40 . 
THE GREEN SPLEENWORT. 
Asplemum viride. 
Plate 12, Fig. 1, Page 369. 
Both the specific common name and the specific botanical 
name of this very beautiful Fern have been given to it in 
order more especially to distinguish it from the Common 
Maidenhair Spleenwort — Asplenium trichomanes — which in 
its general appearance it very closely resembles. In the 
latter both the stipes and the rachis of the frond are purple- 
coloured. In Viride the greater part of the stipes and the 
whole of the rachis are green throughout. The habitats of 
the two Ferns are also somewhat different. Trichomaues 
is much the more plentiful of the two, and mostly selects a 
drier position on wall or rock, occurring abundantly in the 
vicinity of towns. Viride is shy of the town, being more 
fond of the wild moorland. It delights to grow in the shady 
fissures of rocks, and loves trickling water for its rootstock. 
Description* — The fronds of Asplenium v iride are supported 
on stipides of variable length, but mostly rather short. 
At its base the stipes is somewhat purple coloured ; but the 
greater portion of it is a vivid green, and the same uniform 
shade of green is the colour of the rachis. The length of 
the frond varies from two or three to ten inches. In form 
it is narrow and tapering, drawn out to a point at its 
apex, usually broadest in the centre, where, however, it is 
seldom as much as half an inch across, and tapering slightly 
z 2 
