THE BOOK OF 
3S 
THE ASPLENIUMS (SPLEENWORTS). 
OUR British Spleenworts embrace no less than ten species, 
including Ceterach officinarum, which undoubtedly belongs to 
the family ; hence no other genus is so well represented. For 
the purposes of this list, however, the majority of these species 
are valueless, the varieties being unimportant. We may, 
therefore, dismiss at once Asplenium ruta-muraria (page 39), 
A. germanicum, A. fontanum, A. viride, A. septentrionale, and 
A. lanceolatum with the remark that as denizens of old walls 
in exposed positions, or, in the case of A. viride, of sheltered 
nooks, in rocks (limestone for preference), by stream sides, or 
jn \he mountain tops, their culture is not of the easiest. In 
pans, however, practically filled with drainage material mixed 
with leaf-mould and limestone rubble, and placed near the 
glass, we have seen good specimens established, but we our- 
selves have succeeded best by excavating a hole about a foot 
deep and a yard in diameter in a Fern-bed facing the north, 
making a station of limy, rubbiy material on the bottom of it, 
facing it all round with rough pieces of limestone, in the 
chinks of which the plants were inserted. A large bell-glass 
supported by stones covered the whole in such a way that air 
had free access beneath it. This fairly representing natural 
conditions, the bell-glass protecting the plants from soot and 
dust of a London garden, the Spleenworts throve and flourished. 
A shallow, glazed frame on the same principle would serve for 
a larger number, or such stations could be multiplied. The 
greatest danger with the family seems to be the deposition of 
moisture on the fronds for any length of time, as they are 
then very apt to rot and go wrong. A. ruta-muraria figures 
in Mr. Lowe’s book for sixteen varieties, but none of them rank 
as choice things. A. viride has yielded twelve, to which 
may be added a charming dwarf imbricatum found by the 
Rev. Mr. Maclean, Aberfeldy, and sent to the writer years 
ago, but long since defunct. The varieties, however, like the 
normal form, are extremely difficult to establish, and we are 
not sufficiently sure of the existence of any to be able to add 
them to our list. A. septentrionale and A. germanicum have 
done nothing. A. fontanum is in itself a little beauty; the only 
variety worth notice is refractum, a curiously lengthened edition 
with bulbils on base of fronds. A. lanceolatum has yielded the 
curious A. 1. microdon, a barren form, considered by some to 
be a hybrid with A. marinum, large, confluent pinnae. A 
beautifully crested form was found abroad by Mr, Boyd, but 
