48 
FERNS. 
[Asplenium. 
does not constitute a variety, more especially as not more than two or three 
branched fronds are found upon a plant, all the rest being of the common 
character and appearance. 
Sit. — On rocks, not farther south than Yorkshire, or perhaps Derbyshire. — 
Eng. : On rocks in Northumberland, Mr. Winch. Mazebeck Scars, Westmorl., 
and jGordale, Yorkshire, Mr. R. Bowman. Near Halifax, Yorkshire, Mr. R. 
Leylands. Near Ais-la-Beek, and Richmond, Yorks., Mr. J. Ward. Settle, 
Mr. Chorley. — Wai,. : Cader Idris, Mr. J. E. Bowman. Snowdon, Mr. C. C. 
Babington. Twll. Du, Caern., Mr. T. H. Cooper. Not uncommon on the 
Welch mountains, Mr. W. Wilson. — Sco. : Rosshire, Rev. G. Gordon. Cawder 
Woods, Nairns, Mr. W. Staples. Base of Benmore, Sutherlandsli., Dr. John- 
ston. Far too common in the Highlands to need the specifying of stations, 
Mr. H. C. Watson. — Ire. : Turk Mountain, Killarney, Ben Baulben, county 
of Sligo ; and on the Donegal Mountains, near Lough Eske, Mr. Mackay. 
Geo. — Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France ; very rare, except on the 
mountains of Tyrol and Carinthia. . , / , ,. . , . 
7.— ASPLENIUM FONTANUM. 
SMOOTH ROCK SPLEENWORT. 
(Plate 5, fig. 1.) 
Cha. — Frond bipinnate. Pinnae oblong, blunt, alternate. Pin- 
nules wedge-sbaped, cleft, and toothed. Rachis winged. 
Syn. — Asplenium fontanum, Hook., Smith, Bemh. — Aspidium fontanum, 
Willd., Swz., ( not of Schkr.) — Polypodium fontanum, Linn., Huds., 
Bolt., With. — Atbyrium fontanum, Gray. 
Fig. — E. B. 2024. — Lob. Ic. 810, 1. — Bolt. 21, (bad.) — Newm., page 4. 
Des. — R oot tufted, long, black. Frond lanceolate, bipinnate, 
evergreen, 2 to 6 inches high. Rachis winged throughout. Pinnae 
alternate, ovate, oblong, those in the middle of the frond from a 
quarter to half an inch long, formed of six or eight pinnules placed 
alternately. Pinnules short, broadly wedge-shaped, petioled, so 
very deeply cleft at the sides and toothed at the apex as to become 
nearly pinnate. Seldom more than two sori upon each pinnule, 
which soon extend over the whole surface of it. 
Our present species most resembles Asplenium lanceolatum, the shape of the 
frond being nearly the same. The fontanum, however, is much more delicate, 
and smaller in all its parts, of a very dark green color, its pinnules not half the 
size, and of a very different shape to those of the lanceolatum, besides which 
its winged rachis is of itself a sufficient diagnostic. It is very much more 
difficult to distinguish it from Asplenium Halleri, a species that ig very rare on 
' the Continent, and for which our fontanum is very generally sold. 
Hah. — Supposed to be now extinct in England ; it was once found on Amcr- 
sham Church, in Buckinghamshire, and at Wybourn, in Westmoreland. I have 
been informed that living plants were found at a waterfall in either Northumberland 
or Westmoreland, 14 or 16 years ago, and also that it once grew on Alnwick 
Castle ; but if so, it is no longer found there. 
Geo.— Saxony, Switzerland, South Europe, and Si’ aia. 
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