178 ASPLENIUM EBENEUM. — EBONY SPLEENWORT, 



latter, in many cases, has to watch for the exact day of flowering 

 of the species which he desires to observe, and a day more or less 

 may spoil his hopes of being favored with a sight of the treasure, 

 the collector of ferns is not thus limited in regard to time, as 

 many of the plants which interest him furnish material for exam- 

 ination even before " green spring " has brought out the early 

 May blossoms, and continue to do so long after the autumn 

 flowers have faded. When everything in nature seems sad and 

 dreary, and when (still quoting our favorite poet) — 



" The South-wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore, 

 And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more," 



the cryptogamist at least may be happy, for the woods still 

 abound with what he seeks, and even the rocks, although bare 

 of flowers, are in many cases clothed with the objects of his 

 love. 



The interest in ferns has greatly increased of late years, and 

 they are now cultivated to an extent unknown before. And this 

 is not to be wondered at, as ferns have a beauty of detail, and 

 usually a gracefulness of form, which commend them highly to a 

 refined taste. The species with which we are now concerned is 

 not, however, a type of the highest beauty in this class of plants. 

 But to the lover of ferns it is nevertheless welcome, as it is gen- 

 erally to be found in those locations in the Eastern States where 

 a fern is at all likely to grow, with a decided partiality for 

 srowino; on shaded walls, or on rocks in the deep recesses of the 

 forest. The writer of this has seen many a hundred square feet 

 of " dry wall," laid without mortar, so completely covered over 

 by the foliage of this little plant as to rival the most romantic of 

 the ivy-clad ruins of the Old World. In such dry situations the 

 fronds are not as rich in their foliaceous portions as when the 

 plants grow in more favorable situations, with richer soil. The 

 specimen represented on our plate grew on a dry wall, and we 

 have selected it purposely, because the more overgrown speci- 

 mens are generally chosen for illustration, and this very common 



