55 
Genus 2. 
Spleen-worts, Asplenia. The cover is linear, in a straight 
line. It is attached, not at a point, but through its whole 
length. It opens toward the mid-vein, and is not parallel 
to the sides of the leaflets. These covers are best observed 
when the plant is young ; otherwise their peculiar character 
is lost, and they then form round spots on the back of the 
frond. The mid-vein is generally distinct. 
Plate II, fig. 12. 
“ In nature’s all instructive book, 
Where can the eye of reason look, 
And not some gainful lesson find. 
To guide and fortify the mind ? ” 
1. Maiden-hair Spleenwort. Asplenium Trichomanes. 
This species is of frequent occurrence throughout Great 
Britain and Ireland, and grows on rocks, walls, churches, 
ruins, bridges, and hedge-rows. It is very abundant in this 
district. Though this is not a very aspiring plant, nor rears 
its head with crested pride, still, in many of our hedge-banks, 
where it is thickly matted together, or among the rocks and 
walls, where it more humbly creeps, it claims the admiration 
of the lover of nature’s productions. It appears much less 
frequently in the East, than in the West of England. It 
is not only an European plant, but it is even found in the 
far distant regions of Japan, and crossing the Atlantic, 
shows itself in Canada, and the United States of JSTorth 
America. The plant is from three to ten inches high, rising 
from a black fibrous root. The stalk is dark brown, or black, 
and brightly polished. The frond is linear, and simply pin- 
nate. The rachis, at first green, afterwards assumes the 
sombre hue of the stalk. The leaflets are roundish, egg- 
shaped, blunt at the top, and notched at their margins. The 
upper surface is dark, dull green, while the under is of a 
much paler colour. There is scarcely any stalk to the little 
leaves. Though at first the clusters are quite distinct while 
