128 
European Ferns. 
English name of this herbe, but it maye well be called in English Ceterache or Miltwaste, 
or Finger feme, because it is no longer then a mannes finger; or Scale feme, because it is 
all full of scales on the inner syde. Asplenon hath leaves lyke in figure unto Scolopendra y e 
beste, which also called centipes, is not unlike a great and rough palmers worme. The 
leaves are some thinge lyke Polipodium, and are indented so that one indenting is not 
right over agaynst an other, but agaynst every division, cutting, or indenting, standeth a 
round halfe circle. The inner syde of y e lefe is some thinge yelowe and rough, w‘ small 
thinges lyke bran, or yelow scales, which w' a light occasion fal of ; y e outer syde is grene : 
it hath nether flowre nor sede. If this description can not evidently ynough declare 
unto you Asplenon , take a braunche of Polipodium , and take a finger length of y e middes 
of it, the nether ende, and the high ende cut awaye, cut of both the sydes, the toppes, 
and the leves awaye, and make then the remain round, and then shall ye se the very forme of 
A splenon'.' 
The word Ceterach is a form of Chetherak, the Arabic and Persian name for the 
plant. A few other of our plant-names are derived from Eastern languages, and some of 
these have even become anglicised. Barberry is a familiar instance of this ; the mediaeval 
name for the plant was Berberis (which is still retained as its scientific title), and this came 
from the Arabic barbaris. Barberries are said by some writers to have been introduced 
by the Arab into European medical practice, although the shrub which bears them is 
common enough in most parts of Europe ; they were employed in fevers by the Egyptian 
practitioners. Our Scale Fern has one or two very characteristic English names — “Rusty 
Back,” for example, which has so obviously been suggested by the brown back of the 
fronds as to need no further explanation ; and “ Brown-back,” a Devonshire name for it, 
also speaks for itself. Its other English names — Scale Fern, Finger Fern, Miltwaste, and 
Spleenwort — have been already referred to. 
The Scale Fern is so very different in appearance from any other fern, not only 
among the natives of Europe, but even including the ferns of the whole world, that a 
description of it seems almost unnecessary. It has a short tufted caudex, covered with dark 
brown scales, and giving off numerous short fibrous roots. The stipes is short, of a dark 
hue at the base, and covered with pale-brown pointed scales ; the numerous, usually erect 
fronds are from an inch to half a foot or even more in length, and about an inch in 
breadth in the middle, their widest part; they are linear in shape, and pinnately divided into 
rounded segments, tapering towards the base and apex, which are sometimes entire and at 
others lobed. When young, before unfolding, the young fronds are nearly white on the 
under-surface ; later on they become of a very beautiful rich green above, and brown beneath. 
This brown hue is due to the presence of very numerous brown scales, which lie closely one 
over the other, and when looked at under the microscope are seen to be very beautifully 
netted. The fructification covers the whole of the under-surface, although the dense scaly 
covering renders it comparatively inconspicuous. The sori, however, although at first 
concealed by the scales, ultimately make their way through ; they are borne upon the 
lateral veins. The indusium is so very minute as to be almost imperceptible — indeed, 
some botanists have asserted that it is altogether absent. Those who detect it find it 
in the form of a slightly-elevated membranous ridge, which disappears when the frond is 
approaching its full development. The dense covering of scales is probably sufficient 
protection for the sori, and hence the indusium is suppressed. Those who look upon 
this organ as absent regard the Scale Fern as a Gymnogramme — in which genus the sori 
