ASPLENIUM. 
155 
Mr. Backhouse gives a most interesting account of 
his finding this fern among the Breadalbane mountains, 
in the e Phytologist ’ of 1861. He met with it in pro- 
fusion on Ben Lawers, occupying the moist ledges of a 
crag where access was very difficult. The fronds were 
short and destitute of sori ; they were sparely scattered 
over a distance of from fifty to a hundred feet. On 
a cliff overlooking Glen Lyon it was growing in 
great profusion, covering the mossy ledges for nearly a 
quarter of a mile, and exhibiting thousands of fronds. 
The largest specimens were twelve inches high, some 
were as much at six inches broad, and many 6f them were 
in fine fructification. 
The dainty little fern was mingling with the minia- 
ture willows, Salix reticulata and herbacea, and must 
have looked quite important among such pigmy shrubs. 
The range of altitude was apparently from 300 to 400 
feet. 
The foreign homes are Lapland, Norway, Kamtchatka, 
and the Rocky Mountains. 
ASPLEHIUM. 
Gen. Char. Sori narrow or oblong, occasionally curved, 
fastened to a vein, and opening along the inner side. Caudex 
short, erect or creeping. Veins variable, branched, and some- 
times interlacing. 
26 . Asplenmm septentrional©, Hoffin. Forked 
Spleenwort. 
Caudex short, thick. Roots numerous, fibrous, branching. 
Stems abundant, upright, tufted, two-thirds the length of the 
frond. Fronds tough, shiny, forked ; segments erect, narrow. 
Sori long, narrow. 
