64 
BRITISH FERNS. 
SCALY SPLEENWORT, OR CETERACH 
A SELENIUM CETERACH, 
Willdenow, Bentham, Hooker. 
(Plate IX. Fig. 2.) 
SYNONYMS. 
Scolopendrium Ceterach, Smith. Asplenium Ceterach , Linnoeus. 
Graminitis Ceterach ,, Swartz and Ceterach officinarum, Babington. 
Hooker. 
This is a downy evergreen pretty - looking fern, 
growing in tufts. The fronds are thick and fleshy, 
green, and glabrous on the upper side, but underneath 
thickly covered with brown scales, which completely 
conceal the sori. The green of the upper surface 
contrasts prettily with the rust-coloured brown edge 
formed round the margin by the scales underneath. 
The outline is long and narrow, very deeply divided 
into rounded lobes standing in an oblique position 
towards the mid-rib. 
The short tough roots of this fern insinuate them- 
selves into the crevices of old walls and ruins, in 
rocky places, and especially in limestone districts in 
England and Ireland. It is rare in Scotland, but is 
found in middle and southern Europe and in Africa. 
On the old walls of churches and ruins this pretty 
fern seems to be quite at home, and is often found in 
company with the Wall Rue. It is to be seen on the 
walls of Jerusalem. Its medicinal properties were at 
one time thought to be of great value, but it has 
fallen into disuse with the progress of knowledge, and 
