GROUP V 



FERTILE AND STERILE FRONDS LEAF-LIKE AND SIMUAR ; 

 SPORANGIA IN LINEAR OR OBLONG FRUIT - DOTS 



vy 



Lower pinnae 



lighting on tiie rocks in order to secure some in- 

 sect, now tilting backward and forward with the 

 comical motion peculiar to them, 

 r'''^ [ ^ now gliding swiftly along the 

 ' ^ t^ » pebbly shore till their brown and 



gray and white coats are lost in 

 the brown and gray and white of 

 shore, rock, and water. 

 In such a retreat as this ravine the Maidenhair 

 Spleenwort seems peculiarly at home. Its tufted 

 fronds have a fresh greenness that 

 is a delight to the eye as they spring 

 from little pockets or crannies too 

 shallow, we would suppose, for the 

 necessary moisture and nourishment. 

 Its near companions are the Walk- 

 ing Fern, whose tapering, leaf-like, 

 blue-green fronds leap along the 

 shelving ledge above, and the Bulblet Bladder Fern, 

 which seems to gush from every crevice of the cliff. 



Upper pinnae 



30. GREEN SPLEENWORT 



Asplenium viride 



Northern New England, west and northward, on shaded rocks. 

 A few inches to nearly a foot long, with tufted stalks, brownish 

 below, green above. 



Fronds. — Linear-lanceolate, once-pinnate, pale green ; pinnce 

 ovate, toothed, midvein indistinct and forking ; fruit-dots oblong ; 

 indusium straight or curved. 



The Green Spleenwort in general appearance 

 resembles the Maidenhair Spleenwort. Perhaps 



138 



