124 WHERE TO KIND FERNS. 



shire, in Wharncliffe Wood. In Wales, only in the 

 county of Caernarvon, between Tan-y-Bwlch and 

 Tremadoc. In Scotland, only in Kincardineshire, on 

 rocks in the vicinity of Stonehaven. In Ireland, it has 

 been found at Cavehill, near Belfast. 



XLIV. THE GREEN SPLEEN WORT. 



Asplenium viride. 

 (Plate XIV., Figs 4 and 5, page 75.) 



LENGTH OF FROND. Two to ten inches. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. ^^/.ynbrous, wiry, abundant, 

 Rootstock small, tufted. Fronds numerous, evergreen, 

 produced in tufts from the crown, narrow, tapering, 

 broadest about the centre, simply pinnate ; stipes rather 

 short, green, purplish at the base ; rachis also green ; 

 pinnse light green, opposite or alternate, attached to the 

 rachis by very short but distinct stalks, roundish oblong 

 in shape, finely indented upon their margins, usually 

 largest about the centre, diminishing in size towards 

 the apex and towards the base of the frond. This species 

 bears a strong general resemblance to its much more 

 common and widely-distributed congener Aspleniu>/i 

 trichomanes ; but the especial and immediate mark of 

 distinction lies in the colour of the stipes and of the 

 lower part of the rachis, a colour which in Asplenium 

 viride is always green except at the base of the stipes 

 and in Asplenium trichomanes always purple. Fructifica- 

 tion produced in narrow, oblong son', covered by indusia, 

 and occupying nearly the centre of each little pinna, be- 

 coming confluent about the centre of the pinnae when 

 the indusia have fallen away, and not spreading, as is 



