THE SEA SPLEENWORT 
terminal and adherent to the caudex. Zachis margined and more or loss coloured brown below, winged 
Vernation circinate 
Лу 
Fronds including the stipes from six to twelve inches lo 
apex, pinnate. Pinne 
upwards of a yard long; smooth, coriaceous, broadly linear tapering to the 
between oblong, oblong-ovate, 
out, usually about an inch in length ; the anterior 
and lincar ; obtuse, often of nearly equal width throu 
s or less apparent auricle, the inferior base cut 
base truncately ro 
ded, and produced into a blunt n 
away obliquely, "The lowest are stalked with the stalks winged, the upper become decurrent, and at 
serrate, the 
sins are usually doubly erenat 
length confluent into a tapering pinnatiñid apex. The man 
sometimes (as in fig. о.) the incisions form 
serratures unequal, sometimes deeper, forming evident lob 
very even and elegant crenatures, 
ded veins у the lowest 
vein from which proceed 
od, the rest usually once only ; the venules terminato abruptly 
within the margin, the anterior ones generally bearing the sori. 
те on the anterior 
que, indusiate, b 
Fructifcation spread over the back of t 
auricle, when two or more sori are borne by the 
f the venules (except sometimes on those of the 
same fascicle of veins), commencing near the mi 
along each pina. ‘The sori, though consisting of a profusion of spore-cases, are commonly distinct 
thou 
der surfaco. Indusium of the same form, 
they sometimes coalesce so as to cover the whole un 
bose, brown. Spores ovate, angular 
persistent, entire, Spore-caser numerous, 
Duration. The caudex is perennial, The fronds being persistent, and the young ones each year 
produced long before the old ones decay, the species is truly evergreen. 
This is a well marked species, distinguished technically from the other simply pinnate British 
by its winged rachis; and generally by its greater size and more coriaceous texture, this 
Aspleni 
latter feature giving to it an aspect of massiveness as compared with its size, by which it may be 
known at first sig 
This species is easily cultivated in sheltered situations, as in a frame or greenhouse, and thrives 
remarkably in a moist stove. It does not bear frost or exposure, and we have found it to be destroyed 
by being frozen, even when kept in a close greenhouse, Few of the smaller Ferns are n yental, 
Sea Spleenwort. Its fronds, owing to thei 
T 
care, may be kept clean and bright,—a state which tends greatly to the preservation of the health of 
‘or more deserving of cultivation than the thick leathery 
with very little 
ver of a deep shining green ; a 
cultivated plant, and always adds immeasurably to its beauty and to the attention and interest which it 
excites, Hence, for a shady greenhouse, no Fern ean be more appropriately chosen while, even for 
very sheltered situations outdoors, especially in localities near the sen, the same qualities recom- 
mend it 
We may take this opportunity to state generally the kind of treatment which has been found to 
suit the small evergreen Ferns of this character when under pot culture. The pots in which they are 
шей should bo 
f moderate size compared with the plant, that is, the 
liamoter exceeding by two 
or three inches only, the breadth of the crown or mass formed by the caudex. The 
grow well either in 
a soil of turfy peat a 
А silver sand, with a small proportion of friable yellow loam, and liberally inter 
mixed with small nodules or fragments of sandstone or porous brick, or in a mixture of which sandy 
fibrous loam forms the staple; and in which the coarser materials aro also blended. In either ease, the 
1 
kept rather above the surface of the soil, an 
tom of the 
ots must have a good layer of these latter materials for drainage, The crown should be 
is perhaps best set between two or three larger somewhat 
