ASP 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ASP 



137 



cultivate any of these Ferns, must have walls, rocks, or heaps 

 of stones, to set the hardy species in j or pots may be filled 

 withloamy undunged earth, or sand, gravel, and lime rubbish 

 for that purpose, placing them in the shade. Hart's-tongue 

 has been raised from seed ; but every species of the genus 

 may be increased by parting the roots. Some of the foreign 

 sorts must be placed under a common frame in winter; and 

 it is evident, that such as are natives of the West Indies, and 



other hot climates, require the protection of a stove. The 



species are, 



* Frond simple. 



1. Asplenium Rhizophyllum ; Root-leaved Spleenwort. 

 Fronds cordate, ensiform, undivided, top filiform, rooting ; 

 root fibrose ; fructifications irregularly dispersed over the 

 whole disk of the leaf in oblong spots. The ends of the fronds 

 bend down to the ground, and there throw out roots, by 

 which means this species of Fern propagates itself. Native 

 of North America. 



2. Asplenium Hemionitis ; Mule's tongue or Mules-Fern 

 Spleenwort. Fronds cordate-hastate, five-lobed, quite entire ; 

 stipes smooth and even. It is a low Fern, nearly allied to 

 Hart's-tongue, not above six inches in height, with a fibrous 

 root. Native of Madeira and the south of Europe. 



3. Asplenium Scolopendrium ; Hart's-tongue Spleenwort. 

 Fronds cordate-ligulate, quite entire ; stipes hirsute ; root 

 black ,hard,covered with scales,and emitting numerous strong 

 black fibres. The fronds are greatly subject to variation, 

 and hence several varieties have been noticed by authors, as 

 the Curled, Curved, Clustered, and Branching Hart's-tongue. 

 It is a native of most parts of Europe, in shady lanes, on 

 walls and rocks, in wells, and damp caverns. Common in the 

 north of England, and is in full seed from September till No- 

 vember. The leaves, which were recommended as aperients 

 and corroborants, in obstructions of the viscera, have been 

 principally used in apozems and infusions. Ray recommends 

 the plant, from his own experience, as a good medicine against 

 convulsive disorders ; but it is discarded from the present 

 practice, although the common people indeed still use an 

 ointment made with the leaves of this plant, as also with 

 those of Ophioglossum, or Adders-tongue, in burns and 

 scalds. According to Hill, the expressed juice of the plant 

 taken in small quantities, for a considerable length of time, 

 is an excellent medicine in obstructions of the viscera, and 

 has been known to cure many of the most obstinate chronic 

 disorders, when all other means have proved ineffectual. 



4. Asplenium Nidus ; Bird's-nest Spleenwort. Fronds 

 lanceolate, quite entire, smooth. The leaves are two feet 

 long, broad, firm, thick, smooth, and streaked. It roots 

 into the tops of trees. The leaves come out in a circle, are 

 erect, and form a kind of umbel, in the middle of which birds 

 make their nests. Native of Java and the Society Isles. 



5. Asplenium Serratum ; Serrate-leaved Spleenwort. Fronds 

 lanceolate, serrate, subsessile. The root consists of brown 

 fibres, sending up eight or nine fronds about three inches long. 

 Native of woods in the inland parts of Jamaica. 



6. Asplenium Plantagineum ; Plantain-leaved Spleenwort. 

 Fronds ovate-lanceolate, subternate : stipe four-cornered. 

 The margin of the fronds is even, and the stipe smooth. 

 Native of Jamaica. 



7. Asplenium Lanceum ; Lance-leaved Spleenwort. Frond 

 elliptic, entire, smooth : stipe round, scaly. It differs from 

 the third species, in having a lanceolate frond, not cordate. 

 Native of Japan. 



8. Asplenium Bifolium; Double-leaved Spleenwort. Fronds 

 pinnate ; leaflets lanceolate, subsinuate, connate. Native of 

 South America. 



VOL. i. 12. 



** Frond Pinnatifid. 



9. Asplenium Ceterach j Common Spleenwort, or Milt- 

 waste. Lobes alternate, confluent, obtuse. Native of most 

 parts of Europe, on old walls, and on the clefts of moist rocks ; 

 as, about Bristol ; Bury, in Suffolk ; Heydon, in Norfolk , 

 Asheridge, in Hertfordshire ; near Malham, Tarn, and many 

 other places, in the northern counties. It is in seed from 

 May till October. It has been recommended as a pectoral, 

 and as an aperient in obstructions of the viscera and an 

 infusion of the leaves has been prescribed for the gravel. It 

 was recommended by the ancients for the various disorders of 

 the spleen : and, although rejected from modern practice, if 

 prescribed by Meyrick to be administered in a strong decoc- 

 tion of the whole plant for all obstructions of the liver and 

 spleen, which it will remove, if persevered in; and is also 

 excellent in those disorders which arise from the same cause. 



10. Asplenium Obtusifolium ; Blunt-leaved Spleenwort. 

 Fronds subpinnate ; pinnas obtuse, sinuate, decurrent, alter- 

 nate. Native of South America. 



*** Frond pinnate. 



11. Asplenium Nodosum ; Knotted-stalked Spleenwort. 

 pinnas opposite, lanceolate, quite entire. Nativeof the West 

 Indies, and Cochin-china. 



12. Asplenium Salicifolium ; Willow-leaved Spleenwort. 

 Pinnas sickle-lanceolate, crenate from the base upwards, 

 angular ; height a foot and half. Native of Jamaica and the 

 Antilles. 



13. Asplenium Trichomanes ; Cummon Maidenhair. Pin- 

 nas roundish, crenate ; roots small, consisting of brown ca- 

 pillary fibres. Native of Europe, in the crevices of rocks 

 and walls, and in shady places among stones. It is in seed 

 from May to October. The country people sometimes give 

 a tea or syrup of it, for coughs and other complaints of the 

 thorax. A little of the syrup, mixed with water, makes a 

 very pleasant draught. That which is brought from abroad 

 has orange-flower water in it : but several different Ferns 

 are used for Syrup of Capillaire. 



14. Asplenium Viride ; Green Spleenwort. Pinnas round- 

 ish, crenate, truncate at the base. Native of moist rocks on 

 the mountains of Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and North Wales. 



15. Asplenium Ebeneum ; Ivory-stiped Spleenwort. Pin- 

 nas lanceolate, subfalcate, serrate, eared at the base ; stipe 

 very glossy, simple. Native of North America. 



16. Asplenium Dentatum ; Tooth-leaved Spleenwort. Pin- 

 nas wedge-shaped, obtuse, crenate, emarginate. Native of 

 South America and the West Indies. 



17- Asplenium Marinum ; .Sea Maidenhair, or Spleenwort, 

 or Dwarf Sea-fern. Pinnas obovate, serrate, gibbous, 

 above obtuse, wedged at the base; fronds from three inches 

 to a foot in length, but commonly about six inches. Native 

 of Sussex, Devonshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Lancashire, 

 Scotland, and Wales, on the rocks of the sea coast. 



IS. Asplenium Cultrifolium ; Sickle-leaved Spleenwort. 

 Pinnas sickle-lanceolate, gash-serrate, from the base down- 

 wards angular. Native of the island of Martinico. 



19. Asplenium Rhizophorum. Fronds rooting at top ; 

 pinnas ovate, repand, somewhat eared ; very small ones, 

 remote, quite entire. This seldom grows above ten or tweh e 

 inches in length, and is always found with the top bending 

 towards the ground. Native of Jamaica. 



20. Asplenium Monanthemum ; One-flowered Spleenworl 

 Pinnas trapezium shaped, obtuse, serrate, entire behind ; one 

 line of fructifications ; fronds numerous, ascending, a foot 

 high, frequently twisted,linear-lanceolate,acute, very smooth. 

 Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



21. Asplenium Ruta Muraria ; Wall-rue, Tentwort, or While 

 2N 



