BLECHNUM. 
179 
and sub-alpine pastures in tbe north-west of England and 
Scotland. It grows like a luxuriant tuft of parsley, its 
triangular fronds resembling the compound leaves of 
that plant. It is unknown in the middle and south of 
England, and avoids limestone districts as carefully as 
the Rigid Buckler-fern selects them. 
A compost of loam, peat, and brick rubbish must be 
prepared for it in the greenhouse or fernery, and a well- 
drained situation chosen ; it is shy of growing in culti- 
vation, but where the drainage is well attended to it 
may be preserved for a considerable time. 
The Parsley-fern is found throughout the middle and 
north of Europe, in Asia Minor, Northern India, North 
America, and British Columbia. 
BLECHNUM. 
40. Blechimm fooreale* Sw. Northern Hard^fera* 
Caudex thick, erect, Fronds of two kinds, numerous, narrow- 
lanceolate. Sori long, narrow, parallel with the mid-vein. Xm 
volucres long, narrow. 
Name derived from the word hlechnon, Greek for fern. 
The Northern Hard-fern has black wiry roots, a hairy 
caudex, very short stems, coloured purplish -black and 
polished, and narrow fronds of two kinds. The barren 
fronds are lanceolate in form, tapering to the apex and 
the base; they are pinnate; the leaflets narrow, oblong, 
sessile, and plain at the margin. The fertile fronds 
grow to a greater length, the leaflets are more distant, 
becoming very far apart, and so small as to be merely 
rudimentary as they approach the base ; sori abundant, 
covering the entire back of the leaflet when ripe. 
The growth of this fern is very peculiar. The barren 
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