9 S 
European Ferns. 
THE SEA SPLEENWORT: ASPLENIUM MARINUM, L. 
We have hitherto been looking for ferns in essentially inland localities. If we except 
the True Maidenhair, we have not been led within scent of sea breezes by any of the plants 
to which we have directed our attention. The moorland 
and the barren rock, the wood and the hedge-row, the 
wall and the hill-side, the shady bank and the open 
common — all these have yielded their treasures to us, 
and in each of them some fern has found its home ; but, 
with the single exception already mentioned, the salt 
spray has not dashed upon any of them, nor have we 
been allured in our search away from inland scenes. 
But now all is different. If we want to find the Sea 
Spleenwort, we must follow the guiding of its specific 
name — marinuin — and hunt for it in the dark recesses 
and clefts of rocks close to the sea, where it is often so 
firmly fixed in the crevices by its black, wiry, tough 
roots that it cannot be extracted without some difficulty. 
The rhizome of the Sea Spleenwort is dark-brown 
or black, tufted, and densely covered with black or dark 
scales. From this spring the linear, simply pinnate 
fronds, which are on an average from seven to thirteen 
inches long, but sometimes very much longer; they are 
smooth and somewhat leathery in texture, with a winged 
rachis, by which the fern may at once be recognised, ds 
that feature does not exist in the other simply pinnate 
species. The pinnae are very variable in shape, being 
oblong and rather broad, or linear with serrated or 
crcnatcd margins ; the lower are stalked, the stalk being 
winged, and are thus connected at their base. The shape 
of the pinnae at the base, which is characteristic, will be 
better understood from the accompanying cut than from 
description. Newman says that two pinnae, larger than 
the rest, frequently appear near the apex of the frond ; 
but this seems to us somewhat exceptional. In spite of 
the thick, leathery texture of the frond, the veins are 
very apparent ; there is a central vein in each pinna, and 
from this lateral veins (or venules) are alternately given off, 
and on the anterior side of these the sori are produced.. 
These sori are at first covered with 
a white membranous indusium, 
which does not fall away, but opens 
towards the apex of the fronds, re- 
vealing the bright brown sori within. 
The Sea Spleenwort is a plant of the Atlantic type of distribution, occurring along the 
coast of England and Scotland, except on the east side, its range extending from Cornwall, 
FROND AND riNNA OF ASPLENIUM MARINUM. 
