FORKED SPLEENWORT. 157 
is extremely different from our other British spe- 
_ Cies; but, on the other hand, it is extremely similar 
a small flowering plant called Buck’s-horn Plan- 
tain, or Plantago Coronopus, indeed so like as to be 
ily mistaken for it. Although occasionally occur- 
‘Ting in lofty and exposed situations, it can scarcely 
be considered a hardy species, since it is very 
Susceptible of cold, its young fronds being destroyed 
a very slight frost. 
he Forked Spleenwort occurs very abundantly in 
gary, Italy, Spain and the South of France, and 
recorded as an inhabitant of Lapland, Sweden, 
Denmark and Russia; in the north, however, it seems 
in the south comparatively common. It is one 
ur rarest British Ferns, occurring only in the 
ures of rocks and the interstices of stone walls ; 
to thrive more 
| probably from the frequently exposed 
on and elevation of the former. I have seen 
mens from nearly all the recorded stations, and 
sea-level: in this locality the tufts were enor- 
ge, and one of them, which I took away, 
heavy that, even after shaking off all super- 
earth, I could scarcely carry it; this tuft, 
Probably consisting of a single caudex, had 
