivated of all the British Ferns. "When placed about rock work, it should occupy a low boggy situation at the base of the rock, being planted amongst turfy soil, kept thoroughly moistened, either naturally or artificially. It is far less beautiful if planted in dry exposed situations. Few hardy plants which can be introduced among rock work are so thoroughly lovely as a vigorous Lady Fern, placed just within the mouth of a cavernous recess, large enough to admit of its development, and just open enough that the light of day may gleam across the dark back-ground sufficient to reveal the droop- ing feathery fronds ; and, what is more, it will delight to grow in such a situation, if freely supplied with moisture to 76 ATIIYRIUM FILIX FffiMINA. its roots. In woodland walks, or on the shady margin of ornamental water, no fern can be more appropriately intro- duced. When grown in a pot, it requires one of rather a large size, and should be planted in turfy soil, intermixed with fragments of charcoal, sandstone, or potsherds. To attain anything like a fair degree of its lady-like graceful- ness, this fern must under all circumstances be well sup- plied with water." Moore's British Ferns. BLECHNUM BOREALE. 79 /'' BLE'CHNUM BOREA'LE. THE English names by which this Fern is known are Rough Spleenwort, Northern Hard Fern, Rough Milt- waste, and Great or Wild Spleenwort. Its main root is black, scaly, tufted, and furnished with numerous stout rootlets. The fronds have a smooth and polished stalk but the leafless portion at the bottom is purple, shaggy and scaly. They are numerous, narrow-spear-head- shaped, tapering to a point at each end. The barren fronds, from eight to twelve inches high, are outermost evergreen, and become prostrate. They have nume- rous, close, parallel, spear-head-shaped, entire, single- ribbed leaflets, rather blunt, but with a minute point. The fertile fronds, always erect, and from twelve to twenty-four inches high, are surrounded by the barren fronds, and are not so numerous, but are taller, and their leaflets are much narrower, more pointed, more spread out at their base, and more distant from each other than those on the barren fronds. Their edges are re- curved. The stalk mostly purple. The fructification is in a narrow line on each side of the mid-rib of each leaflet, and between two side veins which run slantingly upwards about half way to the edge of the leaflet, turn abruptly, and then run parallel with the mid-rib. The cover (indusium) is a whitish membrane, separating at the side next the rib, and exposing the very numerous crowded brown spores, each bound with a jointed ring. These are ripe about the end of August. All the 80 BLECHNUM BOREALE. fronds are dark green. Sometimes a frond is partly fertile and partly barren. Varieties of this Fern occasionally occur. In one, the leafllets are shortened, and assume the form of scollops with an irregularly toothed edge. In another variety the end of the frond is forked. It is easily cultivated if moved from its native place early in April, with abundance of soil about the roots, so that these are disturbed but little, and if it is planted in some well-drained place, as rockwork, where it is shaded from much sun, and supplied regularly and abundantly with moisture. The soil for it is best com- posed of one part peat, one part leaf-mould, and two parts stiffish loam well mixed together. We have not found it thrive either in a Wardian case or in a green- house; but a writer in THE COTTAGJE GARDENER, vol. xv., p. 261 , says, " Having grown it to a great extent, I can say, confidently, that it will grow, and that, too, most luxuriantly, in a greenhouse. I have had plants of it in twenty-four sized pots, throw out eight-and-thirty fronds, fourteen of which were fertile; and it was that, and a fine plant of Scolopendrium, undulatum, that attracted the notice of most visitors, for they were really noble plants. I have also grown each of these very successfully in a stove temperature, and also many other hardy Ferns." It is found wild in various soils and places in open healthy grounds, as well as in moist shady hedges. ' It has been found in St. Faith's Newton woods near Norwich; at Hainsford in Norfolk; in lanes about BLECHNUM BORE ALE. 81 Actcm Park, near Birmingham ; at the bottom of the thicket in the vale of Dudecombe, near Paiuswick ; abundantly on Hampstead Heath ; in lanes about Bromsgrove Lickey, Worcestershire ; at Trossacks, Loch Katrine ; iii Anglesea ; in various parts of Hert- fordshire, and of the northern counties. Mr. Francis says that it is spread throughout England and Scot- land, and in Ireland, especially ia the counties of Wicklow and Clare. It ascends to 700 feet above the sea's level in Cumberland, to 800 in Forfarshire, and much higher in the Cairngorum Mountains in Aber- deenshire, where it probably attains to elevations of 1,200 or 1,300 feet. It ia of common occurrence in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, North-west America, and even in the Canary Islands, and at the Cape of Good Hope. The first author who mentions this as a native of Great Britain is Gerarde, who says it " groweth in most parts of England, but especially on a heath by London, called Hampstead Heath, where it groweth in great abundance." In his " Herbal " as well as in Parkin- son's, there is a very good wood-cut of this Fern. The last-named author says, " this is called Fox Fern in many places of this land." Dodoens, and all the other herbalists we have named, state that it "is very good against the hardness, stoppings, and swellings of the Spleen or Melt" and it is to this opinion that the Spleen- worts, or Meltwastes, owe their generic name. By more modern botanists it has been wildly named Osmunda spicant, Bleclmum spicant, Lomaria spicant. 82 BLECHNUM BOKEALE. Asplenium spicant, and Acrostichum spioant. Spicant is its name in the German language, in which it was first named in modern times. It is curious that Linnaeus, in total neglect of his own characteristics of the two genera Osmunda and Blechnum, placed this Fern in the genus first-named. This mistake was first pointed out by Haller, but it was not until 1793, in the " Memoirs of the Turin Royal Academy of Sciences," that this Fern was correctly placed among the Blechnuma. BOTRY'CHIUM LUNA'RIA. rfOTRYCHIUM LUNARIA. 85 BOTKY'CHIUM LUNA'RIA. J V THIS is known as Common Moonwort, Stnatt Lunary and Moonwort. Its root is composed of a slender tap-root, from which issue numerous simple, cylindrical, yellowish fibres, like those of a Hyacinth, and proceeding in a whorl, or circle, from the tap-root, but spreading horizontally in the soil. Stem simple, cylindrical, pale green, erect, nine inches high, with a few large, brown, sheathing scales at the bottom. It has only one leaf springing from about the middle of the stem, which leaf has five or six pairs of fan-shaped, pale milky-green, short- stalked leaflets, and a terminal leaflet of the same form. Each lea/let is scolloped, or toothed, on the edge, and. usually, more or less lobed. The stem ends in a doubly- compound spike of small, round, light brown capsules. These are nearly stalkless, and are arranged somewhat over-lapping each other on one flat side of the stalk, or receptacle. Spores oval, smooth, and, usually, jointeo together in pairs. There are three varieties, viz : 1. with several stalks and leaves ; 2. with leaves much more cut and jagged than usual ; and 3. with the leaflets divided into leafits. Its usual birth-places are mountain meadows and pastures. It is not common, though found in various parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland. It has been collected in Westmorland ; at Mear Bank, by Sykes 86 BOTRYCHIUM LUNARIA. Wood, Ingleton, and at Settle, in Yorkshire; Scadbury Park, and Chisselhurst Common, Kent ; on the north side of Bredon Hill, in Worcestershire ; at Shirehamptou, and on Kiugs-Weston-Hill, near Bristol ; near Bury, in Suffolk ; on Stratton Heath, in Norfolk ; on coal-pit banks, near Stourbridge ; at Bootle, near Liverpool ; on the sea-coast between South Shields and Sunderland; on Oversley Hill, near Alcester ; and near Alaw and Aberffraw rivers, in Anglesea. In Scotland, on Ard- garth Hill, to the north of Linlithgow ; near Dun- donalds, two miles from Little Loch Broom, on the west coast of Koss-shire, and in the Isle of Skye. In Ireland, on the rising ground of a meadow, about two hundred yards north or tne second lock of Lagan Canal. The first English botanist who mentions this Fern is Turner, who, in the third part of his "Herbal," published in 1568, gives a very good woodcut of the plant, and, after its description, adds, " it may be called wel in Englishe Cluster Lunarye, or Cluster Moonwort." Gerard, writing a few years subsequently, mentions many places where it had been found ill England, and after describing its appearance, and stating its various appellations, proceeds to observe, that " Small Moon- wort is singular to heal green and fresh wounds. It hath been used among the alchymists and witches to do wonders withall, who say that it will loose locks, and make them to fall from the ieet of horses that graze where it doth grow, and hath been called of them Martagon, whereas, in truth, they are all but drowsy BOTRYCHIDM LUNABIA. 87 dreams and illusions ; but it is singular for wounds, as aforesaid." Bauhiu, in his Historia Plantarum, gives a copious account of this Fern, with three very good delineations of it and it varieties. He says the alchymists employed its juice for fixing Mercury. Coles, in his Adam in Eden, p. 561, tells us; " It is said, yea, and believed by many, that moontcort will open the locks wherewith dwelling-houses are made fast, if it be put in the key-hole ; as also that it will loosen the locks, fetters, and shoes from those horses' feet that goe on the places where it groweth ; and of this opinion was Master Gulpeper, who, though be railed against superstition in others, yet had enough of it himselfe, as may appear by his story of the Earl of Essex his horses, which being drawn up in a body, many of them lost their shoes upon White Dowue ,in Devonshire, near Tiverton, because moonwort grows upon heaths." Turner, in his British Physician, 8vo. Lond. 1687, p. 209, is confident that though moonwort " be the moon's herb, yet it is neither smith, farrier, nor picklock." Withers, in allusion to the supposed virtues of the moonwort, in the introduction to his Abuses Stript and Whipt, 1622, says: " There is an herb, some say, whose vertue's such It in the pasture, only with a touch,' Unshooes the new-shod steed." To induce it to grow in a Fern garden it should be moved with a square foot of the turf in which it is growing, and as much of depth of the soil undisturbed, 88 BOTRTCHIUM LTJNARIA. and planted upon an open, unshaded, well-drained situation. It requires a soil light, and mixed with a little peat. It likes to have its roots covered with turf, but even the grass must not overshadow it. We never succeeded well in its culture. CE'TERACH OFFICINA'BUM. CETERACH OFFIC1NAKUM. 91 /" CETERACH OFFICINA'RUM. THIS bears the various English names of Scaly Spleen- wort, Rough Spleenwort, Scale Fern, Scaly Hart's Tongue, and Miltwaste. The root is fibrous, black, tufted, and scaly at the crown, penetrating deeply into the old mortar of the walls, and into the clefts of the limestone rocks, on which it delights to grow. The fronds are evergreen, numerous, tufted, and spreading; varying in height from three to eight inches ; oblong, bluntish , deeply and bluntly indented at the edges, the indentations being alternate ; the margin of the leaf smooth. When growing in sheltered, shady situations, the indentations often are so deep as almost to render the fronds leafleted. Their upper surface is smooth ; in colour deep green, but slightly milky, or glaucous ; the upper surface of the mid-rib is scaly. The under side of the fronds is entirely covered thickly with pointed, saw-edged, brown scales, lapping over one another. Before the fronds are expanded these scales are white and silvery. The stalk of each frond is about one-fifth of its length, dark- coloured, and covered with pointed, brown scales. If the scales are removed from the under surface of the fronds, the fronds will be found to have alternate lateral veins uniting at their points near the edge of the frond. The seed, or sori, are in oblong narrow masses attached, except the lowest mass, to the upper side of the principal branches of the veins. The covers 92 CETERACH OFFICINARUM. (indusium) of the sori are one on each side of each mass, membranous, continuous, quite distinct from the scales. In England it has been found near Lancaster ; abundantly about Settle, in Yorkshire ; on limestone rocks, in Lath-hill-dale, and in Dovedale, Derbyshire; on walls about the quarries at Ludlow, Shropshire ; on an old wall near Cowley, in Oxfordshire ; on a wall at Tocknells, near Painswick, in Gloucestershire ; at Martock, in Somerset ; at Stapleton Quarries, near Bristol ; at Cheddar, Malvern Abbey, and Bath ; on the tower of Old Alresford Church, Hants; on walls on the east and north-east side of Winchester; at Topsham, and other places, in Devon ; at Bury, in Suffolk ; Heydon, in Norfolk ; and Asheridge, in Hertfordshire. In Wales, in Denbighshire ; on the walls of a ruin at Treborth, near Bangor. In Ireland, on the ruins of Saggard Church ; on walls near Cork, and Kilkenny ; on Cave-hill ; and at Headford, in Galway. In Scot- land, it has been found near Drumlanrig, in Dumiries- shire; on the ruins of Tona; at Drumlanrig Castle; and at Kinoul Hill, near Perth. (Cottage Gardener, xv. 398.) We have never attempted to cultivate this Fern, and must borrow from Mr. Charles Johnson the following remarks upon the subject : " It is not at all easy to cultivate this fern Successfully : it is too impatient of confinement to live long in a green- house ; and the cold frame, so useful for the protection of other half-hardy species, is almost certain death to this CETEBACH OFFICINARUM. 93 The metropolitan cultivator is told that London air disagrees with it, and yet the only plant of it I possessed in my early career, lived in a nook of an old wall, in a back area in Hatton Garden, for several years, and may be there still, unless eradicated by repair; sun never reached it, and ancient mortar, which, constantly moist, had somewhat the consistence of paste, probably agreed with its constitution ; a very necessary point to be studied in planting, as when left to its own selection, or in the wild state, it seems universally to prefer a calcareous habitat. "Whether planted in the open fernery, or grown in pots, great care must be exercised as to drainage, and in the latter case especially to avoid wetting the fronds in watering." The first writer who describes it as an English plant is Turner. In the first part of his " Herbal," published in 1551, he says, " it groweth muche in Germanye, in old moiste walles, and in rockes; it groweth also in England about Bristowe (Bristol)." He adds, " I have heard no English name of this herbe, but it maye well be called in English Ceteracke, or Miltwaste, cr Finger Ferae, because it is no longer than a manue's finger, or Scale Ferae, because it is all full of scales on the innersyde. It hath leaves lyke in figure unto Scolo- pendra, the beste, which also called Centipes, is not unlike a great and rough palmer's worme." There is no doubt that it is the Asplenium mentioned by Dioscorides and others of the old Greek writers, who attributed to it a marvellous influence over the spleen ; so marvellous that Vitruvius tells us it destroyed that organ in the Cretan swine which fed upon it. This opinion of the " Miltwasting " power of this Fern lasted 94 CETERACH OFFICINARUM. until the time of Elizabeth ; for Gerarde, then writing, says, " There be Empericks or blinde practitioners of this age, who teach, that with this herbe not only the hardnesse and swelling of the Spleene, but all infirmities of the liver also may be effectually, and in very short time removed, insomuch that the sodden liver of a beast is restored to his former constitution agaiue, that is, made like unto a raf Jirer, if it bee boyled ngatue with .his herbe. " But this is to be reckoned among the old wives fables, and that also which Dioscorides telleth of, touching the gathering of Spleenewoort in the night, and other most vaine things, which are found here and there scattered in old books : from which most of the later writers do not abstaine, who many times fill up their pages with lies and frivolous toies, and by so doing do not a little deceive young students." Although neglected as a medicinal herb, it is still of some commercial value, being used as a bait for rock- cod fishing on the coast of Wales. The Rev. Hugh Davies says, it was becoming very scarce about Holy- head owing to its consumption for that purpose. This and some other Ferns are extremely retentive of life, of which we have this testimony from Dr. Daubeny, Professor of Agriculture, at Oxford. " I have a specimen of Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense which has been preserved in a bottle, corked and sealed over, for more than three years, and which, even now, judging from its appearance, would seem to be living. For tht- first two years it looked as fresh as CETERACH OFFICINARUM. 95 when first introduced; and although some of the fronds have now become black and shrunk, many are still fresh and expanded. " On communicating this circumstance to a corres- pondent, I received the following statement, which may be worth recording as an example of tenacity of life among Ferns, in common with their allies the mosses; A lady in Ireland found among her dried specimens one of the Grammitis Ceterach, which had been above two years in a port-folio in a very dry, warm room, and after planting it in a pot and covering it close, she had the satisfaction to see it come again to life. Afterwards a fresh young frond came up, which continued to flourish at the time this information was given, and all the old ones have now withered away." Dr. Daubeny, it will be seen, calls the Ceterach officinarum by another name, Grammitis Ceterach. It is so called by some botanists, whilst by others it is known as Scolopendrium Ceterach, Asplenium Ceterach, Notolepeum Ceterach, and Gymnopteris Ceterach. 96 CYSTOPTERIS ALPINA. '/ CYSTOTTEPJS ALPI'NA. THIS very pretty Fern has been variously named. Linnaeus and others called it Polypodium regium; some entitled it Aspidium regium ; and by a third group of Botanists it is described under the title of Cyathea regia. In English it is called Alpine Bladder-Fern, Laciniated Bladder-Fern, and Three-cleft Polypody. The name of Bladder-Fern was bestowed upon the genus because the indusium or cover of each mass of spores is inflated like a bladder. The main body of the root is short, tufted, and scaly, producing numerous scattered dark-coloured fibrous rootlets. The fronds issuing from the tufted top of the root are numerous, varying in height from three to even twelve inches ; they are bright green, their general out- line spear-head-shaped, the leaflets so deeply lobed as to almost form leafits; and these lobes are mostly three on each side-stalk of the leaflet. Each lobe is egg-shaped, blunt, and very finely cut, or laciuiated at the edges. The segments into which the lobes are cut are long-oval- shaped and partly notched, but not long and narrow, nor wavy-edged like those of Cystopteris angustata, nor are their ribs zig-zagged as in that species. The leaflets are almost opposite to each other, yet are just sufficiently otherwise to justify their being described as alternate. The unleafed part of the stem (stipe) of each frond is -^ ^ v i a n * *iVA i, W*2^r ^fe- ^vf^ ^^ife 7 -.-- ^ ^\s,r^- CTSTO'PTERIS ALPl'NA. CYSTOPTERIS ALPINA. 99 about one-third of its whole length ; and is smooth except at the base, where a few brown pointed scales occur. The fructification is near the edge of the lobe, and consists of very copious masses of little bladders, small, scattered, not crowded at any time, and pale brownish coloured. Whilst in a young state each mass is wrapped in a white, membranous, concave cover, ending in a tape ring jagged point; thus nearly resembling Cystopterii fragilis, but the fructification is in smaller masses than those of that species, nor are the spores ever black as in that species, but are pale brown. This is a Fern very rarely found in Great Britain ; so rarely, indeed, that many Botanists have doubted, we think on insufficient grounds, its title to a place among our native plants. Mr. Lhwyd first discovered it on Snowdon, as an xiounced in the second edition of Ray's Synopsis, in 1896 ; Mr. Griffiths found it on Cwm Idwell in Wales; Mr. W. Christy found it on rocks at the dropping well of Knaresborough ; Hooker states, on the authority of Mr. Maughan, that it was found on Ben Lawers in Scotland; Mr. Shepherd, of Liverpool, sent specimens to Mr. Moore, which specimens, he stated, were "gathered in Derbyshire and Yorkshire, but without assigning more particular habitats." Mr. Foster found it at Low Layton in Essex, and announced his discovery in Symon's Synopsis, some time in the year 1793. It has been found at the same place by Mr. W. Famplin in 1835, and by Mr. E. H. Bolton in 1840. 100 CYSTOPTERIS ALPIXA. Sir J. E. Smith thus speaks of its discovery and history : " The !owland station of this Fern, close to a much-fre- quented road at Low Layton, where I have, in company with the late Mr. Forster, seen it covering great part of a brick wall, may be supposed analogous to its places of growth in France ; but we seek in vain for any information on this head either in Vaillant or Lamarck, nor is it evident that the latter ever found the plant. The wall at Layton has been repaired, and the Fern almost destroyed. On Snowdon it is said to be very scarce, though Mr. Wilson, with his usual bounty, has sent me an ample supply of specimens of various sizes. He describes it as " varying greatly in size and appearance, but always distinct from ihe/rugUis." The cover, as that gentleman remarks, " is in both species, con- nected with the frond by its base only, at the lower side of the mass of capsules, that is, on the side next the base of the segment of the leaflet;" which agrees with my observations. This Fern is well compared by Bobart, in Morison, to the Cicutaria of old authors, our Charophyllum sylvestre, so common on banks in the spring. It is unquestionably distinct from every other British Fern, though the proper name and synonyms were not discovered till after its ap- pearance in Engl. Bot., where I fell into the same error with some foreign botanists. Linnasus once thought it a Swedish plant, but erroneously, nor had he an original or authentic specimen. " The remarks of Dr. Kichardson, inserted between brackets, by Diilenius, in the third edition of Ray's Synopsis, 126. n. 8. Ed. 3., certainly do not answer to the present species ; as my late friend the Rev. Hugh Davies, an ex- cellent observer, first pointed out to me. " John Bauhin's synonym, which Ray quoted with doubt, appeai-s, by the really excellent figure, to be unquestionably CYSTOPTERIS ALPINA. 101 onr plant. It must be either this, or Aspldinm alpinwm, Willd. ii. 139., which is likewise a Cystea, figured in Jac. Ic. Ear. t. 642, and in Segu. Veron. Suppl. t. I./. 3. But neither the plant itself, not either of these representations, suits the wooden cut of Bauhin, which agrees far better with (7. regia, particularly in the shape of the leaflets. Haller, very unsuitably I think, refers it to Pteris crispa; which circumstance, and the singular jumble of synonyms under his n. 1707, Cystea frayilis, induces a suspicion that he had not accurately observed these alpine ferns, and especially that he had never seen Vaillant's Filicula regiu at all." On the culture of this, and other species of the genus, we have been obliged with the following notes from Mr. W. Btjevb, who has very successfully cultivated Ferns :-- " I have had several species of Cystopteris in my possession, but have not had all the species, but such as I have tried, I have always found to prefer and thrive best in well-drained situations. The only in- stance that I have of their cultivation, out-of-doors, was upon some rockwork which I formed at the north end of our conservatory, where there was a piece of brick- work (which did not look very sightly) about two-aud-a- half or three feet high, and I formed this rockwork to hide it, but you may imagine that the more elevated part of it must have been very much drained, when I had only about eighteen inches for the base. It was upon this piece of work that I placed (among other small, young Ferns) a plant of each of the Cystopteris that I had in my possession. They were three in number, Fragilis, Dickieana, and Alpina. " For cultivation in pots, I used, for compost, two parts 102 CYSTOPTEIIIS ALPINA. sandy loam, one of leaf-mould, and one of very finely- broken sandstone ; or, in default of this, old mortar broken fine, with a little silver-sand added, and good drainage. Great points in potting these small species of Fern are the state of the compost, and the way it is mixed and used. It should be of a nice dampness. In mixing, it should not be rubbed too intimately to- gether, but should be handled carelessly, as it were, and the plants potted firmly, in most cases, and if used in this state, and the plants are placed in a rather con- fined temperature, very little water must be given until they begin to emit new roots, which will not be long first, if the plant is in a healthy state ; and even if it is not in sound health, the withholding of the water-pot from it will do it more good than the application of it. The moisture in the compost will be sufficient for the roots until fresh ones are formed, and the moist atmo- sphere will help to supply the fronds. When planted in the rockwork a similar compost may be used. "Each of the species would make a nice plant for a Wardian case, I should think. I have grown DicJeieana under a bell-glass for a considerable time, and I have a specimen of Fragilis by me that I grew in a close tem- perature, but Dickieana and Alpina objected to heat more than Fragilis." CYSTO'PTEKIS ANGUSTA'fA. CYSTOPTERIS ANGUSTATA. 105 CYSTOTTEKIS ANGUSTA'TA. THIS has various English names, and among botanists, with still more varied want of certainty, has been placed in various genera, or been reduced even to a mere variety. It is known as the Deep-cut Mountain Bladder Fern, as the Stone Polypody, as the Red-stemmed Polypody, and in botanical works it is Polypodium rhaticum, Poly- podium ilvense, Aspidium fragile, Aspidium rhaticum, Cyathea fragilis, var. ft. and Cystopteris fragilis, var. angustata. We think that it has sufficiently distinctive cha- racteristics to retain it as a species. Moot tufted, some- what creeping, black, with rusty scales, and rootlets long. Fronds from six to fifteen inches high, rather numerous, erect ; stalk dark-red becoming black, nearly half its length naked, without any border, slender, and smooth. Leaflets bright green, nearly opposite, the lowermost rather shorter, and the pairs at greater distances from each other than those about the middle of the frond, all leafited with scarcely a border down the side of the midrib. Leafits alternate, spear-head shaped, rather bluntly pointed, sometimes, however, tapering at the end, all deeply cut, with oblong wavy, pointed segments; and the ribs of all somewhat wavy. The segments are always long and narrow, never broad, rounded, or egg- shaped, but sometimes, though rarely, cloven at the end. The leafits on the upper side of each leaflet are larger 106 CYSTOPTEEIS ANGUSTATA. than those on the lower side ; the cuts are all along the sides of the leafits. These characteristics distinctly dis- tinguish this Fern from Cystopteris fragilis, and C. centata. The fructification is round, and smaller, and less prominent than in those two species; always continuing distinct, standing either in solitary masses or in pairs, towards the bottom of each cut dividing two lobes from each other; at first pale, but finally becoming brown. The cover (indusium) white, very thin, concave, irregularly torn, soon pushed off, or aside, by the com- paratively large, though not numerous, shining brown capsules. It is found, but not commonly, in wooded places ou mountain!; and on shaded rocks ; as near Llanberis, in North Wales ; at Gordale, in Craven, Yorkshire ; on shaded rocks in many parts of Scotland ; on the moun- tains of Westmorland ; on the top of G-lyder Mountains, on the side overhanging Llyn Ogwen Lake, and near Ffynnon felon, and on the Leek Road, about a mile from Buxton. This Fern was first discovered in Hhaetia, whence its earliest name of RhcEticum, but it is first mentioned as a British Fern by Gerard, if his Filicula petrcea mas is really his name for the present species. There is, how- ever, much uncertainty about the early history of this Fern, and this uncertainty has been thus well-pointed out by the late Sir J. E. Smith. " Great confusion has always existed amongst our Biitish botanists concerning Polypodium (Cystopleris) rhteticum. Hooker has it not. Ligntfoot appears, by what he says in his FL CYSTOPTERIS ANGUSTATA. 107 Scot. 678, to have been acquainted, like Mr. Dickson, with our Cystva ( Cystopteris) angustata under that name ; and he quotes Gerarde rightly, justly objecting to Plukenet's t. 179. f. 5. Lightfoot's description is excellent, though he submits, as I have formerly done, to Haller, Weis, and others, who con- sider it as a variety of our O. fragilis. The late Mr. Davall took it for Haller's n. 1705 ; but that plant, with many errors in the synonyms, is certainly Aspidium dilatalum. Our Cystea (Cystopteris) angustata may be w. 1708 of Haller, but his references are confused. Mr. Hudson, on seeing Mr. Davall's specimens of the Fern in question, declared it very different from his own Polypodium rhteticum, which indeed is Aspidlum dumetorum. I have little scruple in referring the obscure and long-disputed figure of Clusius, reprinted in Gerarde, as above quoted, to this Cystea (Cystopteris) angustata, though the draughtsman has omitted the ultimate divisions of the leaflets, well enough expressed by Hoff- mann and Villars. I have never received this Fern from Wales, but if it be not Ray's Polypodium ilvense, it is wanting in the Synopsis. The wooden cut of Dalechamp, copied in J. Bauhin, and quoted doubtingly by Ray, should rather seem to be the totally different Acrostic/turn Marantte, as Bauhin himself suspected." The cultivation required by this Feru is the same as for Cystopteris alpina, stated at page 102. It requires, however, more shade, and does well under the shadow of other plants in a cool greenhouse. 108 CYSTOPTERIS DENTATA. ss, in Lancashire; Newchurcb Bog, in Cheshire ; Titterstone Glee Hills, and Bomere Pool, in Shropshire ; in Warwickshire ; in Derbyshire; Dallington Heath, near Northampton ; in Norfolk; near the Windmill and the Spring-well on Wimbledon Common ; in Sussex ; at Tunbridge, in Kent; near Torquay, and in a wood near Dunsfbrd Bridge, in Devonshire. In Scotland at B rah an Castle, near Dingwall. We are not sure about other localities where it has been said to be found. Mr. Reeve observes to us, that although the Lastr&a spinulosa may, at first sight, be mistaken for L. dilatata, yet, when each of them is cultivated in one collection, there will be found a marked difference. Neither of the species should be absent from a collection, for although a similarity exists, both the distinctness and beauty of 6:ich will be very apparent when growing near to each other. This is a very fine and erect-growing species, and remarkably well adapted for the moist parts of the 182 LASTR^EA SPINULOSA. Fernery, rookery, or shady parts of the shrubbery, and from its bold, free habit, should be largely cultivated. It will bear a moderate degree of exposure, although, like most others of the genus, it prefers shade, attain- iug greater magnitude according to the degree of shade it is grown under ; but, whichever situation it may occupy, a good supply of water will be necessary. It is a Fern that will make itself at home under ordinary attention, and may be very confidently trusted to repay its cultivator with the expansion of its noble fronds for much less care and trouble than is necessary for many of the British Ferns. It is also a very nice- looking plant when cultivated in pots, which may be easily done. The principal points are, a good supply of water and good drainage, with allowance of space for the roots as the plant increases in size. A compost of equal parts loam and peat, with an admixture of sand sufficient to keep the soil open, will meet its wishes in any situation. Let it be potted rather firmly, but not hardly. The propagation is as directed for former species, by division or by its fructification. T.ASTR