THE ROCK SPLEENWORTS. 157 
for only afew minutes after being brought into the light. 
The motions are most vigorous in the middle of the day. 
Among the many common names for our 
plant are wall spleenwort, dwar‘ spleenwort, & 
black-stemmed spleenwort, English maiden- 
hair, waterwort fern and baby fern. All are 
derived from the size or appearance of the 
plant or from the locations it effects. Its 
fronds are said to be somewhat mucilaginous 
and astringent and were formerly often substi- 
tuted for those of the true maidenhair (4 dzan- 
tum Capillus-Veneris) in compounding the 
famous “Syrup of Capillare.’ The drying 
fronds have a sweetish odour which often re- 
mains in the herbarium specimens. 
The maidenhair spleenwort is one of the 
most cosmopolitan of ferns. It is found 
throughout almost all of North America and 
is as common on the other side of the globe. AY, 
A British writer says, “The walls of loose ‘{* 
stones piled on each other which skirt the road 
in North Wales are often green for miles with 
tufts of this fern.’ It is often supposed that 
our plant grows only upon calcareous rock but 
this is certainly a mistake. It is seldom miss- 0% 
ing entirely from any shaded ledge, and is MAIDENHAIR 
likely to be among the young collector's first SPbEENWORT 
specimens from such places. It takes kindly to the arti- 
ficial rockery and if planted in the chinks of a rough 
stone wall will soon cover the gray rocks with its delicate 
fronds. 
The variety zzcisum with leaflets deeply cut has been 
reported from various parts of our range. The incised 
