IOO 
European Ferns. 
deeply and unevenly cut : it is usually quite a small plant, seldom attaining seven inches in 
length. The variety ramosum, which is rare and constant, “ is a very marked variety. 
One of its chief peculiarities is that the fronds are branched, which branching takes place 
sometimes in the rachis, but more frequently at the base of the stipes, so that the fronds 
become united in pairs, the junction often taking place before they separate from the caudex, 
so that two fronds appear to grow side by side from one point.”* The most divided of all 
the varieties is sub-bipinnatum, a small plant with deeply pinnatifid pinnae, which is 
constant in cultivation and is not known to bear fruit. The largest form of the species is 
the Channel Island plant called paralielmn , the fronds of which are as much as three 
feet long, with long, narrow, and very distant pinnae. 
The Sea Spleenwort is said by Newman to be a difficult plant to cultivate, unless 
carefully protected from exposure : “ it will thrive luxuriantly in a stove-house, with a moist 
heat of yo° Fahr., but dies on rockwork, even in the purest air, if denied the advantage of 
the sea-breeze.” Mr. Moore, however, says it is easily grown in sheltered situations, but 
it will not bear frost, and has been known to be frozen even when kept in a close green- 
house. It is well worthy of cultivation, owing to the bright, deep shining green of the fronds. 
According to Ray,f the Sea Spleenwort has been employed in medicine in cases of 
obstruction ; and a mucilage extracted from it is said to be useful, when all other applications 
have failed, if applied externally to burns. A similar use of the Hart’s-tongue ( Scolopendrium 
vulgare ) in the county of Westmeath has gained for it there the name of “ Burntweed.” 
ASPLENIUM FONTANUM, L. 
There is a special interest attaching to this extremely pretty little fern in connection 
with its occurrence as a native of England. Its claims to that position are considerable ; 
and yet the best authorities and most careful pteriologists are divided upon the point. The 
distribution of plants is an extremely interesting subject, and one which has, especially of late 
years, attracted a good deal of attention. Mr. H. C. Watson, whose numerous works upon 
the geographical distribution of British plants are well known, and who has done so much 
to reduce the study of botanical geography to a science, has summed up his researches in an 
invaluable compendium, entitled “Topographical Botany,” in which may be seen at a glance the 
distribution of any given species through the English and Scottish counties ; and the w r ork 
is being carried on by a club formed for the purpose, called “ The Botanical Record 
Club.” For the work of chronicling the distribution of the comparatively few plants which 
form the flora of the United Kingdom is not yet complete; indeed, it is an illustration of the 
inexhaustibility of even a portion of a branch of natural science that, although there is 
probably no spot in the whole world which has been so thoroughly investigated by botanical 
observers as the British Islands, we have constantly to chronicle new facts in distribution, 
or even the addition of fresh species to our list. Any one who has had any experience 
in the compilation of a local flora will recognise how almost impossible it is thoroughly to 
exhaust that of even a very limited area. 
That the distribution of plants is very irregular may be seen at a glance by an observer 
who removes from a district with which he is thoroughly acquainted to one which is 
strange to him. At first he is struck by the presence of unfamiliar forms ; and a little 
* “Nature-printed Ferns” (8vo edition), vol. ii., p. 98. 
f “Synopsis” (3rd edition), p. 119. 
