THE SMOOTH ROCK SPLEENWORT 
of sandstone, or some similar y 
ous material Tt is inerensed without difficulty by division. A 
cent mass of this plant, cultivated by Dr. Young, can be seareely less than a foot in diameter 
with fronds eight or ten inches long. 
‘This plant is not much given to variation, Mr. Wollaston notices a variety, multifidum, in which 
the fronds are occasionally bifid or multifid at the apex; this state is not uncommon, but it is also 
not permanent, 
Im 
d plants having this tendency sometimes produce a few of the pinne unusually 
Mr. Wollaston proposes for another supposed variety, of dubious origin, the 
ше of proliferum. 
‘This interesting plant, which has been known to us since 1851, is so remarkably distinct, that were it 
not for the ob 
ity of its history, we should, without any hesitation, claim for it specific rank 
‘Though most like A. fontanum of our British species, it is in 
quite unlike that plant in several of. 
its characters. We do not recognise it in any published descriptions, nor can we find any specimens 
to which we can refer i 
in Sir W. J. Hooker's magnificent collection. The fronds we received in 1851 
were from the gardens at Pepor-Harrow Park, Surrey. Tt has since bgen exhibited at the metropolitan 
fates by Mr. Parker, nurseryman, of Hornsey, who, we bel 
хе, holds the stock of it, and whose plants 
were obtained from Mr. Williams, gardener to С. B. Warner, Esq, of Hoddesdon, Mr. Williams 
reports that about six years since he received it, as A. viride, from a gardener, whose friend had found 
it in Scotland, and sent three plants. This person, whose name was Filden, it appears died soon after 
the occurrence. Compared with A. fontanum, the fronds are longer and narrower in proportion, being 
seven or eight inches high, and not more than three-fourths of an inch wide. ‘They have а dark brown 
rachis throug! 
out, which is not distinctly winged, as in fontanum, although there is a slight 
decurrent line at the upper angles between the pino ; the outline is different, being equal and almost 
linear, not broader 
ET 
and the fronds are proliferous. Mr. Wollaston remarks, that “its having been associated with 
upwards ; the 
wer pinnw are scarcely more distant than the rest, and they are 
ieted in a remarkable manner, as well as much less divided ; the habit of growth is spreading, 
eiride, and partaking so much of the aspect of that species as to have deceived some of our best 
P " 
pteridologists, is at least cireumstantial evidence of its British origin. The little bulbils are formed 
principally at the junction of the pinnw with the rachis” We are so convinced of its distinctness, 
that notwithstandi 
its dubious history, we shall add the accompanying definition, to furnish 
means for its recognition, and in the h 
ре that the attention of botanist 
may be directed to 
its ro-discovery 
A. refractum : fronds linear subbipimmate ; pinme short oblong obtuse, refracted 
pinnate at the base, pinnatifid above ; pinnules (the lowest anterior one only 
distinct, the rest more or less confluent) roundish, with a few coarse angular 
onate teeth, the upper two-four toothed, the lower ones overlap 
t д oblique, in а line on each side near the c 
ured, marginate above, not winged, bulbil-bearing. 
ta of the pinnas ; rachis 
chestnut- 
Hab. ? Scotland. 
