162 
BRITISH FERNS. 
sidered to promote decay in old buildings by pushing 
its roots into the crevices. 
This fern is common all over Europe, and is also 
found in South Africa, New South Wales, Persia, and 
the East Indies, North America, Mexico, New Granada, 
the Sandwich and the West Indian Islands. 
It is easy to establish it on the fernery when once 
firmly planted in the usual compost, and no fern affords 
a more agreeable contrast, its purple stem setting off the 
tint of its leaflets, and its neat, compact cluster containing 
numerous fronds in every variety of graceful curve. 
There is a beautiful variety, with larger pinnae, deeply 
cut and serrated, called Asplenium Trichomanes , var. m- 
cisum . It is extremely rare. 
30. Asplenium viride, Huds. Green Spleenwort* 
Caudex short, creeping, scaly. Roots numerous, interlacing. 
Stems clustering, slender. Eronds narrow, pinnate. Leaflets 
oval, stalked, blunt, notched. Sori oblique, nearer the mid-vein 
than the margin, regular, at length confluent. Involucres soon 
perishing. 
This beautiful little fern is abundantly supplied with 
black fibrous roots, not wiry, as in the last species, but 
tender ; the caudex is small, blackish, and scaly, and 
puts up abundance of fronds. The stems are rust- 
coloured at the base and light green above, glossy 
throughout, they occupy about a quarter of the length 
of the frond. The fronds are narrow and pinnate; the 
leaflets oval, stalked, light green, and glossy ; they are 
covered underneath with oval sori placed in an oblique 
direction and regular order. 
The Green Spleenwort affects the horizontal style of 
growth more than the Maiden-hair Spleenwort. Not 
