A s p l e n ium E uta-m u r a r ia , Linnoeus.— The Eue-leaved
Spleenwort, or Wall Eue.
Very diminutive, and not very attractive, occurring abundantly
on old walls, often in such situations little more than
an inch high. It grows in tufts, insinuating its wiry roots,
as is the case with all the mural species, into the crevices
and joints of the masonry, and is not easily removed from
such places in a condition suitable for planting. The fronds
are numerous, of a glaucous-green, varying between one
and six inches long, with a stipes about half the entire
length, the leafy part usually triangular in outline, and bipinnate.
The pinnæ are alternate, with rhomboidal, or
roundish-ovate, or obovate pinnules, sometimes wedge-shaped
with the apex abruptly cut off. The more luxuriant fronds
are once more divided, so as to become almost tripinnate,
the pinnules being deeply pinnatifid, and the lobes of the
form of the ordinary pinnules. Occasionally in immature
specimens the fronds are only once pinnate, with pinnatifid
pinnæ. The upper margins of the pinnules are irregularly
toothed.
The veins are rather indistinct, and there is no midvein,
but a series of veins arise from the base, becoming branched
in the progress towards the apex, the number of ultimate
r id
branches usually corresponding with that of the marginal
teeth. Several sori are produced near the centre of the
pinna, covered by indusia which open inwardly with a
jagged or irregularly sinuated margin.
A very common species, confined to rocks and walls, and
occurring throughout Europe and in many parts of North
America.
Synonymous with the name we employ, are the following :
—Amesium Ruta-muraria, Scolopendrium Ruta-muraria.
A s p l e n ium sb p t e n t b io n a l e , Hull.— The Eorked Spleenwort,
(Plate X II. fig. 3.)
A rare and diminutive Eern. The habit is tufted, comparatively
large masses being sometimes formed ; the fronds
themselves are very small, from two four inches long, slender,
dull green, with a long stipes, which is dark purple at the
base. The leafy part—if, indeed, it can here be called leafy
—is of a narrow elongate lance-shaped form, split near the
end into two or sometimes three alternate divisions, or in
the smaller fronds merely toothed ; each of these fronds, or
divisions of the frond, has its margin cut into two or more
sharp-pointed teeth, the points of the larger teeth being
very frequently bifid.
The veins are reduced to a minimum ; one vein enters