42 . 
THE SEA SPLEEN WORT. 
As plenium marinum. 
Plate 6, Fig. 8, Page 235. 
The Spleenwort of tlie sea, as its botanical name designates 
it, must, to be adequately appreciated, be seen growing at the 
entrance of a dripping sea cave in all the freshness of 
glistening purple stem, and in the rich, dark, shining green 
of its leafy pinnules. The mysterious influence of the sea 
appears to be essential to the vigorous out-of-door life of this 
very handsome Fern. It is very rarely indeed that it is 
found growing at any great distance from the coast, and even 
when by some curious accident plants have been reared on 
some rock away from the sea air, they have never been found 
in the perfect state of development that the sea-grown 
specimens attain to. There are no recorded instances of the 
successful cultivation of this Fern in the open air away from 
the sea. But it is a curious fact that under a covering of 
glass, at even a great distance from the sea coast, it appears 
to forget that it is no longer in proximity to marine in- 
fluences ; for in such circumstances it will attain — if heat be 
added to the moisture of its surroundings — its finest 
proportions. It may often be found upon the rocks of a 
little river many miles from the sea ; but not beyond either 
the influence of the tidal influx or of the sea air. It is, how- 
ever, as we have seen, only upon the wave-beaten coast that it 
grows in full perfection. It grows not only in the earthy inter- 
stices of the rock, but upon the solid rocky substance, and often- 
