THE SPLEENWORTS. 



4. 



THE BLACK MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT. 



Asp len iun i a diantum -nigrum. 



PLATE 7, FIG. 4. 



[HE Black Maidenhair is, perhaps, the- 

 most elegant of the Spleenworts, chiefly 

 on account of the elaborate and beau- 

 tiful manner in which its fronds are divided. It 

 grows from a very tufted root-stock, and throws 

 up thick clusters of fronds, which vary con- 

 siderably in height. Sometimes, when growing 

 on walls in somewhat dry and exposed situations,, 

 it may be found no more than an inch or at most 

 two or three inches high. But when it is in 

 situations more congenial to it, and under con- 

 ditions such as will be presently described, it 

 attains a height of from eighteen inches to two 

 feet, and possesses extreme elegance. The young 

 fronds and their stems are, when first starting 

 from the root-stock, ordinarily light-green in 

 colour. But, as they attain maturity, they become 



373 



