V FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMILAR i 

 SPORANGIA IN LINEAR OR OBLONG FRUIT - DOTS 



lighting on the rocks in order to secure some in- 

 sect, now tilting backward and forward with the 

 comical motion peculiar to them, 

 now gliding swiftly along the 

 pebbly shore till their brown and 

 gray and white coats are lost in 

 the brown and gray and white of 

 tower pinna shore, rock, and water. 



In such a retreat as this ravine the Maidenhair 

 Spleenwort seems peculiarly at home. Its tufted 

 fronds have a fresh greenness that 

 is a delight to the eye as they spring ~r*>~ 

 from little pockets or crannies too v. 

 shallow, we would suppose, for the x-^T" 

 necessary moisture and nourishment. V 

 Its near companions are the Walk- ^ 



ing Fern, whose tapering, leaf-like, 

 blue-green fronds leap along the Upper pinn * 

 shelving ledge above, and the Bulblet Bladder Fern, 

 which seems to gush from every crevice of the cliff. 



30. GREEN SPLEENWORT 



, A selenium viride 



Northern New England, west and northward, on shaded rocks. 

 A few inches to nearly a foot long, with tufted stalks, brownish 

 below, green above. 



Fronds. Linear-lanceolate, once-pinnate, pale green ; pinna 

 ovate, toothed, mid vein indistinct and forking ; fruit-dots oblong ; 

 indusium straight or curved. 



The Green Spleenwort in general appearance 

 resembles the Maidenhair Spleenwort. Perhaps 



138 



