COMMON SPLEENWORT. 



ASPLENIUM TRICHOMANES of Authors. 

 Asplenium Saxatile. Gray. 



LOCALITIES. 



ENGLAND. "\ 



SOTL!ND. [ Generally distributed. 



IRELAND ) 



THIS plant occurs so commonly in all parts of England, Wales, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, that I did not consider myself justified 

 in printing the alarming list of localities which I had prepared : 

 it grows on rocks, walls, churches, bridges, ruins, and sometimes, 

 but less frequently, on banks and in hedgerows. I once found 

 it in the valley of the Wye, near the little town of Bualt, grow- 

 ing in such profusion on a bridge that it formed a continuous 

 covering of green : there is scarcely anything in the vegetable 

 world more beautiful than such a sight as this, and those only 

 who have tried the experiment can say how readily such a sight 

 may be realized by cultivation. 



The roots are black, tough, and very insinuating, forcing their 

 way into crevices of rock, that would have otherwise remained 

 invisible ; and certainly, in old buildings, promoting decay, by 

 disintegrating the mortar, which, however enfeebled by time, 



