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BRITISH FERNS . 
HARD FERN. 
BLECHNUM STIC ANT ,, 
Bentham, Roth, Whithering, and Moore. 
(Plate IX. Fig. 4 .) 
SYNONYMS. 
Ekchnum boreale, Swartz, Smith, Lomaria spicant, Desveux. 
Babington, and Hooker. Osmunda spicant , Linnaeus. 
This hardy fern has simply pinnate fronds, tufted, 
of two kinds—fertile and barren. The fertile fronds 
are in the centre of the tuft, erect, from a foot to a 
foot and a half high, with narrow acute segments. 
The lower half of the stem is dark purple, smooth, 
shining, and naked ; the under surface of the pinnae 
densely and completely covered with seed. The 
barren fronds are deeply pinnatifid, from one and a 
half to two-thirds as high as the fertile fronds ; they 
assume a spreading or horizontal position, and are 
attached to the caudex by a very short scaly stipet. 
The fertile fronds arrive at perfection in September, 
and shed their seed and disappear before winter; 
but the fertile ones remain green throughout the 
year. 
It is by no means a rare fern, and delights in moist 
boggy land. It is also found on stony heaths and 
woods throughout England; indeed, scarcely any 
lover of wild flowers can fail to have observed it in 
the hedges among the ferns and grasses of summer. 
By old writers the plant was called Rough Spleen- 
