November 20. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 121 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
NOVEMBER 20—26, 1355. 
Weather near Lon 
Barometer. Thermo. 
DON IN 
Wind. 
1853. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S, 
Motn’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day cf 
Year. 
20 
Tu 
} - - 
Sun’s declination, 19° 39's. 
29.876— 29.175 
44—26 
s.w. 
17 
28 a 7 
3 a 4 
2 47 
11 
14 
16 
. 
324 
21 
w 
Princess Royal born 1840. 
28.975—28.924 
, 43—26 
w. 
30 
2 
4 12 
12 
14 
2 
325 
22 
Th 
Fieldfare arrives. 
29 . 061 — 29.057 
41 — 19 
N.E. 
32 
1 
5 37 
13 
13 
46 
326 
23 
F 
Redwing arrives. 
29.266 — 29.180 
42—30 
N.E. 
— 
33 
0 
risCvi. 
© 
13 
30 
327 
24 
s 
Grey Wagtail arrives. 
29 .487— 29.130 
. 40—26 
N, 
— 
35 
in 
4 a 5 
15 
13 
13 
328 
25 
Sun 
25 Sunday after Trinity. 
■29.942— 29.302 
39-28 
N.E. 
— 
36 
58 
4 47 
16 
12 
55 
329 
26 
M 
Larch leafless. 
29 982—29-797 
1 34--29 
S.W. 
— 
38 
57 
5 40 
17 
12 
37 
330 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest tern- I 
peratures of these days are 47-6^, and 32.1°, respectively. The greatest heat, 59°, occurred on the 20th, in IS44; and the lowest cold, 21°, 
on the 21st, in :S33. During the period 98 days were fine, and on 98 rain fell. 
ASPLE'NIUM VURIDE. 
This is called, in. English, the Green Sjileenivort, Green- 
ribhed Spleenxvort, and Green Mciidenhctir Spleenivort, 
and, indeed, it is its greenness, lighter and brighter in 
the leafits, and entirely so in the stalk, which chiefly 
distinguishes it from Asplenium tricliomanes. 
The main root is dark chesnut coloured, and some¬ 
what more carrot-shaped than that of A. trichomanes; 
the fibrous roots are also less numerous than in that 
species. The top of the root is tufted, and from the 
tuft arise the fronds. Of these the stalks are rather 
more upright, and more free from leafits at the bottom 
than in A. trichomanes; this bottom part is dark 
chesnut-coloured, but the whole of the upper part is 
green, and this is the chief permanent character dis¬ 
tinguishing it from A. trichoxnanes, The stalk is smooth, 
the lower third without leafits, and the whole varying 
between about three and ten inches in height. The 
greater stature being found in specimens growing in 
moist, sheltered situations. The end of the frond is 
sometimes divided into two or three branches. The 
leafits vary much in form, being mostly rhomboidal, but 
sometimes egg-shaped, and at others spear-head shaped, 
usually tapering towards their stalk, which is very short 
and slender, not always alternate, and not so close 
together, nor blunt-ended, as in A. trichomanes, but 
their upper edges are much more scolloped than in that 
species. The mid-vein produces side-veins, usually 
alternate, which are mostly, but not always, forked, and 
their ends rarely extend to the edge of the leafit. The 
frmt'ijicalion is from two to six masses on each leafit, 
more yellowish-brown than in A. trichomanes, and more 
in the middle of the leafit than in that species, and 
though they finally usually run together and cover the 
back of the leafit, yet they never reach its edge, but leave 
a regular border of the leafit round the ripe fructifica¬ 
tion. At first the fructification is covered with a narrow 
membrane; but this is thrown off as the seeds (spores) 
ripen, which occurs about the end of August. 
The frond branching at the end is not permanent 
even in the same plant, yet some botanists have 
distinguished it as a variety. It is the Asplenium 
trichomanes ramosum of Linnieus, and the Trichomanes 
ramosus of Bauhin and some others. 
It will be seen from the above description that the 
species very closely resembles A. trichomanes, though^ 
as observed by Mr. Francis, it is immediately dis¬ 
tinguished from it by the lighter colour of all its parts, 
and especially the greenness of the stalk, its less- 
spreading fructification, differently shaped and more 
alternate leafits, which leafits on the lower part of the 
frond are generally wide apart, whilst tlie leafits near 
its top are more crowded, and the whole plant is much 
more delicate and graceful. — (Analpsis of British 
Ferns. 52.) 
It is found on moist rocks and old walls in some of 
our mountain districts. In England, not further south 
than Derbyshire; but it has been gathered in Northum¬ 
berland; between Widdy Bank and Caldron Snout in 
Durham; on Muzebeck Scars in Westmorland; at 
Gordale, Ais-la-beck, Richmond, Settle, near Halifax, and 
at Black Bank, near Leeds, in Yorkshire. In Wales, 
onCader Idris, Crib y Ddeseil, Clogivyn, and Snowdon. 
In Scotland, in Ross shire, in Cawdor Woods, near 
Nairn, at the foot of Benmore, Sutherlandshire, and all 
over the Highlands In Ireland, on Turk Mountain, 
Killarney; Ben Bulben, Sligo ; and near Lough Eske on 
the Donegal Mountains. The branched sub-variety was 
No. CCCLXXIir. VoL. XV. 
