292 
ASPLENIACE^. 
ber, and continue in full vigour throughout the winter, and until 
those of the ensuing year make their appearance. 
The form of the frond is elongate, linear, and quite undivided, 
acute at the apex and cordate at the base. The naked portion 
of the stem varies from a tenth to about a third of the entire 
length of the frond ; it is of a dark purple colour, and rather 
scaly at the base : in some specimens, but these are generally 
young, the entire plant is hirsute, in others perfectly glabrous. 
The seedling plants put on a variety of forms ; a few of them 
are shown at the top of the cut in the preceding page. 
The veins proceed directly from the stem, and each has four 
or five branches : to the outside branches of each vein, or set of 
veins, is attached a long line of capsules, covered by a white 
membranous involucre of the same form. Owing to this dispo- 
sition of the capsules on the outer branch, the masses are inva- 
riably in pairs ; the two involucres at first touch, and appear as 
one ; a day or two later a line appears between them, showing 
that they are divided ; the line gradually becomes more appa- 
rent as the capsules increase in size ; at last, the two involucres 
are pushed back from each other, and finally disappear. The 
veins and attachment of capsules are shown on the upper side 
of the figure ; the involucres and clusters on the lower side : the 
earliest stage of the double line and its involucres is shown to 
the left hand, and each successive figure towards the right shows 
a gradual advance to maturity. 
