I 12 
E ur ope a n Ferns. 
remedy against the narrowness of children’s breasts, or the Tabes Pcctorea , as Dr. Boot 
calls it, who was State-Physician in this kingdom in K. Charles I. reign; who observes that, 
according to the various symptoms of the same distemper, the English called it the Taint, 
doubling of the joints, and in a more general word, Rickets. According to very late 
observation, convulsions in children have been cured by this small herb boyled in sack-whey. 
It is to be used for forty days in powder, or decoction ; for it 
removes the viscous and mucilaginous tartar in the lungs and 
liver, which causes shortness of breath. Hence L’Obel named it 
Salvia Vitce.” According to Lightfoot, the Wall Rue had at one 
time a reputation as a remedy “ in coughs, asthmas, obstructions 
of the liver and spleen, and in scorbutic complaints.” 
The geographical distribution of the Wall Rue is not very 
extended. It is, however, found in most parts of the United 
Kingdom, on old walls or calcareous rocks ; in some districts 
it is infrequent and unrecorded, but is likely to have been over- 
looked. It is found in the Hebrides, but is absent or rare among 
the H ighland mountains, even down in 
their low glens and valleys. It is often 
met with upon old graves and decay- 
and is, or was until lately, 
ing walls 
common in the neighbourhood of Lon- 
don. In the “ Flora of Middlesex ” it 
is recorded for, among other localities, 
Hampton Court, Brentford, Chiswick, 
Finchley, and Hampstead ; and it was 
also found in the brickwork of a kitchen 
area in Bloomsbury Street, London, in 
1866, though here it may of course 
have been planted. It extends 
throughout Europe, from Norway to 
Spain and Portugal, Italy, the Mediter- 
ranean Islands, Greece, and Turkey. 
It is found both in North and South 
Africa, and in many parts of Asia, 
from the Ural Mountains to Thibet 
and Kashmir, in the Caucasus and in 
Siberia. Dr. Aitchison has lately collected it in the Kuram Valley, and other parts of 
Afghanistan ; it is curious to notice how many of the twenty-two ferns collected in that 
region belong to species found in Europe, and almost all of them in Britain : the list includes 
the names of Woods ui hyperborea, Cys top leris fragilis, C. dentata, Adiantum Cap Ulus -veneris, 
Cryptogramma enspa, Asplenium septcutriouale, A. Ruta-rnuraria , A. viride, A. Trichomanes, 
A. fontanum , Ceterach officinaram , Lastrea rigida (and vars.), Polypodium Dryopteris, and 
Botrychium Lunana. In North America it occurs on rocks and limestone cliffs in many parts 
of the United States. 
I he Wall Rue is not a very variable plant, although it differs greatly in size and in 
the shape of its pinnules according to the circumstances in which it is placed. The fronds, 
ASPI.ENIUM RUTA-MURARIA. 
