2 6 
BRITISH FERNS . 
This beautiful little fern is evidently a wanderer 
from warmer climates, and is only very locally distri¬ 
buted in Great Britain. Cornwall, Devonshire, and 
the western and southern parts of Ireland are its chief 
resorts. It is found only in moist caves, or the fissures 
of rocks, most frequently near the sea-coast, where 
the water trickles over its roots, or where it is ex¬ 
posed to the sea spray. It is found in abundance at 
Ilfracombe, and in many places on the south coast of 
Devonshire. Mr. Henry Newman, in a letter, de¬ 
scribes his discovery of this shade-loving beauty, in 
its retreat in Wales, growing out of a rock encrusted 
with a soft deposit of carbonate of lime left by a 
trickling stream and looking very much like cream 
cheese. The spot is very near the lodge gate of the 
Dunraven estate. 
There are three varieties of this fern, so distinct as 
to be considered as species by some writers. The first 
is a stronger, coarser, more robust plant than the 
others, with thicker stalks and larger fronds; the 
stipes has also a peculiar purple bloom. The second 
is the true normal form, our present species, the Adi- 
antum Capillus Veneris of Linnaeus. The third is a 
looser, less compact variety, with the stalks of the 
pinnules set on at acute angles, and the pinnules more 
deeply divided. It is not so common as the othei 
forms. 
From the earliest times the fronds of this fern have 
had a reputation as a remedy in pulmonary diseases, 
