ASPLENIUM viride.
Green Maidenhair Spleenwort.
J 6 .
CRYPTOGA'MIA Filices.
G en. Char. Fructif. in scattered lines. Involucrum
originating laterally from a vein, and bursting inwardly.
Spec. Char. Frond pinnate; leaflets alternate, roundish
elliptic, crenate. Common stalk flattened
beneath.
Sen. Asplenium viride. Huds. 453. Sm. FI. Brit. 1127.
With. 768. Hull. 241. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 3. 18.
Lightf. 663. Winch, v. 1. 97. Bolt. F il. 24. t. 14.
Ehrh. Crypt- 71 •
/3. A. Trichomanes-ramosum. Finn. Sp. P L 1541.
Bolt. Fil. 25. t. 2. ƒ . 3.
Trichomanes ramosum. Baiih. Hist. v. 3. 747.
lla ii Syn. ed. 2. 46. ed. 3. 119.
T . minus et tenerius. Moris, sect. 14. t. 3. ƒ . 11.
F o u n d on rocky mountains in Wales, Scotland, and the
north of England. We have received wild spécimens from
Mr. Griffith and the Rev. T. Gisborne. It seems generally
to prefer granite to calcareous rocks.
The present fern differs from A . Trichomanes, t. 5 7 6 , in its
paler green colour, with more yellowness in the fructification ;
but more essentially in the green midrib, which is flattened
underneath, so as to be square, and in the alternate situation
of the leaflets, whose base is besides more wedge-shaped. Sometimes
the frond is divided, as in our fig. 2, and in this state
the plant was first described, Linnæus adopting it from the
older authors ; but we much prefer Hudson's name to that of
a mere variety. Mr. Lhwyd appears to have been one of the
first British botanists who knew, and well defined, this species
and its occasional variety. He described it “ Trichomanes with
a green rib, sometimes divided, and lenticular crenate leaves,”
before he knew that any author had noticed it.