FERNS OP GREAT BRITAIN. 79 



is about three or four inches high, and of a bright green 

 colour, is long and narrow, and pinnated with distinct, 

 alternate, wedge-shaped pinnae. The upper pinnae are 

 slightly lobed, becoming more lobed towards the base ; 

 their upper ends are in every case toothed or notched. 



The fronds grow in tufts, are thick and tough in 

 texture, and have no distinct mid-vein ; but a vein from 

 the base of each pinna, or lobe, branches off two or 

 three times as it reaches the broader parts, the veins 

 forming a fan-Uke figure, being in the larger pinnae 

 seven or eight in number, and four in the smaller ones. 

 Two or three hues of fructification are on each pinna, 

 and are covered by an arched indusium, the margin free 

 and sHghtly waved, but not torn; the clusters finally 

 run into one thick mass. This plant is, by some 

 writers, called Aspleninm alternifdlium, or Amesium Ger- 

 mdnicum. 



6. A. septentriondle (Forked Spleenwort). — Fronds 

 2 or 3-cleft; segments linear; margin sharply-toothed. 

 This is a rare fern in this country, though occmrring in 

 a few localities in abundance, as among the fissures of 

 the rocks of Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh. It grows, too, 

 on some mountains at the north of the kingdom, as at 

 Ambleside, where it is found among the rocky clefts; 

 but Mr. Newman says, that he has seen it in greater 

 luxuriance at Llanrwst, near the mouth of the Conway, 

 than in any other place. This plant grows in tufts, 

 and, notwithstanding- the diminutive size of the indivi- 

 dual fronds, occasionally thus forms large masses. Mr. 

 Newman says, "At Llanrwst, the tufts of this fern 

 were very large ; one of them was so heavy, that after 



