THE SPLEENWORTS. 
425 
8 . 
THE COMMON MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT. 
Asplenium trichomanes. 
Plate 7, Fig. 8. 
Fern and the Green Spleen wort are 
very nearly related indeed; the great 
distinction being that Viride , as its 
name seems to imply, has nearly the whole of its 
stipes and the whole of its rachis of a bright 
green, whilst Trichomanes , when mature, has both 
the stipes and rachis on its fronds of a dark, 
shining, purple colour, approaching to black. 
The Common Maidenhair Spleenwort is, too, as 
its name indicates, far more plentiful, and far 
more widely distributed throughout the United 
Kingdom, than its half-sister Viride. It is, too, 
hardier than the latter, and easier of cultiyation- 
The same description, with the exceptions which 
have been pointed out, will apply in the case of 
both Ferns: black, tufted root-stocks; wiry, 
