FORKED SPLEENWORT. 35 



species (Asplenium septentrionale), growing in the clefts of 

 rocks. It has long been a bone of contention whether this is a 

 genuine species or a hybrid between the Wall Rue and the 

 Forked Spleen wort (A. septentrionale). For more than fifty 

 years doubt has existed on this point a doubt that gains 

 strength when one observes how the characters of both those 

 species are combined in this form, and how the Forked Spleen- 

 wort is almost invariably found in its neighbourhood. The 

 late Mr. E. J. Lowe, a well-known grower and hybridizer of 

 ferns, confessed that he had been unable to raise it from the 

 spores. Should this be a general experience it would support 

 the contention that the Alternate-leaved Spleenwort is a hybrid, 

 for it frequently happens that hybrids are infertile. It is to 

 be presumed that spores being produced, these developed into 

 prothallia, but that the fertilizing process failed. 



It has been reported from Somerset, Denbigh, Carnarvon, 

 Yorks, Cumberland, Northumberland, Roxburgh, Perth, Fife. It 

 has not been found in Ireland or the Channel Islands. It appears 

 to be generally distributed over Europe with the exception of 

 Greece and Turkey ; and is also found in Himalaya and China. 



The specific name germanicum, though usually regarded as 

 indicating that this fern is especially a native of Germany, may 

 be more appropriately accepted as indicating its close relation- 

 ship to the preceding and following species. The English name 

 is only to be found in modern books ; no folk-name is known 

 for it. 



Forked Spleenwort {Asplenium septentrionale}. 

 As we described the Alternate Spleenwort as being in 

 appearance a drawn-out and attenuated form of the Wall Rue, 

 so we may with equal propriety say that the Forked Spleenwort 

 offers an illustration of what might be expected from a con- 

 tinuation of the drawing-out process. It is, indeed, the most 

 attenuated fern that we have, and in its native haunts it is not 



