CHAPTER XXVII, 



ASPLENIUM, Linnams. 



(As-ple'-ni-um.) 



Spleenwort. 



HE name Asplenium is derived from a, without, and splen — 

 the spleen, on account of the supposed property of curing 

 affections of the spleen, with which these plants were for- 

 merly credited. The Ferns known as Aspleniums, which in 

 Hooker and Baker's " Synopsis Filicum " are comprised in 

 Genus 38, and which form by far the largest portion of Tribe 8, Aspleniece, 

 are so well marked that it would not be easy to mistake the great majority 

 of them. They differ from most other Ferns by the disposition of their sori 

 (spore masses), which are attached to the veins, and which, instead of being 

 parallel with either the midrib or the margin of the frond, are oblique to 

 the midrib, and are of a peculiar linear-oblong shape. The involucre 

 (covering), which is of the same shape as the sorus, is sometimes single, 

 sometimes double : when single, it opens towards the midrib. It is generally 

 straight, occasionally curved, flat, or tumid, and bursts along its outer edge. 

 The veins are free in a large proportion of the species. The stipes (stalks) 

 of most Aspleniums are of a succulent nature and black, especially on their 

 under- surface, while the leafy portion of the greater part of them is of 

 a soft, fleshy texture. 



Asplenium is the second in extent of the genera known to contain 

 British species, including plants from all parts of the world where 



