THE SPIiBENWOBTS. 



8. 



THE COMMON MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWOKT. 



Asplenium trichomanes. 



PLATE 7, FIG. 8. 



[HIS Fern and the Green Spleenwort are 

 very nearly related indeed ; the great 

 distinction being that Viride, as its 

 name seems to imply, has nearly the whole of its 

 stipes and the whole of its rachis of a bright 

 green, whilst Trichomanes, when mature, has both 

 the stipes and rachis on its fronds of a dark, 

 shining, purple colour, approaching to black. 

 The Common Maidenhair Spleenwort is, too, as 

 its name indicates, far more plentiful, and far 

 more widely distributed throughout the United 

 Kingdom, than its half-sister Viride. It is, too, 

 hardier than the latter, and easier of cultivation- 

 The same description, with the exceptions which 

 have been pointed out, will apply in the case of 

 both Ferns : black, tufted root-stocks ; wiry, 



3*5 



