ASPLENIUM. 137 



close, it will then thrive well. The proper bell-glasses for 

 these half-hardy Ferns are those with a small opening in 

 the crown, which may be closed or not at pleasure, but in 

 general is best left open. In pots it should have a gritty, 

 porous soil. 



Asplenium Trichomanes, Linnwus. 

 The Common Maidenhair Spleemcort. (Plate XIII. fig. 5.) 



This is rather a diminutive plant, but, when in a 

 vigorous state, has a very interesting appearance, from the 

 contrast between its black stipes and rachis, and the bright 

 green pinnre, and from the regularity with which the latter 

 are disposed. It grows in tufts, naturally introducing 

 itself into the joints of old masonry and among the crevices 

 of rocks, and producing numerous small slender fronds, of 

 a linear form, in its most vigorous state nearly a foot long, 

 but generally from three to six inches. 



The fronds are evergreen, simply j)innate, on a rather 

 short stipes, which is of a purplish black, the rachis also 

 being of the same dark colour. The pinnae are deep green, 

 small and numerous, equal-sized, of a roundish-oblong 

 figure, attached to the rachis by a stalk-like projection of 

 their posterior base ; the margin is rather entire or crenated. 



