ASPLENIUM. 
165 
the plants grown there attain a larger size. It is very 
abundant and luxuriant in the Channel Islands. 
It inhabits the coast of France, Spain, the Canary 
Islands, Tangiers, and the western islands of the Medi- 
terranean, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British North 
America, South Brazil, and St. Vincent's Island. 
This fern is extremely difficult to cultivate. When 
planted in the open fernery it seldom survives many 
months. The only reasonable chance for preserving it 
in health and beauty is to place it in the shadiest corner 
of the greenhouse. Mr. Johnson recommends a well- 
drained pot filled with a compost of peat, sand, and 
broken brick ; the fern should be watered freely, he says, 
and half an ounce of common salt should be mixed with 
a gallon of water— this should be poured at the root, 
never over the fronds. 
32. Asplenium Iane@©latum ? Huds. Lanceolate 
Spleenwort. 
Candex short, thick, woody, scaly. Stems tufted. Fronds 
broadly lanceolate, scaly beneath, bipinnate. Pinnae lanceo- 
late, nearly sessile. Leaflets crowded, serrated. Veins forked. 
Sori extending nearly to the margin, large, and confluent. In- 
volucres small, whitish. 
The Lanceolate Spleenwort has long slender black 
roots, which penetrate the crevices of rocks and the 
loosened mortar of walls to a great depth ; the caudex 
is brown, densely covered with long brown silky scales ; 
the stems are tufted, chestnut at the base, and green 
above, slightly scaly. The fronds vary from 4 to 6 
inches in height in a wild state, but they become much 
more luxuriant in a greenhouse ; in vigorous plants they 
are erect ; they appear in May, attain maturity in An- 
