THE COMMON HARD FERN. 
Blechnum Spicant* — Roth. 
Blechnum (a Latinized form of the Greek Blechnon) 
is only a Fern — any kind; but Spicant, erect and 
spike-like, as an ear of corn, well expresses the peculiar 
appearance of this plant, with its erect fertile frond 
standing above the less erected barren fronds around 
it. The Hard Fern, too, is a no less expressive title, 
for the plant is hard, rigid and hardy too. It is one 
of the few English Ferns producing distinct-looking 
kinds of fronds —fertile and barren. The barren grow 
in tufts, very gracefully and droopingly disposed, from 
six to twelve inches high ; and in the centre of them, 
always higher, and sometimes twice their height, rises 
the hard upright fertile frond. The barren fronds are 
attached to the caudex by a very short scaly stipes, 
the stipes of the fertile frond also scaly : the scales 
long-pointed and sparse, extend half the length of the 
whole frond, and of a dark brown. Both kinds are 
narrow lanceolate, the barren being only deeply pin- 
natifid, while the fertile are pinnate ; the segments in 
both are long and narrow, like the teeth of a comb. 
* Osmunda Spicant (Linnaeus), Asplenium Spicant, Lomaria 
Spicant, Blechnum boreale, &c. 
