062 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



The first botanist recognising the Green Spleenwort as a distinct species 

 was Cordus, who, in 1561, published it in his " Historia Stirpimn " under the 

 name of Adiantum album, though he gives the same woodcut of it as he 

 does for Asplenium Trichomanes. The first to name it Asplenium viride 

 was, we believe, Hudson, in his "Flora Anglica," published during 1762. 



A. viride has narrow-linear fronds 4in. to 6in. long and less than 

 iin. broad, borne on very short, green, slender stalks, and furnished 

 with twenty to thirty pairs of stalkless leaflets (Fig. 133) less than each 

 way ; these leaflets are cuneate-flabellate (wedge- and fan-shaped), the upper 

 edge is suddenly narrowed at the base, the lower one is obliquely truncate 

 (broken off), and the outer part is deeply notched. The abundant sori (spore 

 masses) are linear-oblong in shape and are disposed in an oblique position. — 

 Hooker, Species Filicum, hi., p. 144. Lowe, Oar Native Ferns, ii, t. 47 ; 

 Ferns British and Exotic, v., t. 28. Eaton, Ferns of North America, i., t. 36. 

 Beddome, Ferns of British India, t. 64. 



Several variations are described and figured by Lowe in " Our Native 

 Ferns," but it is very questionable whether any of these can now be found 

 in any collection or procured anywhere, and the form multifidum, which is 

 frequently found amongst plants of the typical species and which has fronds' 

 more or less forked at their extremity, can scarcely be termed a permanent 

 variety. 



A. (Euasplenium) Yittseforme — Eu-as-ple'-ni-um ; vit-tas-for'-me 

 (ribbon-fronded) , Cavanilles. 

 A singular and pretty, stove species, native of Java and the Philippine 

 and Fiji Islands, with leathery, entire (undivided), spear-shaped fronds 1ft. to 

 l£ft. long, narrowed to an acute point and very gradually into the stalk 

 below, their margins being slightly toothed. The abundant and conspicuous 

 sori (spore masses) reach from the midrib nearly to the edge. A. sundense 

 is another name for this species. — Hooker, Synopsis Filicum, p. 192. Nicholsoji, 

 Dictionary of Gardening, i., p. 135. 



A. (Darea) Yiviparum— Da'-re-a ; vi-vip'-ar-um (plant-bearing), Fresl. 



This exceedingly elegant, stove species, native of the Mauritius and 

 Bourbon Islands, is greatly admired on account of the exquisitely fine nature 



