76 BRITISH FERNS 



ASPLENIUM RUTA-MURARIA (THE WALL Rue) 



(Plate V) 



This little Fern (Fig. 35) is common on old walls, bridges, etc., in 

 association, frequently, with other Spleenworts, but often mono- 

 polizing all the chinks near the tops of the walls with its little tufts 

 of diminutive fronds, which, even in favourable positions, rarely 

 exceed four or five inches in length. It lends itself very unwillingly 

 to culture, requiring a dry atmosphere, and, of course, good drainage, 

 in stony, limy soil. Where found, it is almost invariably rooted in 

 old mortar, with no soil at all. A number of varieties are recorded, 



Cristatum (Fig. 36), found in several places, but it is open 

 to doubt whether any have survived removal, and in any case 

 they are all, with the above exception, erratic and depauperate. 



Fig- 37- Asp. septenlrionale. 



Asplenium Septentrionale (The Forked Spleenwort) 



(Plate VI) 



Our figure (Fig. 37) so clearly indicates the difference between 

 this and^4s^>. germanicum that a description is unnecessary, and as 

 regards its habitats, etc., the remarks appended to that species 

 apply exactly. No varieties. 



Asplenium Trichomanes (The Maiden-hair Spleenwort) 



(Plate VII) 



This is one of the commonest, but to our mind the prettiest, 

 Ferns, where old walls, stone dykes, and similar erections exist, 

 and Ferns are generally plentiful, owing to a liberal rainfall. In 

 such situations its pretty tufts, or rosettes, may be seen lining 

 the chinks of the old walls by hundreds, both on the sunny and 

 shady sides, and rooting obviously into the old mortar with no 

 other appreciable admixture. Its fronds, usually about five or six 

 inches in length, though in hedge dykes we have seen it over a foot 

 long, are only once divided, and consist of a long black, hair-like 

 stalk and midrib, whence the popular name, with a row on each 

 side of oval pinna, attached by all but imperceptible jointed 



