Asplenium 
FERNS. 
43 
drooping. Continued wet will elongate the frond and separate the pinnae and 
lobes as in var. y. A young plant is only twice pinnate and flat. A dry and 
rocky, or a confined situation will render the frond small and less divided, the 
lobes blunt, deflexed, and drooping; thus starved it becomes the Aspidium 
dumetorum of Smith (var. 8). I know not the nature of the habitats in which 
the recurved var. (f) of Bree grows, and can only regret that botanists do not 
record the circumstances, as well as the places, in which plants are found. 
The varieties recurvum and dumetorum are, I believe, not altered by cultivation, 
and Sir J. E. Smith implies, in his description of the latter, that its spores 
produce the same variety. 
a ( dilatatum ). Frond sub-tripinnate, triangular, ovate. Pinnules petioled. 
/3 ( ). Frond tripinnate, deflexed, triangular. Pinnules convex. 
y ( ). Frond tripinnate, triangular, elongated. Pinnules somewhat 
decurrent, and distant from each other. 
8 ( dumetorum ). Frond small, triangular, drooping. Pinnules blunt. 
£ ( recurvum , Bree). Frond small. Pinnules concave, and dark green. 
Netvm., p. 61. 
Sit. and Hab. — a, /3, y : Very common in damp hedgerows and swampy 
woods, ascending to an elevation of 1000 yards in many parts of the High- 
lands, and probably even to 1200 yards on the Cairngorum range, Mr. H. C. 
Watson. — 8 : Derbyshire (rare), Mr. J. E. Bowman and Dr. Howitt. Common 
about Settle, Yorks., Mr. J. Tatliam. Black Rock, Cromford, Derb., G. F. 
Ben-ua-Baird, Aberdeensh., Mr. H. C. Watson. Powerscourt Waterfall, and 
side of Djouce Mountain, Ireland (abundant), Mr. MacJcay. e : Plentiful about 
Penzance, Cornwall, Rev. W. Bree. 
Geo. — Common throughout Europe, and from Pennsylvania to Virginia. 
ASPLENIUM, Linn. SPLEENWORT. 
(Aan\)]vov, a medicine to cure disorders of the spleen, from a and a—Xyr.) 
A, part of the frond of Asplenium marinum. One pinnule, showing the veins 
and origin of the fruit, the others the sori in different states. B, part of a 
pinnule magnified. C, the same cut transversely. D, under cuticle. E, trans- 
verse section of the stem. F, indusium. G, theca and spore. H, young plant. 
Sori linear at first, afterwards oblong ; indusium linear, attached to a trans- 
verse vein, and opening on the opposite part of the sorus towards the central 
nerve of the pinna. This is a well-marked and extensive genus, of which Sprengel 
enumerates no less than 151 species ; of these ten only are British, which, are very 
little or not at all altered by culture, they are therefore less liable to run into 
varieties than some other genera. It is only when the sori are in a young state 
that many sj>ecies can be knotvn to belong to this genus, as the indusiums are so 
delicate that they are soon lost among the sori, which in many of the smaller 
species at last appear like round or oblong spots. 
