Blech num Bore ale, Swartz. 
Blechnum Spicant, Moore Newman. 
NORTHERN HARD FERN. 
Root — Radicles long, tough, and numerous ; caudex thick 
and tufted. 
Frond — Usually in two forms, barren and fertile. Fertile 
fronds : numerous, erect, linear-lanceolate, pinnate, acute at 
the apex ; the lower pinnae reaching nearly to the caudex. 
Barren fronds : pendant, lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid. 
Stipes — Short, dark brown or purple, smooth. 
Pinnae — Fertile : linear-lanceolate, opposite or alternate, 
pointed at the apex. Barren : lanceolate, pointed at the 
apex ; alternate, short and broad towards the base. 
Venation — Barren frond ; bifurcate, lateral veins not 
extending to the margin. Fertile frond : the same as the 
barren, with the addition of veins running parallel with 
and on each side of the costa, crossing the forked veins 
near the base of the fork. 
Fructification — Capsules attached to the veins which 
run parallel with the costse, at first covered with a linear 
membranous involucre ; after the bursting of which the 
spores become of a dark brown colour; completely covering 
the pinnse. A frond gathered near Matlock has the lower 
half barren and the upper fertile ; the rachis of the barren 
portion of this frond is of a light brown, and of the fertile 
portion dark purple. 
Habitat — Common on the sandstone, in woods and damp 
places, and on moorlands. In very wet shaded spots, the 
fronds become all fertile. 
