THE BRITISH FERNS. 
THE ALTERNATE-LEAVED SPLEENWORT. 
ASPLENIUM GERMANICUM. 
A. fronds linear oblong, broadest at the base, pinnate or sub-bi- 
pinnate; pinne alternate, ascending, narrow wedge-shaped, toothed 
at the apex, entire below, the lower ones three-cleft; sori elongate 
central; indusium entire. [Plate LXXX A.] 
ASPLENIUM GERMANICUM, Weis, Pl. Crypt. 299. Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. 
ii. 18. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 2 ed. 265. Deakin, Florigr. Brit. iv. 
77, fig. 1597. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. 4 ed. 426. Bentham, Handb. 
Brit. Fl. 633. Lowe, Nat. Hist. Ferns, v. t. 3 B. Moore, Handb. Brit. 
Ferns, 8 ed. 191; Id., Ferns of Gt. Brit. V. 41 B; Id., Ind. Fil. 134. 
Lamarck, Enc. Bot. ii. 809. Willdenow, Sp. Plant. v. 330. Sprengel, Syst. 
Veg. iv. 86.  Presl, Tent. Pterid. 108. Link, Fil. Sp. 97. Sturm, Fl. 
(Farrn.) t. 5. Heufl. Aspl. Eur. 53. 
ASPLENIUM ALTERNIFOLIUM, Wulfen, Jacq. Miscell. Aust. ii. 51, t. 5, fig. 2. 
Smith,. Eng. Bot. xxxii. t. 2258; Id., Eng. Fl. 2 ed. iv. 296. Hooker de 
Arnott, Brit. Fl. 7 ed. 588. Sowerby, Ferns of Gt. Brit. 56, t. 33. 
ASPLENIUM BREYNII, Retzius, Obs. Bot. i. 32. Swartz, Syn. Fil. 8b. Schkuhr, 
Krypt. Gew. 77, t. 81. Fée, Gen. Fil. 190. Nyman, Syll. Fl. Europ. 482. 
Koch, Syn. 2 ed. 983. Fries, Sum. Veg. 82. Svensk Bot. t. 534. Ledebour, 
Fl. Ross. iv. 520. Mettenius, Fil. Hort. Bot. Lips. 76 ; Td., Asplen. 142. 
AMESIUM GERMANICUM, Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 2 ed. 10 ; 3 ed. 258 ; Id., 
Phytol. 1851, App. vii. 
ASPLENIUM MURALE, B. Bernhardt, Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1799, i. 812. 
PHYLLITIS HETEROPHYLLA, Mench, Method. 724. 
SCOLOPENDRIUM ALTERNIFOLIUM, ‚Roth, Fl. Germ. iii. 53. 
TARACHIA GERMANICA, Prest, Epim. Bot. 79. 



Caudex short, tufted, thickish, scaly. Scales small, narrow lanceo- 
late, dark brown, striato-reticulate. Fibres slender, branched. 
Vernation circinate. 
Stipes terminal and adherent to the caudex, slender, nearly or 
quite as long as the frond, dark purplish brown below, green above, 
and as well as the rachis smooth. 
Fronds from two to six inches high, narrow linear oblong, some- 
what broadest at the base, pinnate, subbipinnate, or, when very 
luxuriant, bipinnate below, palish green, scarcely sub-coriaceous. 
Pinne alternate, ascending, remote, the lower ones largest and most 








