PBENS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 77 



4. A. Buta-murdria (Wall-rue Spleenwort, or White 

 Maiden Hair). — Fronds twice -^vaxiaiQ; pinnules lobed, 

 or bluntly-toothed. This is a plant often seen and 

 easily recognised. It is a common fern in Scotland, 

 Wales, and Ireland, and is generally distributed through- 

 out England, though less common in the eastern counties 

 than elsewhere. Its native haunt seems to be the rocky 

 hiU, where its little fronds cluster above the fissures 

 of the stone ; but the wind scatters its dust-like seeds, 

 and they find a congenial soil on the stone pinnacle or 

 tower of the ancient church, or on broken archway or 

 brick wall, where we may often find them with their 

 companions the green Pellitory, or the golden Wall- 

 flower. The plant seems to love the haunts of man, 

 for it is far less frequently found on the wild rock than 

 on the walls which his hands have reared. It grows, 

 however, in luxuriance on the fissures of the rocks about 

 the Peak in Derbyshire, and is abundant on the craggy 

 hiUs of Arthur's Seat, in Edinburgh. Its fronds, which 

 are thick and leathery, appear in May and June, and by 

 September are thickened by the dark-brown mass of 

 fructification beneath. The form of the plant would at 

 once recal to memory that of the Common Garden Rue. 

 The frond is usually triangular, the stalk of a dark 

 purphsh brown colour, slender, and glossy; the leafy 

 part occupying rather more than half its length. The 

 fronds are most commonly three or four inches long, 

 but, when most luxuriant, attain the length of half 

 a foot. They are twice pinnate, the pinnules being 

 alternate and pinnate, of a roundish egg-shaped form, 

 bluntly wedge-shaped, and on short stalks, and the 



