Plate 26 . 
ASPLENIUM septentrionale, Hoffm. 
Forked Spleenwort. 
Gen . Char. Asplenium, Linn. Sori dorsal, linear or oblong, rarely 
curved or somewhat horse-shoe-shaped, attached to a vein and opening 
on one side towards the disk (rarely almost obsolete).—Ferns of very 
varied habit and aspect, chiefly inhabiting tropical and temperate climates. 
Caudex short and erect, or more or less creeping. Venation extremely va¬ 
riable, free or anastomosing; of the latter we only possess (me species in 
Aspl. Ceterach (Ceterach ojflcinarum, auct.) and in this the involucre is so 
small and indistinct as to have escaped the notice of many authors. 
N.B. In this genus we include, besides many exotic genera, Athyrium of 
Presl, Acropteris of Link, and the Ceterach of Willdenow. 
Asplenium septentrionale, Holfm.; small; caudex short, thick, scarcely scaly, 
copiously rooting, with branched fibres ; stipites numerous, tufted, three to 
six inches high, erect, flexuose, green, brown at the base; fronds one to 
two inches long, coriaceous, glabrous, once or twice forked, rarely simple ; 
pinnae or segments three-quarters to two inches long, petiolate, erect, linear 
or linear-lanceolate, often very acute or acuminate, subunguiculate, nearly 
entire or subpinnatifid with sharp, erect, subulate teeth or segments; veins 
forked, parallel (no distinct costa); sori very long, linear, placed near to, 
and parallel with, the margin, solitary, or from two to four upon a pinna, 
entire at the margin. 
Asplenium septentrionale. Hoffm. Deutschl. FI. v. 2 .p. 12. Hull, Brit. Flora, 
p . 241. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 75. Schk. Fil. p. 62. t. 65. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 5. 
p. 307. Pr. Tent. Pterid. p. 106. t. 3./. 8. Fngl. Bot. t. 1017. 8m. 
Fhgl. FI. v. 4. p. 308. Hook. FI. Lond. N. S. v. 5. t. 162. Hook, and Am. 
Brit. FI. ed. 8. p. 588. Moore , Brit. Ferns, Nat. Print, t. 41 C. Hook. 
Sp. Fil. v. 3 . p. 174. Metten. Asplen. p. 141. 
Acrostichum septentrionale. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1524. Bolt. Brit. Ferns, p. 12. 
t. 8. 
Acropteris septentrionalis. Link, Hort. Ber. v. 2 . p. 56. Fee, Gen. Fil.p. 77. 
t. 6 A.f. 1. 
Anesium septentrionale. Newm. Brit. Ferns, ed. 3. p. 265. 
Hah. Clefts of rocks and walls in the mountain districts : on the borders of 
Devon and Somerset; Ingleborough, Yorkshire ; Kyloe Crags, Northumber¬ 
land ; Ambleside, Westmoreland ; in various parts of Cumberland, and in 
Caernarvonshire. In Scotland, near Kelso, on Minto Crags, Koxburglishire; 
Arthur’s Seat and Blackford Hill, near Edinburgh; Stenton Kock, near 
Dunkeld; Pass of Ballater, Aberdeenshire {Dr. Patterson, 1855). Not 
known as a native of Ireland. 
Widely as this plant is dispersed throughout England, it seems 
