THE ROCK SPLEEN WORT. 123 



XLIII. THE ROCK SPLEENWORT. 



Asplenium fontanum. 

 (Plate XIII. , Figs. 6 and 7, page 73.) 



LENGTH OF FROND. Three inches to a foot, the 

 maximum length given being, however, exceptional. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. _#0<?/y fibrous, wiry, abundant. 

 Rootstock small, tufted, erect. Fronds numerous, stiff, 

 evergreen, narrowly lance-shaped ; stipes purplish-black, 

 very short, the leafy pinnae being continued almost 

 close to the crown, leaving oftentimes no more than 

 half an inch of clear stipes; leafy part pinnate, light 

 green, pointed at the apex, broadest near its centre, and 

 diminishing downwards; pinna? opposite or alternate 

 upon the rachis, very short, either triangular or egg-shaped, 

 and either sharply indented or in large specimens 

 again divided into somewhat four-sided, indented 

 pinnules. Fructification produced in sori which are 

 slightly oblong, and are covered by slightly-oblong in- 

 dusia. When these fall off, the sori frequently become 

 rounder and confluent, though they are perhaps as 

 frequently distinct from each other. 



HABITATS. Moist, shady fissures of rocks, and 

 crevices of walls ; sea-cliffs and sea-caves. This species 

 grows under very much the same conditions, and in 

 very much the same positions, as Asplenium lanceolatum. 



WHERE FOUND. In England, only in the counties of 

 Derby, Dorset, Hants, Northumberland, Westmoreland, 

 and York. In Derbyshire, near Matlock ; in Dorset- 

 shire, in the Swanage Cave, Isle of Purbeck ; in Hamp- 

 shire, near Petersfield ; in Northumberland, near Alnwick 

 Castle; in Westmoreland, near Wybourn. In York- 



K 



