ASPLENIUM SEPTENTRIONALE. 55 
ASPLE'NIUM SEPTE'NTRIONA'LE. 
THIS is known to English herbalists by the name of the 
Forked Spleenwort, a name given to it on account of the 
form of its fronds. Its specific name, Septentrionale, 
alludes to its frequenting the northern districts of Great 
Britain. 
Its root is woody, branched, tufted, and furnished 
with a mass of crooked, fibrous rootlets. From the 
tufts arise very numerous fronds, forming dense patches. 
They vary in height from two to four inches. The 
stalk, which is naked for about half its length, is wiry, 
and dark green, except at the base, where it is dark 
purple. The upper part spreads into one, two, or three 
forked leaflets, which are narrow, strap-shaped, upright, 
smooth, and in colour a dull dark green. Each section of 
the fork has one or more teeth, and the sections are 
alternate. The upper surface of each leaflet is furrowed, 
but beneath, at first, they are covered with long white 
membranes (indusium), originating from the inner edge 
of the veins, and meeting over the middle. There is no 
mid-vein, but the veins arise from the base of the leaflet, 
and run parallel, and divide into as many branches as 
there are teeth at the end of each section of the leaflet. 
The fructification is dark brown, and as it increases in 
size, and runs together, it gradually throws off the mem- 
brane, and curiously twists the leaflet. The spores are 
ripe in August. 
It can scarcely be called a rare Fern, for although it 
