104 
European Ferns. 
the genus. Its small narrow twice-pinnate fronds at once distinguish it, coupled with the 
smooth, narrowly winged rachis. Mr. Newman once broached the theory that the Amersham 
plant was really Cystopteris fragilis ; but we have never been able to find out upon what 
foundation he based this certainly inaccurate supposition. It is a pretty little plant, with 
evergreen fronds, from three to eight inches in length, springing from a short tufted caudex, which 
is somewhat scaly at the apex. The stipes is dark-purplish below, but becomes green in 
its upper portion ; the green rachis is, as we have said, narrowly winged. The fronds are 
numerous, quite smooth, and upright in habit ; they are of a pale, rather glaucous green, 
linear-lanceolate in outline, tapering at each end, especially towards the apex, and about 
an inch and a half in breadth at the widest part. The pinnae, which are broadest below, are 
spreading, the upper ones being placed more closely together than the lower. The pinnules 
are oblong in form and more or less deeply cut ; the sori are very numerous, at first 
distinct, but afterwards forming a dense mass on the back of the fronds ; they are covered 
by a white indusium, which is usually straight, but sometimes more or less curved, and 
thus approaching the genus Athyrium , in which the species is sometimes placed under the 
name of Athyrium fontanum . 
There are two forms of the plant, each of which is represented among the real or 
supposed British specimens ; but the difference between them seems to be chiefly a questiob 
of size. The form which is considered typical — -fontanum — is called “ forma minor ” by Milde, 
who places A. Halleri, the larger variety of the plant, as his 
“forma major.” Under the latter form, too, the botanist first 
quoted includes a plant described by Mr. Moore, as distinct, 
under the name of A. refractum .* This is supposed to have 
originated from wild Scottish specimens ; it came into notice 
about 1851. Mr. Moore writes concerning it: “Compared 
with Asplenium fontanum , the fronds of Asplenium refractum 
are longer and narrower in proportion, being seven or eight 
inches high, and not more than three-fourths of an inch wide. 
They have a dark-brown, rachis throughout, which is not dis- 
tinctly winged, as in fontanum , although there is a slight green decurrent line at the upper 
angle between the pinnae. The outline is different, being equal and almost linear, not broader 
upwards ; the lower pinnae are scarcely more distant than the rest, and all the pinnae are 
refracted in a remarkable manner, as well as much less divided. The habit of growth is 
spreading, and the fronds are proliferous. The little bulbils are formed principally at the 
junction of the pinnae with the rachis.” This is probably a plant of garden origin ; we 
have already seen, when speaking of Adiantum Farley ense (p. 43), that ferns sometimes 
appear in this casual way, never having been found in a wild state. 
Asplenium fontanum is often met with in collections ; it is easily grown, requiring good 
drainage and a considerable amount of moisture. The crown of the root may be raised 
above the surface of the mould if the plant be grown in a pot. Mr. Moore says: “It is 
increased without difficulty by division, if the operation is carefully performed in the growing 
season, and the divided plants are kept close till established. We have seen exhibited by 
Dr. Young a magnificent mass of this plant, which could hardly have been less than a foot in 
diameter, with fronds eight to ten inches long. The species grows admirably in a shady 
hothouse.” 
* “Nature-printed Ferns” (8vo edition), vol. ii., p. 66. 
(a) UPPER and ( b ) UNDER SIDE OF PINNA 
OF ASPLENIUM FONTANUM (ENLARGED). 
