38 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND FERNS. 



few veins are given off, upon which the short, oblique sori are 

 produced on the back of the pinna with a pale-brown indusium. 

 These sori may be found from May to October, and when 

 mature cover the greater part of the pinna. Note that the 

 veins fork before they reach the sori. 



The Maidenhair Spleenwort is naturally a rock plant, but 

 like several of its congeners, it is equally at home on old walls 

 with its roots between the masonry as in the crevices of rocks. 

 (Plate 31.) It is distributed from extreme north to south of our 

 country, including Ireland and the Channel Islands ; and has 

 been found at an elevation of 2000 feet in Wales. It is not so 

 frequent in the Eastern Counties as in the West of England 

 and Ireland. It is found throughout Europe, in the Caucasus, 

 Persia, India, the Atlantic Islands, South Africa, Australasia, 

 the American Continent, and the West Indies. 



The scientific name has been dealt with, as far as possible, 

 in connection with the Killarney Bristle-fern (page 22). Its 

 English names include several variations of Maidenhair such 

 as Common Maidenhair and English Maidenhair. But Gerarde 

 in the Appendix to his " Herball," also mentions it as Water- 

 wort : " Waterwort is Maidenhayre " but the suitability of the 

 name is certainly not obvious, and it does not appear to have 

 survived to these days. 



Green-ribbed Spleenwort (Asplenium viridc}. 



There is a striking resemblance between this species and 

 the Maidenhair Spleenwort. There are, indeed, not wanting 

 botanists who consider them but forms of one species, and 

 there is much to be said in favour of their view. Sir Joseph 

 Hooker says : " Perhaps an alpine sub-species of A. trichomanes, 

 distinguished by its more flaccid habit, pale rachis, shorter, 

 paler, and shortly stalked pinnas." We agree that the 

 difference between the two are scarcely sufficient to warrant 



