66 ASPLENIUM PARVULUM. SMALLER EBONY SPLEENWORT. 



poems of Burns, a poet who was always keenly alive to the 

 beauties of his native land, we find what is, perhaps, the warmest 

 tribute of admiration ever paid to the fern. Comparing his own 

 country with foreign lands, the great Scotch bard says : — 



" Their groves of sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon. 

 Where bright beaming summers exalt the perfume ; 

 Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan, 

 Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom." 



The " breckan " or fern mentioned in these lines is the Pteris 

 aqtiilina, or Common Brake, one of the commonest species of 

 the British Isles. It is the one of all others which the student 

 of English literature would understand when he reads simply of 

 " the fern," without further qualification. 



Our own poets, like those of Europe, have also had but little 

 to say of ferns. Bryant, usually overflowing with a love of 

 nature, and with innumerable references to her floral treasures, 

 does not even mention the fern in that beautiful poem, " The 

 Fountain," to which one would turn flrst of all with the expec. 

 tation of finding a reference to it. Indeed, we can recall only 

 one stanza in all the works of this delightful poet in w^iich the 

 fern is named. This stanza is found in " The Two Graves," and 

 runs as follows : — 



" Two low green hillocks, two small gray stones, 

 Rose ov-er the place that held their bones ; 

 But the grassy hillocks are levelled again, 

 And the keenest eye might search in vain, 

 'Mong briers and ferns and paths of sheep, 

 For the spot where the aged couple sleep." 



By the emblematic writers the ferns have been dedicated to 

 sincerity; but the association of ideas is not quite clear, although 

 ;t might, perhaps, be said that the simple, quiet beauty of these 

 plants, which unfolds itself at once and without reserve to all 

 those who look upon them, is suggestive of the quality named. 



The subject of our present chapter, Asplcniitm parvulmn, is 



