Plate 31. 
ASFLENITJM maeinum, Linn. 
Sea Spleenwort . 
Asplenium marinum; caudex short, thick, woody, crowned with long, dense, 
glossy, purple-brown, subulate scales; stipites tufted, and as well as the 
greater part of the rachis ebeneous-brown ; fronds three inches to a span 
and more in length, oblong or broad-lanceolate, coriaceo-membranaceous, 
pinnate; pinnae one to two inches long, oblong or lanceolate, subrhomboid, 
obtuse, sinuato-lobate or serrate, the obliquely cuneate base entire; in¬ 
oblong, often confluent; involucres subcoriaceous; veins obscure, forked; 
inferior base slightly excised, the superior base truncate or subauriculate; 
uppermost pinnae decurrent, the extreme lobe pinnatifid; sori large, oblique 
rachis winged, green above. 
Asplenium marinum. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1540. Sw. Syn. Fil. p. 79. Schk. Til. 
t. 68. Willd'. Sp. PI. v. 5. p. 318. Engl . Pot. t. 392. 8m. Engl. FI. v. 
4. p. 307. Hook. and Am. Brit. FI. ed. 8. p. 589. Metten. Fil. Hort. 
Lips. p. 73. Asplen. p. 135. Moore, Fil. Brit. Nat. Pi'int. t. 38. Bolt. 
Fil. Brit. p. 26. t. 15. HooJc. FI. Bond. t. 60. 
Asplenium trapeziforme. Hnds. Angl. p. 385. 
Hab. Clefts and caves of the rocky coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, from 
the extreme south to the Orkneys ; far more general on the west than on 
the east coasts, and in Ireland. Barely seen inland. 
This seems almost peculiarly a maritime species, growing even 
on old walls, if but within the influence of the sea, as on the 
ruins of Icolmkill, where, in the dry and exposed parts espe¬ 
cially, it penetrates with its fibrous roots so deep into the crevices 
of the buildings that it is difficult to remove a tuft of the fronds 
without leaving the caudex or rhizome in the wall. In Lanca¬ 
shire and Berwickshire it is recorded by Mr. Hewett Watson, to 
be found some miles inland. On the continent, however, of 
Europe, it nowhere appears in Germany or Scandinavia, but it ex¬ 
tends along the coasts of France and Spain to the Canary Isles; 
also in Tangiers and in the western islands of the Mediterranean. 
I possess specimens from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, in 
British North America, and from Rio Grande do Sul, in South 
Brazil, and a solitary specimen from St. Vincent, in the West 
Indies (sent by the Rev. Lansdown Guilding). Some of our spe¬ 
cimens from Madeira have the fronds a foot long, independent 
of the stipites. Though variable in size, and even in the form of 
