LADY FERN. 45 



formerly been so nicely balanced, and the fronds hang ungrace- 

 fully and limp. The rachis is without the hair-like scales that 

 are present on the stalks of A. lanceolatum, (Plates 38,40,46.) 



The frond proper is wedge-shaped, rich dark-green in colour, 

 firm and leathery in texture, evergreen, and twice pinnate. 

 The two lowest and longest pinnae have their pinnules 

 divided into secondary pinnules. The pinnules are shortly 

 stalked, then deeply cut in a pinnate manner and their margins 

 sharply toothed. The veins are pinnate. The brown sori are 

 more slender than in A. lanceolatum, more in the centre of the 

 pinnule, but ultimately by coalescing almost cover the back of 

 the frond. They are produced from June to October. 



The Black Spleenwort is a widely distributed species ex- 

 tending from the extremes of east to west, and north to 

 south ; but its distribution is patchy and local. In many 

 places it grows very sparingly. It occurs in many of the Irish 

 counties, and in the Channel Islands. In the Highlands of 

 Scotland it has been found at an elevation of 1900 feet above 

 the sea. On the Continent its distribution is pretty general, 

 whence it extends into Africa (North and South), Western 

 Asia, and the Himalaya. 



The specific name adiantum-nigrum is partly borrowed from 

 the generic name of the Maidenhair, and has not the remotest 

 fitness for this plant, whilst the nigrum is in allusion to the 

 supposed blackness of the stipes. It must be confessed that 

 its sponsors have not been at all happy in their choice of 

 names. 



Lady Fern (Aspleniwn filix-famind). 



The ancients had their Male and Female-ferns, their Filix- 

 mas and Filix-fcemina, but the latter name was applied to the 

 Bracken, whose lace-like arching frond gave it a suggestion of 

 female grace and delicacy as compared with the more robust 



