anes_]

(4) MAIDENHAIR SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium Trichomanes_

Stipes densely tufted, purple-brown, shining. Fronds three to eight inches
long, linear, dark green, rather rigid. Pinnae roundish-oblong or oval,
entire or finely crenate, attached at the base by a narrow point. Midveins
forking and evanescent.

Not very common, but distributed almost throughout North America. May be
looked for wherever there are ledges, as it does not require limestone.
July.

[Illustration: Maidenhair Spleenwort. _Asplenium Trichomanes_ (From
Woolson's "Ferns," Doubleday, Page & Co.)]

(5) SMALL SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium parvulum. A. resiliens_

Fronds four to ten inches tall, narrowly linear, rather firm, erect. Pinnae
opposite, oblong, entire or finely crenate, and auricled at the base.
Stipes and rachis black and shining. Midveins continuous.

This small fern is a southern species half way between the maidenhair and
ebony spleenworts, but rather more like the latter from which it differs in
being smaller and thicker, and in having the fertile and sterile fronds of
the same size. Mountains of Virginia to Kansas and southward.

(6) EBONY SPLEENWORT

_Asplenium platyneuron. A. ebeneum_

Fronds upright, eight to eighteen inches high, linear-lanceolate, the
fertile ones much taller, and pinnate. Pinnae scarcely an inch long, the
lower ones very much shorter, alternate, spreading, finely serrate or
incised, the base auricled. Sori numerous, rather near the midvein, stipe
and rachis lustrous brown. ("Ebony.")

This rigidly upright but graceful fern flourishes in rocky, open woods, and
on rich, moist banks, often in the neighborhood of red cedars. Having come
upon it many times in our rambles, we should say it was not uncommon.

A lightly incised form of the pinnae has been described as var. _serratum_.
A handsome form discovered in Vermont in 1900 by Mrs. Horton and named
_Hortonae_ (also called _incisum_) has plume-like fronds with the pinnae cut
into oblique lobes, which are coarsely serrate.

[Illustration: Ebony Spleenwort. _Asplenium platyneuron_ (Melrose, Mass.,
G.E. Davenport)]

[Illustration: Bradley's Spleenwort. _Asplenium Bradleyi_ a, from Maryland;
b, from Kentucky (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]

(7) BRADLEY'S SPLEENWORT. _Asplenium Bradleyi_

Fronds oblong-lanceolate, pinnate, three to ten inches long. Pinnae
oblong-ovate, obtuse, incised or pinnatifid into oblong, toothed lobes.
The basal pinnae have b