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Athyrium filixfoemina — Lady-fern. Gaelic arm Irish: raineack 

 Mhuire, Mary's fern — Muire, the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, fre- 

 quently occurring in plant names in all Christian countries. 



A. ceterach — Scale fern. Gaelic : mearlag, from mear, a finger 

 (Stuart). Old English : finger fern. Growing on rocks and walls,, 

 from Argyle and Perth southward. The fronds are covered with 

 brown chaffy scales beneath. Welsh : rhedyn gogqfau, cave fern. 



Aeplenium— From Greek: a, privative, and ottAtjv, the spleen. 



A. trichomanes — Black spleenwort. Gaelic and Irish : dubh 

 chasack, dark-stemmed. Lus na seilg, from sealg, the spleen. This. 

 plant was formerly held to be a sovereign remedy for all diseases- 

 of this organ, and to be so powerful as even to destroy it if 

 employed in excess. Lus d chorrain. Urthalmhan (O'Reilly} 

 — itr, green, and talamh, the earth. As dubh-chasach is the com- 

 mon name for Trichomanes — probably itr thalmhan was applied to- 

 A viride. Failtean fionn, see A. capillus- Veneris. 



A marinum — Sea fern. Gaelic: raineach na mara, sea fern. 

 Welsh : dueg redynen arfor, marine spleen fern. 



A. mta-muraria — Rue fern. Gaelic: rue bhallaidh, wall rue. 

 Welsh : redynen y murian, wall fern. 



A. adiantum-nigrum — Gaelic : an raineach uaine, the green fern. 

 Irish : craobh muc fiadh (O'Reilly) — craobh, a tree, a plant, and 

 muc fiadh, wild pig or boar. 



Scolopendrium vulgare — Hart's-tongue fern. Gaelic : creamh 

 muc fiadh, or in Irish, creamh nam muc fiadh. Wild boar's wort, 

 a name also given to Asparagus. 



Pteris aquilina — Common brake. Gaelic: an raineach mhbr 

 the large fern. Manx: rhenniagh woirrey, also applied to Osmunda. 

 Raith (see Polypodium). The brake is used for various purposes 

 by the Gaels, such as for thatching cottages; and beds were also 

 made, of it. It is esteemed a good remedy for rickets in children,, 

 and for curing worms. In Ireland the bracken fern is often 

 called the Fern of God, from an old belief that if the stem be cut 

 into three pieces there will be seen on the first slice the letter G,. 

 on the second O, and on the third D, thus spelling God. 



Adiantum capillus- Veneris — Maiden-hair fern. Gaelic: fail- 

 tean fionn (Armstrong), horn fait, hair, and fionn, fair, resplendent.. 



