PERNS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 83 



pinnules. This fern is very frequent in the Highlands 

 of Scotland, growing on moist rocks, into whose crevices 

 it sends its wiry fibres. Its hue is brighter and of 

 a lighter green than the other British species of the genus. 

 Though the upper part of its stalk is yellowish green, 

 yet it gradually deepens in hue towards the lower parts, 

 becoming at its base of a purplish brown. The stipes 

 is about a third of the length of the whole frond, and 

 the plant grows in tufts. The simply pinnate leafy 

 part is from two or three inches to a foot long, narrow, 

 and the small roundish egg-shaped pinnae rather taper- 

 ing towards the base, and attached to the rachis by 

 the narrow part, which becomes gradually narrower. 

 The veining of the fern is distinct. A number of lateral 

 veins arise alternately from the mid-vein, and are either 

 simple or forked. The capsule clusters lie on the side 

 nearest the top of the pinna; they are oblong, and 

 covered at first by oblong membranous indusia, jagged or 

 notched, which soon fail. The fructification then forms 

 a dark brown mass all over the middle of the under 

 side of the fern, concealing the mid-vein. This fern, 

 which is found on the mountainous districts of England, 

 Wales, and Ireland, occurs in similar moist rocky places 

 throughout Europe. Linnaeus termed it the Branching 

 Trichomanes, because its fronds have a tendency to 

 divide into a branched form. 



9. A. Trichomanes (Common Wall Spleenwort). — 

 Frond linear, pinnate; pinnce roundish, egg-shaped, 

 stalked, wedge-shaped below. This is one of our most 

 common ferns ; and it is a graceful plant when growing, 

 as it often does, in large quantity. Now and then we 



