COMMON MAIDEN-HAIR SPLEENWORT 71 



veins and venules, the anterior bearing the linear sori 

 just within the margin of the pinnae. The sori, when 

 young, have a thin indusium, with a rather round- 

 toothed free margin, but when older become confluent, 

 and cover the whole frond. This also is a very uni- 

 versal Fern, found not only in the Old and New 

 f World, but also in the newer world of Australia. It 

 \ once had a medicinal reputation, and, according to 

 Eay, was usefully employed in affections of the chest. 

 It is also sometimes referred to in old medical books 

 'as the plant from which the syrup called Capillaire is 

 ) produced. Turner, in his Herball, published in 1568 

 calls it "English Mayden's Heare," and says: "the 

 juice stayeth the heare that falleth of, and if they be 

 fallen off, it restoreth them agayne." It grows best 

 in cultivation, in sandy loam with leaf-mould, and does 

 not require so much shade as other ferns. 



HABITATS. Ambleside, Keswick, Borrowdale, and 

 Calder Bridge. 



The most beautiful of its VARIETIES is the incisum, 

 with pinnso deeply pinnatifid with linear notched seg- 

 ments. It has been found in Borrowdale by Miss 

 Wright, and in Lindale-in-Cartmel by Mr. A. Mason. 



OTHER VARIETIES. 

 depauperatum, Kendal Fell, J. M. Barnes ; Whitbarrow, F. 



Clowes; Arnside, J. Crossfield. 



Ufurcum, Windermere, F. Clowes ; Arnside, J. Crossfield. 

 multifidum, Windermere, F. Clowes ; Keswick, Miss Wright ; 



Ulverston, Mrs. Hodson. 

 ra/mosum, Arnside, J. Crossfield. 

 rotundato-multifidum, Witherslack, J. M. Barnes. 



