46 BAUD FERN. 



The lower half of the stem is dark purple, smooth, 

 shining, and naked ; the under surface of the pinnae 

 densely and completely covered with seed. The 

 barren fronds are deeply pinnatifid, from one and a 

 half to two-thirds as high as the fertile fronds ; they 

 assume a spreading or horizontal position, and are 

 attached to the caudex by a very short scaly stipet. 

 The fertile fronds arrive at perfection in September, 

 and shed their seed and disappear before winter ; but 

 the fertile ones remain green throughout the year. 



It is by no means a rare fern, and delights in moist 

 boggy land. It is also found on stony heaths and 

 woods throughout England ; indeed, scarcely any lover 

 of wild flowers can fail to have observed it in the 

 hedges among the ferns and grasses of summer. By 

 old writers the plant was called Rough Spleenwort ; 

 and old Gerarde, of whom we have before spoken, 

 mentions an " old wife's fable," about the efficacy of 

 this plant, when boiled, in curing diseases of the liver, 

 and "hardness and swelling of the spleen." It is 

 almost in vain to look for this fern on a chalk soil, as 

 it is rarely met with there. Mr. Newman does not 

 recollect having seen a specimen from the chalk hills 

 of Kent, Sussex, or Surrey. 



In rock- work, or in any out-door collection of ferns, 

 this Blechnum does well, and requires no special atten- 

 tion beyond a sufficient supply of moisture. In trans- 

 planting, it is well to bring away a good portion of 

 its native soil around the roots. In cases it does not 

 flourish so well, as it seems to require open air to 

 thrive. 



