66 
BRITISH FERNS. 
IMi 
COMMON WALL SPLEENWORT, OR 
MAIDEN HAIR SPLEENWORT. 
ASPLENIUM TRICHOMA NES, 
Linnaeus, Smith, Newman, Moore, and Babington. 
(Plate IX. Fig. 3 .) 
It is a pretty little tufted fern, generally from two to 
six inches high. It has a slender hair-like black 
stalk, and regularly disposed-of ovate pinnae forming 
the fronds. They are of a deep green colour, slightly 
crenated at the margin. The pinnae are attached to 
the rachis by a very short stalk, forming the attenua¬ 
tion of a wedge-shaped base. When old, the pinna 
fall off, leaving the black glossy hair-like stalks naked, 
mingling with the green fronds. 
Both this pretty little fern and its variety A sele¬ 
nium viride are abundant on shaded rocks, in old 
walls and buildings throughout Great Britain, Europe, 
Central and Russian Asia (except the extreme north), 
in North and South America, and in Australia. In 
the west of England, and especially in Wales, it is a 
common fern. In the valley of the Wye it grows in 
profusion, covering whole masses of ground, and pre¬ 
senting a lovely appearance. In Germany there is a 
legend attached to a well near which this fern grows 
most luxuriantly. A lady keeping tryst with hei 
lover, he was suddenly, by some evil spell, changed 
into a wolf. In her terror, she fled before him, and 
