574 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



they are lanceolate (spear-shaped) and biphmate (twice divided to the midrib) ; 

 the numerous leaflets are somewhat leathery, rather closely set, about 3in. 

 long, shining and smooth, and their stalkless pinnules (leafits) are deeply 

 cleft. — Lowe, New and Rare Ferns, t. 44. 



A. (Euasplenium) fontanum— Eu-as-ple'-m-um ; fon-ta'-num (fountain- 

 loving) , Bernhardt. 

 This is undoubtedly one of the prettiest of the dwarf, compact-growing 

 species contained in the genus. It is of very cosmopolitan habitat, as it is 

 known to grow wild in various parts of France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, 

 Germany, and Siberia ; according to Beddome it is also a native of the 

 Himalayas ; and it is now accepted as a British Fern (Moore's " Handbook 



of British Ferns," p. 150), for it has 

 been found in a wild state in various 

 and very distant localities, and it would 

 be strange if in all these places it had 

 been accidentally introduced by spores 

 brought from the Continent. The first 

 to announce it as a British Fern was 

 Mr. Hudson, who, in the first edition 

 of his " Flora Anglica," published in 

 1762, states that it grew "upon rocky 



Fig. 102, Asplenium fontanum 



(J nat. size), places near Wybourn, Westmoreland." 



Then Bolton, in his " Filices Brit- 

 tanicas, or History of British Proper Ferns," published in 1786, states that 

 this Fern was found on the walls of Agmondesham (Amersham) Church, 

 in Buckinghamshire. Later on it was found on rocks in Wharncliffe Woods, 

 Yorkshire ; on an old wall on Tooting Common ; on a wall at Ashford, near 

 Petersfield, Hampshire ; at Matlock, in Derbyshire ; at Cavehill, near Belfast ; 

 on rocks near Stonehaven, in Kincardineshire ; and in other localities. The 

 comparative rarity of this species in England is accounted for by its being- 

 unable to withstand our climate except in sheltered and suitable situations. 



The fronds, Bin. to 6in. long including the slender, wiry, naked, greenish 

 stalks on which they are borne, and about l£in. broad, are oblong-spear- 

 shaped, broadest above their middle, and tapering towards the base and the 



