264 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
The Black Maidenhair Spleenwort is widely 
distributed over the United Kingdom. It occurs 
plentifully on walls, old ruins, and river bridges, 
growing, like the Wall-rue, in the interstices 
between the stones. It also grows on old stony 
hedge-banks, and it is in such situations, when 
favoured by a rich soil of leaf-mould which may 
have collected in the crevices formed by the 
loosely arranged stones, and when sheltered by 
overhanging bushes, that it attains its most luxu- 
riant growth. We have often found it growing on 
the soft soil of the hedge-bank. But as it is an 
essentially rock-loving fern, it loves best to grow 
on such hedge-banks as are built up of stone. 
When in these hedge-banks the stones become 
loose from age, it is generally the case that the 
falling leaves from bushes and trees annually store 
up deposits of leaf-mould in the interstices ; and 
these are the chosen habitats of our Black Maiden- 
hair Spleenwort. 
It is a beautiful fern for the rockery, but must 
be planted in a shady, sheltered corner amongst 
stones, in a soil composed of rich sandy loam and 
