"^•^ MAIDENHAIR SPLEEXWORT. 



There are good figures of this fern in Gerarde (Em. 11-10), 

 Bolton (Fil. tah. 13), ' English Botany ' (576), Hooker's ' Flora 

 Londineusis ' (156), and in many of the continental Floras. 



Concerning the name, little difference of opinion has pre- 

 vailed. Berkenhout (Syn. ii. 305), and one or two others, have 

 called it Tricliomanoides; but nearly all authors have described 

 it as Asplenium Trichomanes. The A. anceps of Lowe, com- 

 mon in the Atlantic islands, in Ireland, and the South and 

 West of England, differs only in size. 



This beautiful little fern is found in every country of Eu- 

 rope, in Africa, in the Atlantic islands, where it is called Asp. 

 anceps, and in the United States of America, where it has been 

 called Asp. Tricliomanoides : but after a careful comparison I 

 am unable to detect any specific difference between the North- 

 American, Atlantic, and British plants. 



This species occurs generally throughout England, Wales, 

 Scotland, and Ireland : it grows upon rocks, walls, churches, 

 ruins, bridges, on banks, and in hedge-rows. In the eastern 

 counties it is much less common than in the western: in Essex, 

 Norfolk, and Suffolk it may be considered rare, but it occurs in 

 all these counties. I am indebted to Mr. Gr. S. Gibson for a 

 specimen from Hadstock church, and to Mr. E,. Jacob for ano- 

 ther from Bishop's Stortford, both in Essex. At Churt, near 

 Godalming, in Surrey, the large form of this fern clothes the 

 hedge-banks in some places for more than a hundred yards, 

 with scarcely any admixture of other plants. In the West of 

 England, and especially in Wales, it is a common fern. I once 

 saw it in the valley of the Wye, growing in such profusion on a 

 little bridge near the town of Bualt, that it formed a continuous 

 covering of green, and presented a very beautiful appearance. 

 There is scarcely anything in the vegetable world more lovely 

 than such a scene as this ; and it is only known by those who 

 have tried the experiment, how readily such a scene may be 

 realized in a garden. 



