ASPLENIUM TRICHOMANES. COMMON MAIDENHAIR
SPLEENWORT.
ASPLENIUM Trickomanes ; frondibus pinnatis, pinnis subrôtundo-oblongis obtusis crenatis basi trun-
cato-cuneatis, stipite discolore.
ASPLENIUM Trichomanes. Linn. Sp. P l.p . 1540. Huds. Angl.p. 452. With. Bot. A rr. ed. 4.
vol. 3. p. 750. L ig h tf. Fl. Scot. p. 662. Fl. Dan. t. 119. Hoffm. Germ. ed. 2.
vol. 2. p. 13. Willd. Sp. PI. vol. 5. p. 331. Smith Fl. Brit. p. 1126. Etigl. Bot.
t. 576. Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 204. Swartz. Syn. Filic.p. 81. Schulchr. Filic. t. 74.
Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. vol. 2. p. 554. Fl. Gall. Syn. p. 113. Wa kl. Fl. Lapp. p. 285.
Ait. Hort. Kezo. ed. 2. vol. 5. p. 516. Hook. Fl. Scot. P . I I . p. 155.
ASPLENIUM foliis pinnatis, pinnis ovatis crenatis. Hall. Helv. n. 1693.
TRICHOMANES. English Black Maiden-hair. R a iiS y n .p . 119.
/3 TRICHOMANES foliis eleganter incisis. Dill, in Raii Syn. p . 120.
Bohem. Netjk. Dan. Jumfnichaar. Dut. Wederhood. Fr. Doradille politric. Germ. Der
Widerthon. It. Port, et Span. Pólitrico. Norw. Smaae Blom. Pol. Rzesa skalna druga.
' Swed, Stenbryt. Welsh. Dueg-redynen Gwallt y fo rw yn .
Class a n d Or d e r . CRYPTOGAMIA FILICES.
[N a t u r a l Or d e r . FILICES, Linn., Juss., Decand., B r. Div. I. GYRATÆ.]
G e n . Ch a r . Sori lineargs, sparsi, dorsales. Involucrum e vena lateraliter ortum ducens, margine superiore
libero. B r .
G e n . Ch a r . Sori linear, scattered, dorsal. Involucre arising from a lateral vein, opening at the superior margin.
R a d ix perennis, e fibris numerosis, fuscis, ramosis,
dense tomentosis.
F rondes plurimæ, cæspitosæ, quatuor- ad sex-pollicares,
lineari-lanceolatæ, basi apiceque attenuatæ, pin-
natæ, pinnis remotiusculis, patentibus, subrotun-
do-oblongis, obtusis, crenatis, glabris, indistincte
nervosis, basi vix æquali cuneato-truncatis.
St ip es brevis, semiteres. Rachis semiteres (una cum stipite)
atropurpureus, supra canaliculatus.
So ri lineares, plerumque sex in singula pinnula.
I nvolucrum lineari-oblongum, intus dehiscens, inte-
gerrimum.
Capsulas numéros®, fuscæ, stipitatæ, annulatæ, annulo
incompleto.
S em in a rotundato-angulata, fusca.
Root perennial, thickly tufted with numerous, brown,
branched fibres.
Fronds many, tufted, from four to six inches high, between
linear and lanceolate, attenuated at the
base and point, pinnated, the pinnae distant,
spreading, subrotundo-oblong, obtuse, crenated,
glabrous, indistinctly nerved, cuneato-truncate at
the base and scarcely equal there.
St ip e s short, semi-cylindrical. Rachis semicylindrical
(and as well as the stipes), purplish-black, channelled
above.
Sori linear, mostly six upon each pinnule.
I n volucr e between linear and oblong, opening interiorly,
entire.
Capsules numerous, brown, stipitate, furnished with
an incomplete ring.
Se ed s roundish-angular, brown.
Fig. 1. Portion of the upper surface of a frond. Fig. 2. Portion of the under side of the same. Fig. 3. Pinna,
seen beneath. Fig. 4. Capsule. Fig. 5. Seeds:—all more or less magnified.
The Maiden-hair Spleenwort is common upon old walls and rocks, especially in moist situations, and was much
employed by ancient practitioners in physic as a la x a tiv e a n d Boerhaave recommends the juice of it in the cure of
hypochondriac affections. But now, though I believe it is not entirely discarded from the Pharmacopoeia, it gives
place to medicines of a more decided and more powerful nature.
Its fructification may be-found almost during the whole year, but most plentifully in the summer months.
In size and general habit this species comes very near Asplenium viride, but, besides the different colour of the
stipes and rachis, the A . viride has the pinnre rather ovate than oblong, serrated and cuneate at the base—in fact
nearly rhomboid. I t is more difficult to distinguish our plant from the North American Asplenium melanocaulon,
which has, like it, a purple-black stem, but is smaller in all its parts, and has rounder pinnte,