ASPLENIUM. 
163 
only do the young plants throw out their fronds in that 
manner, but in a healthy clus- 
ter you generally see a large 
proportion of the fronds more 
inclined to the horizontal than 
the perpendicular. It is a 
smaller fern than the last spe- 
cies, and though it frequently 
inhabits the same district you 
find it at the foot of the rocks, 
luxuriating in the spray of 
the waterfall or the moisture 
filtering through the loose 
earth, and having no ambition 
to mount to the precipitous 
rock which is all starred with 
young colonies of Trichomanes . It retains its greenness 
through winter ; its height is from 8 to 10 inches. 
The Green Spleenwort is found growing freely in most 
rocky subalpine districts of Great Britain, where there 
is a sufficient supply of water for its necessities- It is 
equally frequent on the Continent, in North America, 
and the North of India. 
Always a welcome inhabitant of the fernery, it is easy 
to accommodate there if supplied with sand and peat, 
and kept moist and well shaded. 
81 . Asplenium marinum, Linn. Sea Spleenwort. 
Caudex short, thick, woody, crowned with long dense, purple, 
awl-shaped scales. Stems tufted. Fronds oblong, pinnate. 
Leaflets oblong, blunt, broad at the base, lobed or serrated. 
Veins forked. Sori large, oblique. 
The roots of this fern are black and wiry, penetrating 
m 2 
