312 CRYPTOGAMIA— FILICES. Asplenuim. 



Root tufted, black, scaly. Fronds usually about half the size of 

 the last, with shorter stalks, smooth, of a fine grass green, which 

 often remains uninjured in the dried specimens ; their outline 

 lanceolate, not deltoid, the lowermost wings being shorter than 

 those about the middle of the frond, and rather more distant, 

 as well as more disposed to be opposite ; all of them are pin- 

 nate, or partly pinnatifid ; the leaflets, or their segments, ob- 

 ovate, obtuse, tapering at the base, deeply and acutely serrated 

 at the extremity, with pointed or bristly teeth, and branching 

 veins. Masses several, short, elliptic-oblong, crowded about 

 the middle of each leaflet or lobe, and after a while confluent, 

 spreading nearly over the whole. Cover oblong, whitish, with 

 a jagged margin, always separating at the side towards the 

 midrib. Capsules prominent, of a rusty brown. 



A very distinct and handsome species, little known except in some 

 parts of England and France. In an advanced state the aggre- 

 gate masses of capsules become roundish, so that, without an 

 examination of the covers, the plant might be taken for a Poly- 

 podium or Aspidium. 



9. K.fontanum. Smooth Rock Spleen wort. 



Frond linear-lanceolate, doubly pinnate ; leaflets and seg- 

 ments wedge-shaped, deeply and sharply toothed. Ge- 

 neral and partial midribs bordered throughout. 



Aspidium fontanum. Sw. Syn. Fil. 57. Willd. Sp. PL v. 5. 272. 



Engl.Bot. V.29. t.2Q2i. 

 A. Halleri. Willd. v. 5. 274. 

 Polypodium fontanum. Linn. Sp. PL ed. 1. 1089. ed. 2. 1550 ; 



with the descriptions and synonyms. Herb. Linn. Fl. Br, 1114. 



Huds. 456. Bolt.FiL38.t. 21. Leers 225. VillarsDauph. v. 3. 



849. Gouan. Iltustr. 80. 

 P. n. 170G. Hall. Hist. V. 3.] 5. 

 Filicula saxatilis, omnium minima, elegantissima. Tourn. Inst. 



5 A2; according to his herbarium. Plu/c. Jlmag. ] 50. Phyt.t. 89. 



f.3. 

 F. fontana. Tabern. Kreuterb. ] 1 81 ./. 



Adiantum filicinum durius crispum minimum. Barrel. Ic. t. 432^/". 1 . 

 A. album. Lob. fc. 810./. 1.? 

 Dryopteris. Dalech.Hist. 1228./.? 



On shady old walls, or rocks, very rare. 



On Amersham, or Agmondesham, church, Bucks, found by a Mr. 

 Bradney, according to Hudson, and from whence it was brought 

 alive to Kew garden, by the late Mr. Alton, from whom 1 have 

 a specimen ; but the church has been whitewashed, and the 

 plant destroyed. Mr. Hudson gathered the same in a stony 

 situation near Wybourn, in Westmoreland ; or rather perhaps 

 Wiborn in Cumberland. 



