io6 
European Ferns. 
number of fronds. Mr. Moore speaks of a specimen which was found almost closing the mouth 
of a well in Jersey; this tuft bore one hundred and twenty fresh fronds, besides the remains of sixty 
or seventy others in various stages of decay. The stipes is short and dark below ; the fronds 
are from three or four inches to a foot or a foot and a half in length, twice pinnate, smooth, 
and lanceolate, and are of a very beautiful and distinct green. The pinnae, which are broadest at 
the base, are nearly or quite sessile ; they taper towards the extremity, which is blunt, but twisted 
at the apex, and are covered beneath with small scattered deciduous scales. The fronds are 
evergreen, making their appearance in May, arriving at maturity about August, and continuing 
bright and fresh throughout the winter. The veins are forked, and the sori are attached 
along their anterior side, thus assuming a submarginal appearance ; the sori are at first distinct, 
but afterwards become confluent, covering the whole under-surface of the frond with a dark 
brown mass, in the same style as A. Adiantuni-nigrum ; they are covered when young with a 
white membranous indusium, which disappears when the sori are mature. 
This is not a very variable species. There is a variety, obovatum, which has even been 
raised to the rank of a species ; it is found in the south of Europe, and is distinguished by its 
smaller fronds and less sharply-toothed pinnules. The variety microdon, described by Mr. 
Moore, is a strikingly distinct form ; at first sight it would appear to belong rather to A. 
marinum than to the present species, but it passes into A. lanceolatum , and agrees with this 
in essential characters. It has simply pinnate fronds, the pinnae being almost triangular in 
shape and (especially the lower ones) nearly as broad as long ; the upper pinnae are narrower 
and confluent. This has been found in Guernsey, and in Cornwall near Penzance. Another 
variety has quite recently been described under the name of A. Sine liid' 
A. lanccohdum is not one of the easiest species to grow, although when potted in a 
mixture of peat, loam, and sand, with ample drainage, it will do well, if not kept too moist. 
But it will not stand any approach to cold, so that it is not a good rockwork plant except 
in very mild situations, or near the sea, for which it seems to have a predilection. 
BLACK MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT : ASPLENIUM ADIANTUM-NIGRUM, L. 
This is a handsome and well-marked species, which is found upon shady hedge-banks or on 
old walls in most of our English counties. Although very widely 
distributed in Britain, it can hardly be classed as a common plant ; 
it often occurs, but sparingly, in the localities where it is met 
with, and many large tracts of country do not 
produce it. It is, as we shall see further on, a 
variable plant ; its nearest ally is the much 
rarer A. lanceolatum , from which it differs in 
the ovate-triangular shape of the fronds, as well 
as in the linear form of the sori. Owing to the 
evergreen nature of the plant, and to the 
persistence of the fronds during winter, the 
Black Maidenhair Spleenwort attracts most 
attention during the winter months, its bright 
green, remarkably glossy fronds standing out 
very conspicuously among the dead and dying 
PINNA OF A. ADIANTUM-NIGRUM, 
Var. ACUTUM. 
PINNA OF A. ADIAN- 
TUM-NIGRUM (UNDER 
SIDE). 
* Hardwicke’s “Science Gossip,” July, 1880. 
