








66 THE BRITISH FERNS. 
plant is so remarkably distinct, that were it not for the obscurity 
of its history, we should have no hesitation whatever in admitting 
it as a species; and we are even now so convinced of its distinctness, 
that we append the following definition, in the hope that it may yet 
be recognised as a native Scottish plant. 
A, refractum : fronds linear, subbipinnate ; pinne short oblong obtuse, refracted, 
pinnate at the base, pinnatifid above ; pinnules (the lowest anterior one only 
distinet, the rest more or less confluent) roundish, with a few coarse angular 
mucronate teeth, the upper two-four toothed, the lower ones overlapping ; 
sori short oblong oblique, in a line on each side near the costa of the pinnz ; 
rachis chestnut-coloured, marginate above, not winged, bulbil-bearing. 
ASPLENIUM REFRACTUM, Moore, Ferns of Gt. Brit. Nature Printed, under t. 
35 A. 
Haz. ? Scotland. 
Compared with Asplenium fontanum, the fronds of Asplenium 
refractum, are longer and narrower in proportion, being seven or 
eight inches high, and not more than three-fourths of an inch 
wide. They have a dark brown rachis throughout, which is not 
distinctly winged, as in fontanum, although there is a slight green 
decurrent line at the upper angles between the pinne. The outline 
is different, being equal and almost linear, not broader upwards; 
the lower pinnz are scarcely more distant than the rest, and all the 
pinne are refracted in a remarkable manner, as well as much less 
divided. The habit of growth is spreading, and the fronds are 
proliferous. The little bulbils are formed principally at the junction 
of the pinnze with the rachis. 

