THE SPLEEN WORTS. 



6. 



THE ROCK SPLEEN WORT. 



Asplenium fontanum. 



PLATE 7, FIG. 6. 



|NE of the most rare of our rarer species 

 of British. Ferns is the Rock Spleen- 

 wort ; so rare, indeed, that some doubts 

 as to its actual identity with the supposed speci- 

 mens of it discovered in these islands have been 

 raised. But these doubts will probably be dis- 

 pelled by the evidence which has been produced, 

 as to the discovery of this species evidence 

 making it pretty clear that its inclusion amongst 

 British plants can be justified. In two or three 

 places in England, in one locality in Wales, in 

 one in Scotland, and in one in Ireland, Asplenium 

 fontanum has according to tolerably trustworthy 

 authority been found. It grows amidst sheltered 

 inland rocks and in sea caves, and possibly may 

 not be so rare as is generally supposed, though 

 certainly, if it be more plentiful than Fern collec- 



381 



