BLECHNUM. 
163 
often used in this country. The specific name Spicant 
has, indeed, been used to distinguish this plant by nearly 
all the older botanists, though they may have held con¬ 
flicting views as to its genus, referring it, for example, 
among others, to Osmunda, to Onoclea, to Acrostichum, 
and to Asplenium. 
Blechnum Spicant, Both. 
The Common Hard Fern. (Plate XVI. fig. 2.) 
The common name of this species is very appropriate, 
from the rigid harshness of its texture. It is one of the few 
native kinds which produce two distinct-looking kinds 
of frond—fertile and barren. The fertile ones have their 
pinnae much narrowed, or contracted, as it is called, while 
the fronds themselves are considerably taller than the 
barren ones. These fronds grow in large tufts, and being 
very gracefully disposed, the plant becomes one of the most 
ornamental of our wild species during the summer season, 
when its fronds are in a fresh state. Both kinds of fronds 
are of a narrow lanceolate form ; the barren ones being only 
deeply pinnatifid, while the fertile ones are pinnate; but the 
segments in both are long and narrow, like the teeth of a 
comb. The barren fronds, which are from one-half to two- 
m 2 
