British ferns and mosses, describing their haunts and habits, their forms and uses, with numberous pictorial representations

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INDISPENSABLE HANDY BOOKS.

BRITISH FEEXS AND MOSSES

DESCSIEIHC THEIK

anii spirits,

FORMS AND USES

NUMEROUS PICTUltiAI. REPRESENTATIONS.

Ye green ferns and flowers,

Belov'd in past hours,
Ere the younj* heart had yielded its gladness ;

We gaze on you still

By the gush of the rill,
In the depth of our spirit's lone sadness.

LONDON :
WARD & LOCK, 158, FLEET .STREET.

M DCCC LXI.

PREFACE.

HAVING derived so much pleasure from the pursuit of
Ferns and Mosses — so much gratification while roaming
amidst the homes and haunts of these beautiful objects — I
have been induced to contribute my experiences to the
series of "Indispensable Handy Books."

Not all the elegancies of Potichimanie, Diaphany,
Knitting, Netting, and Crochet, ever offered so much to
the light fingers of the fair sex as a few cases of Ferns;
and no amateur gardener ever found a fairer field for his
enterprise than a Fern-bank, or a collection of Ferns in
pots. A few years since none but enthusiastic Botanists
paid any attention to them, and fewer still had attempted
their domestication for purposes of study and ornament.
Now we find them in windows, in gardens,, and even in
the dark front areas of town dwellings.

PKEFACE.

Still, Ferns arc not to be grown with as much ease as
geraniums; they are tender plants, and want -careful
culture and nursing, but they will soon repay their cost in
glorious displays of beauty. But there is no mystery
about them. The greater number of our native species can
be made to • thrive and increase with a very moderate
attention, provided it be of the right sort ; and we shall
here enumerate such particulars as will enable any person
fond of Ferns and Mosses to maintain a respectable collec-
lion at but little cost, cither of time or money.

HANDY BOOK

BRITISH FERNS AND MOSSES.

JANUARY.

WHY is it that folks care not for green mosses,
Except to pack their crates ? "Why do enthusiasts
Pore for sea- weeds until their eyes grow weak,
Beneath stern beetling crags, by rushing waves,
With no small peril, or of life or limb,
Yet pass unheeding by this lowly tribe,
The meekest of Earth's children ?

FEKXS are not yet unfolded. Our attention must there-
fore be directed to the brotherhood of mosses, those unas-
suming yet peerless members of a large community, grow-
ing in lanes and woods, or beside dripping rocks, uninjured
by wind, storm, or frost.

Look upon a bank of mosses when a sudden gleam of
sunshine lights up the wintry landscape, and a soft south
wind has caused a sudden thaw ! beautiful are they in their
freshness and luxuriance ; in their greenness too, for
mosses retain their verdure at all seasons. A few ice-
spangles may gem their leaves, but these begin to melt, and
their most exquisite ramifications remain uninjured, even
by the heavy pressure of frozen snow.

Mosses were ever my delight ! they grew on the roots of
our old fantastic beech-trees, beside many a clear stream
that gushed from out some cavernous recess, and went

B

2 HANDY BOOK OF

singing through the valley, in rocky lanes, and far tip the
precipitous sides of old stone quarries on the village
common.

Oh ! the modest "beauty of those mosses ! They rise
before my mental view in all their variety and vividness —
visions of by-gone days ! I well remember every stone and
rill, all brakes and glens, where best they grew ; one deep
lone vale especially, beside the old road that led from
Stroud to Cheltenham, where Tradition lingers with her
haunting tales, telling that fierce Danes and Saxons con-
tended there in mortal fray — and hence its dolorous name
of Dudcombe : but a lovelier spot the sun, perhaps, never
shone upon ; with its streams and trees, its sunny spaces
covered with short herbage, and its wild rocky banks,
where huge masses of lichen-dotted stones jutted forth
among ferns and brambles.

Botanists speak much concerning the Poppy tribe. They
point to the head while growing, and the rigid curvature
in the upper part of the stem, which gives it a position
impenetrable by rain or moisture. But not less wonderful
is the formation of the common Hair-moss (PolytricJnun
commune), which grew profusely beside our streams, occa-
sionally on the summit of high hills ; for such plants as
affect marshy localities abound also on places where clouds
settle, from which they derive sufficient humidity for the
purposes of vegetable life. It is found therefore far up the
Lapland Alps, in company with others of its kind, on the
verge of perpetual snow, and in the desolate wilderness of
Lychselle Lapland, among woods or beside torrents, spread-
ing like a carpet over dry open spaces, the resort of rein-
deer. Many a Lapland family, who perambulate from place
to place during the short-lived summer, seek out spots
abounding with the Great Hair-moss, and it forms for them
both bed and bedding. They trace out a circumference with
their knives, and readily separate the tangled roots from
the meagre soil on which they grow ; this done, they spread

FEEXS

MOSSES.

out the soft and elastic moss to dry in the hot sun, and.
having obtained a piece of the same size for a coverlid, they
tranquilly lie down to rest amid those wondrous solitudes,
•where the sun, after a momentary setting in glory above
the horizon, recommences his ceaseless course.

COMMON HAIR-MOSS.

The formation of the capsule is equally curious with that
of the poppy. It is covered with an-elegantly shaped
umbrella, such as Titania might carry in her hand ; when
the seeds ripen, the small cords that kept the umbrella in
its place begin to loosen, some sportive zephyr jerks it in
playful mood from off the capsule, and down it falls upon
the earth. The stem then gradually bends, the straight
stalk forms a curvature, and the seed-vessel being reversed,
empties its seeds as from a pitcher.

Thus wonderfully is the moss constructed. Linnaeus was,
perhaps, the first who observed . its conformation, when,
journeying in quest of plants, he came into the savage wil-

4 HANDY BOOK OF

derness where it overspread the ground in patches — the
haunts of hears, who slept soundly on this couch of Nature's
making, and of innumerahle hirds, who filled the woods
with melody, and chiefly built their nests with the finest
portions of this useful moss.

"The fanner talks of grasses and of grain,
The sailor tells you stories of the main."

"It is therefore no wonder," says Linnaeus, in his cele-
hrated Oration at Upsal, when recurring to the dangers he
had passed through while exploring the wildest regions of
the North, " that I chose to make travelling in mine own
" country the subject of my discourse. Every one thinks well
of what belongs to himself, and every one has pleasures
peculiar to himself. I have on foot passed over the frosty
mountains of Lapland in quest of plants ; I have clambered
up the craggy ridges of Norland, and wandered amid its
almost impenetrable woods. I have made excursions into
the forests of Dalecarlia, the groves of Gothland, the heaths
of Smoland, and the trackless wastes of Scania. Truly
there is scarcely a part of Sweden which I have not crawled
through and examined, yet not without great fatigue of
mind and body. My journey to Lapland was an under-
taking of immense labour; but the love of truth and grati-
tude towards the Supreme Being constrains me to acknow-
ledge, that no sooner were my travels finished than a
pleasant oblivion of past suffering came upon me, and I was
richly rewarded by the inestimable advantages which I
gained from my labours."

Thus spoke the great Linnscus with respect to the benefit
which a man derives from travelling in his own country ;
and his remarks may well apply to the pleasures that are
within the reach of all who seek to become acquainted with
the natural objects by which they are surrounded.

How many, ignorant concerning the ferns and mosses
that grow near them, complain that the country is dull in

FEHNS AND MOSSES. 5

winter ! they hear of rich collections in Natural History,
and are discontented -with their lot ; though many a rare
plant, which men have brought with toil and hazard from
far-oft' regions, is inferior to such as grow beside our paths
at home. Go, then, into the woods and lanes, and collect
those beautiful mosses, which strike their tiny roots into a
thin soil, which root themselves in the crevices of large
stones, or may be often seen through clear falling waters,
that stream over the projecting rocks, beneath the arch of
which they grow luxuriantly. I have gathered many such
in days long past, and often look upon them with great
pleasure, wondering that those who peril life and limb in
obtaining sea-weeds, beside the roar of ocean, or among
rock basins, or climb hi<fh cliffs in search of plants, should
never think of collecting mosses. And yet mosses are
beautiful and varied — the first, as regards their exquisite
ramifications and often brilliant tints ; the second, because
no two of them are alike, though growing side by side,
beneath the spray of the same fountain, or cherished by
vapours ascending from the same damp soil.

Such plants have a prescribed use — not obvious, perhaps,
but real. Like flowers, that successively emerge from out
the earth, they each present a home, or storehouse, to some
wayfaring insect ; small birds select the finest kinds for
their nests, and often feed upon the seeds that ripen, abun-
dantly at all seasons. The Bog-moss (Junyermanniii),
covers deep bogs with its spongy substance, and thus, by
continual decay and renovation, produces abundance of
vegetable mould, and turns them by degrees into fertile
meadows. The loosely-matted patches are used for burn-
ing ; and in many mining districts are in great request for
forges.

The Long-stalked Earth-moss (Musci phascum) is a
beacon-plant. If, in passing, its rich chesnut-red fruit-
stalks and capsules are seen emerging from out a bed of
verdure, you may fancy that a soft voice says to you, —

6 HAKDr BOOK OF

" This is the field of the sluggard ; it has lain untilled for
at least two years. ' Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a
little folding of the hands to sleep : so shall his poverty
come as one that travelleth, and his want as an armed
man.' " (Prov. vi. 10.)

" Of rills and fountains, guardian maid,"

the elegant and often-floating Greater Water-moss delights
in humid places. The generic name, Fontinalis, designates
her station among fresh springs and rivulets ; the specific
one has a local meaning, yet, true to the former appellation,
this small moss is found on rocks and the roots of trees, in
brooks and rivulets, slow streams and ponds, but most espe-
cially beside cataracts, flourishing' luxuriantly, where the
roar of headlong waters and their turmoil is greatest.
Hence the Water-moss thrives well in Sweden, and was
associated by Linnseus with many a legend-haunted spot.
The .natives collect large quantities, with which to fill up
the spaces between their large chimneys and the walls of
their houses ; and thus, by excluding the air, to prevent
the action of fire. The specific name was given in refer-
ence to this valuable quality. Pale reddish tufts of the
Conferva, nana may occasionally be seen attached to this
species in alpine rivers.

Those who feel strongly within them the " ardent inex-
tinguishable thirst of nature," which Cowper well describes,
and who, remembering the mosses they loved in childhood,
would again seek for such beside the hum of the great city,
may find the Lesser Water-moss (F. minor] growing abun-
dantly on. the walls of Lambeth Palace, fronting the
Thames. Vainly, Tiowever, would they seek for the F.
squamosa ; of this the long and branched shoots uniformly
float in the direction of whatever stream it affects ; the
dark-g-rccn leaves become black when dry, and the whole
plant itself assumes siich a glistening appearance that
Bauhin applied to it the epithet lucens.

FE1LKS AND :UOSS1>. 7

Xor yet has tlic Feathered Watcr-inosg (F. pennata], nor
the Hair-like (F. cajnlhicca), neither the Alpine (F. alpina],
nor even the Lateral (F. secunda), been discovered in the
neighbourhood of London, except in some old apple-orchard.
The first, extremely rare, is assigned to the trunk of trees ;
it is mentioned by Mr. "Drummond, in his "History of
Britisli Mosses," as growing on a beech-tree at Tothering-
ton, near Forfar ; the second embellishes the stony banks
of many an alpine rivulet in Scotland and Wales. Bota-
nists may find it beside the gushing rills of the pass of
Llanberris, within sight of Dolbaden's ruined tower ; the
third clusters, as already mentioned, on trees in orchards,
and draws nearer to the vicinity of man than either the
Hair-like or Alpine.

The Leafy Buxbaumia (B. foliosa) must not be passed
unnoticed. This plant, of frequent occurrence, especially
in mountainous and open places, visited by the purest air
of heaven, was named by Linnaeus in honour of Dr. Bux-
baum, a distinguished botanist, who sought out and enu-
merated such plants as grew around his native city Hoi, in
the Tyrol. Its relative, the Leafless Buxbaumia (13. apliyllti},
may be often discovered among fir-trees. This most sin-
gular of mosses can scarcely be said to have any stems ; all
that might be so called resemble a small bulb, covered with
hair-like processes, but which, when highly magnified, are
found to be true leaves, membranaceous, comparable to
beautiful net- work, yet so narrow and minute as to be
quite overlooked, or described merely as hairs. The whole
moss is not an inch high ; it presents a striking appearance
when growing among others of the kind, being of a red
colour.

The blood-coloured, or Obtuse-leaved Gland-moss (Splach-
num vasculosuni) is the finest and most beautiful of all Bri-
tish mosses ; the fruit -stalk is one inch and a half highr
upright and red, the receptacle large, spear-shaped, of a
bright sanguineous hue, the fringe composed of eight minute

8 HANDY BOOK OF

teeth, in pairs. Alpine tourists speak of it as growing in
bogs, and on the pointed masses of high storm- rifted moun-
tains, such as Ben Lomond, and in extended patches as on
Ben Lawers, and the Clova mountains.

Another of the same family deserves hrief mention. This
is the purple Bottle or Gland-moss (S. ampullaceum), which
localizes on bogs and marshes, often also on cow's manure ;
growing about Ichen' Ferry near Southampton, at West
"Wickham, Addington near Croydon, Geldestone Fen, Bun-
gay, and Suffolk. Ray mentions the second locality in his
" Synopsis of British Plants ;" the association of his name
with a species still sought by modern botanists in the same
lone spot, invests it with no small interest. Kor less
attractive is it when found in a tributary stream north of
Tyfry, between that place and Hendref, in Anglesea, in.
place where Druids dwelt, and where traces of their foot-
steps were found till lately, among circles of unhewn stones
and cromlechs ; this place is mentioned by Mr. Davies as
well deserving the attention of all botanists, whether in
quest of plants or mosses, and also in each season of the
year. The veil is exquisitely bell-shaped, the receptacle
large, and resembling an inverted decanter with a convex
lid; and the fruit -stalks, two or three inches long, are
beautifully crimsoned. By attending to these character-
istics the youngest botanist may identify the Purple Bottle-
moss, which ripens its capsules in July.

Others of the same family occupy spongy ground, or moist
places in alpine rocky districts, near Llyn Idwell, Carnar-
vonshire ; or on Ben Lawers in the Highlands. Among
these, the Tongue-leaved Gland-moss (S. lingulatum], with
deeply indented leaves formed into cavities, and variable
fruit-stalk of a deep red, has attracted much attention,
both for its rarity and the difficulty of determining its
genus. It was first discovered in Scotland by Mr. Dixon,
and since on Ben Lawers and Ben Lomond by two brother
botanists; afterwards by Professor Hooker in muddy de-

FEKNS AND MOSSES. 9

clivities at the foot of Ben Cruachan, between Craigalleach
and Meal-greadha, where it grew profusely, and afforded,
in a tine August morning, a spectacle such as few muscolo-
gists have had the privilege of witnessing.

The beautiful Fraelichian Gland-moss (S, freelicUianurri)j
with its fruit-stalk pale towards the summit, of a fine pink
colour near the base, was first identified as a native moss
by Mrs. Griffith, who found it on the eastern side of Snow-
don, about two hundred yards from the highest elevation.

Look carefully for the Bryum-like Feather-moss (Hyp-
mtm bryoides}. You may easily find it in shady places,
woods, and ditch-banks, though very small; and this
because of its capsules, which are edged at the mouth with
a deep red fringe ; the leaves are green, though not pellucid,
and the reddish fruit-stalks issue nearly at the end of the
shoots. The authors of " Systematic English Botany" have
in their possession specimens of this little plant, gathered
by the adventurous Mungo Park in the interior of Africa.
He had preserved them with great care, and there is reason
to believe that they formed the identical species to which
he so feelingly referred when speaking of his own utter
helplessness, and the powerful effect produced on his mind
by observing the minute construction of this small plant.
"I was very much cast down," he said, "and was be-
ginning to despair, yet not without reason, for I was then
in the midst of a wild country, ranged over by savage
animals, and by men still more savage, five hundred miles
from the nearest European settlement ; and, considering
my fate as certain, I was ready to lie down and die." At
this moment the extraordinrry beauty of a small moss
irresistibly caught his eye, and though unspeakably
depressed, he could not look upon the delicate formation of
its leaves and capsules without admiration. A train of
soothing thoughts arose within him, and a consciousness
that his Heavenly Father, who had thus called into being
and preserved the tiny vegetable, beneath a burning sky,

10 HANDY BOOK OF

and on an arid soil, would not desert an helpless traveller —
one whom He had made in His own image. Thus re-assured
the narrator went on his way, trusting that relief was at
hand, and he was not disappointed.

. Why is it that this small species, which affects our shady
woods and ditch-banks, should grow in Africa — that land
of cloudless skies and springless deserts ? There are
problems in Natural History which the most learned cannot
solve.

The blunt, fern-like Feather-moss (Hypnum trichoma-
noides], indigenous on the roots of trees, and in ditches
among woods, may be easily recognized by observing a
remarkable curvature in the scimitar -shaped leaf — a
peculiarity belonging exclusively to this species.

Few perhaps among our native tribes add more to the
picturesque effect of weather-beaten masses of rock or stone
than the H. Ilattcri, or Hallerian Feather-moss, dis-
covered by Dr. Greville on Ben Lawers. This plant creeps
closely on its growing-place, in diffused tufts, of a rich
yellowish or reddish-brown colour, and is sometimes
pleasingly contrasted with the "Waved Feather-moss
(P. undulatum), an exquisitely fine species, about a span
long, and of which the leaves are white and membranous.
The Undulatum mostly affects woods and shady places ; it
is ftnind also on Snowdon, and when closely examined,
exhibits a beautiful variety of tints in its component parts.
The fruit is long, slender, reddish ; the veil straw-coloured,
with a brown spot at the end ; rib of each shoot yellowish ;
and the leaves tender, pellucid, smooth, shiny, and pale
green.

Nor less attractive is the reddish Shining Feather-moss
(II. rufescens), which thrives best where the torrent is
foaming. Its favourite locality is, therefore, the wet rocks
in the Highlands of Scotland, and nowhere is it more
abundant than on the perpendicular cliffs that start abruptly
by the falls of Moness.

AND MOSSES. . li

The Squirrel-tailed Feather-moss (//. sciuroidcs) thus
named from its numeious upright branches, simple and
divided, and curving gracefully toward the points like that
of the common squirrel, affords an interesting instance of
restricted location. It is often found adhering to old trees ;
and though frequent in this country, is rare in Scotland,
Intermoriston being its most northern habitation.

Years have passed away since I gathered from rock or
stream side — from off the village common or old trees —
specimens which have been treasured carefully, and still
look beautiful. I recently opened them, and vividly did
they bring before my mental view long -remembered scenes
when life was new, and the future seemed as an unli-
mited horizon. I thought while looking at them of the
pleasure which they had given me in their collection, and I
could not help wishing that those whose attention during
their summer and autumn rambles has been directed to
sea-weeds and flowers, may go forth into the woods and
lanes in this dull month, and derive from mosses equal
instruction and delight.

FEBRUARY.

" MOSSES are Nature's children, no one carelh
To make green merchandize of them ; and yet
Nor sea-weeds, nor loved ferns, that quivering cast
Their shadows, or on rock, by rippling stream,
Or 'mid the wide heath, may compete with some
That I have gather'd."

MOSSES are of considerable consequence in the vegetable
world. The mould which they deposit rarely exceeds an
inch in depth, and yet that small deposit is frequently all-
. important ; their roots also, closely matted, and occasionally

12 HANDY BOOK OF

entangled with one another, serve to protect the rocks on
which they grow from the effects of frost — from changes
likewise consequent on the disengagement of carbonic acid
gas — from fissures eyen in granite rocks, as in the neigh-
bourhood of Clermont, in Auvergne. These changes,
called by Dolomieu "la maladie du granite," resemble the
dry-rot in wood, for the hardest blocks become soft, and
readily crumble in the hand. Where, however, mosses
assert their empire, the effect is neutralized by their ab-
sorption of the otherwise injurious carbonic acid, according
to the well-known fact, that when two gasses of different
specific gravities are brought into contact, even though the
heaviest be the lowermost, they soon become uniformly
diffused, by mutual absorption, through the whole space.
By virtue of this law the heavy carbonic acid finds its way
upwards in the lighter air of the atmosphere, and conveys
nourishment to the tiniest moss or lichen which grows on
the mountain-top.

In regions, on the contrary, where devastating torrents of
rain fall suddenly, their transporting power is counteracted
by a greater luxuriance of vegetation. A geologist, who
carefully explored many parts of the tropical regions,
observes, with reference to the fitness of all plants for the
places they occupy, that tho softer rocks would speedily be
washed away in such portions of the globe, if the roots of
parasitic and creeping plants were not so entwined as to
present considerable resistance to the direct action of heavy
rain. Unlike their forest brethren whose giant arms are
vainly spread forth as if to repel the coming storm, and
which are often hurled by its fury from stations in which
they have stood for ages, the plants of which we speak serve
to shoot off the fast-falling stream, and again lift up
their heads when returning sunbeams light the dripping
landscape. Mosses, in like manner, are not affected by
running water, even if mountain springs assume in winter
the character of copious floods, and rush impetuously over
them.

KERNS AND MOSSES. 13

The adaptation of plants to their respective positions,
and the effects which their decay and renovation pro-
gressively occasion, are beautifully exemplified in the Bog-
moss (Sphagnum}.

This plant is fully developed in peaty swamps, and
becomes, like the heath, a social plant ; or, in other words,
it obtains exclusive possession of the ground, and lives in
society. Such monopolies, however, are happily of rare
occurrence, being checked by various causes ; for not only
are many species endowed with equal powers of appro-
priating similar stations, but each plant, for reasons not yet
fully ascertained, renders the soil where it has grown less
fitted for the support of ' ' other individuals of its own
species, or even other species of the same family." Yet the
tract, though occupied, it may be, by two or three usurping
brotherhoods — who, to the exclusion of many others, are
enabled throughout long periods to maintain their ground
successfully against intruders, if even impoverishing it for
themselves — is yet, by an irrefragable law of nature, im-
proved for plants of another family. The tract thus appro-
priated may be an extensive moor, or a lofty mountain ;
a sandy waste, or well- watered plain ; subject to equal
diversity of soil or climate : still the operating causes which
enable certain plants to maintain their ground against all
others is equally developed, and the effects are everywhere
the same. Oaks, for instance, render the sites whereon they
grow more fertile for the fir tribe, and firs prepare the soil for
the reception of acorns or sapling oaks, which thrive well.
Every agriculturist, as Lyell justly observes in his " Prin-
ciples of Geology," feels the force of this law of the organic
world, and regulates accordingly the rotation of his
crops.

The Bog-moss above mentioned, instead of deteriorating
its place of growth, seems to have thrown a mantle over
vast denuded tracts and unpeopled regions, preserving many
a giant oak or pine that would otherwise have crumbled to

11 HAXDY BOOK OF

dust ; a way-mark, too, indicating traces of forgotten men,
or implements of husbandry, and affording to the botanist
and antiquary subjects of the deepest interest. This species
constitues a considerable porticn of all such peat as abounds
in the marshes of ^Northern Europe. Peat may consist of
any among the numerous plants that thrive best in moist
situations, where the temperature is low, and vegetables
decompose without putrefying — but the Sphafft&trn is by far
the most abundant, in some portions nearly to the exclusion
of all others, and possessing the singular property of throw-
ing up new shoots in the upper part, while the extremities
are decaying. "Whenever, therefore, woods have been
destroyed by fire — large trees uprooted by sudden storms of
wind — or tracts of once cultivated land made desolate —
embankments broken down, and marshes usurping the
place of fertilizing streams — the Bog-moss rapidly takes
root and flourishes.

In warm climates all decaying timber is presently re-
moved by insects : termites and beetles with boring instru-
ments set to work ; they perforate the wood in all directions,
and when their ministry is accomplished, winds disperse
the fragments to incredible distances. It is otherwise in
the cold temperature that prevails in our latitudes, and
numerous examples are on recotd of the usurping powers
of Bog-moss ; of its beneficial results also, and antiseptic
property.

Thus, in Mars Forest, as related by Dr. Eennie, large
trunks of patriarchal firs, which had fallen through ex-
treme old age, were soon grown over by this friendly plant.
We learn, also, that a sudden tornado having overthrown
a considerable forest near Lochbroom, in Ross-shire, about
the middle of the seventeenth century, its site was 69
quickly concealed from the same cause, that in about fifty
years the inhabitants obtained peat. A similar instance is
remembered with regard to the wood of Drumlanrig, in
Dumfriesshire ; and old men tell their children, beside the

PEltXS AND MOSSES. 15

winter peat-fire, that stately trees once grew wliere their
fuel is now procured ; they speak of the roaring winds and
furious rains that drove, against the old wood, and how,
when warm in their beds, young children — as they then
were — they trembled to hear the bellowing of the storm,
and the crashing of the fine old trees that toppled down
like ninepins one upon the other. The old men new nought
concerning other peat-bogs, but the circumstance which
they mentioned explains the occurrence — both in this
country and on the continent — of mosses, wherein the trees
were uniformly broken off, some close to the roots, others
within two or three feet of the original surface, but all
lying in the same direction.

In other instances, peat-bogs have originated from a dif-
ferent cause — the soil became, without doubt, too much,
exhausted for timber-trees, and, on the principle of that
natural rotation which occurs in the vegetable world, one set
of plants died out, and gave place to others. In proof of
which, it has been ascertained that in the Danish islands,
and in Jutland and Holstein, fir wood -of various kinds
(especially Scotch fir), is found at the bottom of peat-mosses,
although it is certain that, during the last five centuries, no
cone-producing plants have grown wild in those countries ;
trees of this family having been introduced towards the close
of the last century.

We have mentioned, incidentally, the preserving quality
of the peat, or Bog-moss ; this quality is attributable to the
carbonic and gallic acids, which issue from decayed wood,
and is consequently absorbed by them; as also, to the
presence of charred wood in the lowest strata of their vast
accumulations ; for charcoal is a powerful antiseptic, or
preventive of corruption in animal and vegetable matter;
and consequently, capable ' of purifying water already
putrid.

Nothing is more common than the finding of buried trees
throughout the vast extent of peat-mosses. In those of Ire-

16

HANDY BOOK OF

land, as also in most of such which abound in England,
France, and Holland, they have been often observed with
portions of their trunks standing erect, having their roots
fixed to the subsoil, and consequently affording indubitable
proofs that they once occupied the spot which now presents
only a wild and denuded waste. In the marsh of Carragh
comprising one of the wildest portions in the Isle of Man
large trees are discovered, standing firm on their roots,
though at the depth of eighteen or twenty feet below the
surface. Indications, also, of large forests remain in Angle-
sea, beneath whose branches Druids reared their huts — the

SPHAGNUM PALUSTRE — GREY BOG-MOSS.

very trees, it may be, around which waged the storm of
war, when priestesses, with dishevelled hair, and torches in
their hands, poured forth the most terrible execrations ; and
the islanders, stimulated to fury by their Druids, vainly
sought to repel the troops of Suetonius. Be this as it may,
the fact is certain — that Anglesea was one of the strongest
holds of Druidism ; and that her groves of oak, wherein
human victims were often sacrificed, were cut down by
command of the Roman general.

Some naturalists conjecture that trees may have been im-
bedded in peat-mosses through sudden eruptions of water ;
but the facts already mentioned show that such an hypothe-
sis is inadmissible. It is likewise further disproved by the
fact, that in Scotland, as in many parts of the continent, the
largest trees are found in peat-mosses lying in the least ele-

FEfiXS AND MOSSES. 17

vated regions, and that the trees are proportionally smaller
in such as occupy the higher levels. De Luc and Walker
accordingly infer, that the trees grew on the spot, as timber
uniformily attains a greater size in low and sheltered places.
The leaves also, and fruits of several species, are continually
found immersed in moss, together with the parent trees ;
as, for instance, leaves and acorns of the oak, the cones and
leaves of fir, and nuts of the hazel.

It is more than probable, that no single plant throughout
the vegetable world is so universally diffused as the Bog-
moss. Other plants, doubtless, such as reeds and rushes,
may be usually "traced in peat, but wherever this substance
is discovered, the" Sphagnum constitutes its chief ingredient,
and ruay be readily discriminated. When formed on a de-
clivity in mountainous regions damp with springs, and
where clouds continually rest, it scarcely ever exceeds four
feet; when subsisting, on the contrary, in bogs and low
grounds, it is occasionally forty feet thick, and upwards —
which difference may, in some respects, be accounted for by
the volume of water it contains.

And yet, though widely diffused, abounding in propor-
tion to its distance from the Equator, and becoming not only
more frequent, but more inflammable in northern latitudes
— this valuable moss is subjected to certain laws, which re-
strict its advance within the tropics. It is, "moreover, rarely
found even in the south of France and Spain ; and although
most plants contribute in warm climates to the production
of peat, it is a singular fact, that neither the Sphagnun,
nor any other kind of moss, enters into the composition of
South American peat, which is chiefly formed of the Astalia
pumila.

Our native moss is, therefore, never discovered in the
Brazils ; not even in the swampy portions of her vast allu-
vial plains, drained by the sea-like Plata : on the eastern
side of South America ; nor in the island of Chiloe on the
west. When, however, an English traveller reaches th«

c

18 HAXDT BOOK OF

45th deg. of latitude, and botanically analyses the peat of
Terra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, or the Chonos
Archipelago, he meets again the well-known Sphagnum,
•which he has perhaps gathered in some green lane or wood-
side near his far-off home.

And yet, though locally restricted, a vast extent of
Europe is covered with this kind of moss. In Ireland, es-
pecially, it occupies — with different kinds of aquatic plants,
though in a far greater degree — a tenth of the whole island.
One of the bogs beside the Shannon is fifty miles in length
by two or three broad ; and the great marsh of Montoire,
near the mouth of the river Loire — which gives a name to a
department of France — north of La Vendee, is more than
fifty leagues in circumference. It is also a curious and well-
authenticated fact, that several northern European mosses
occupy the place of pine and oak woods that have ceased to
exist within the historical era.

The same recent origin may be attributed to several in
this country. We have already instanced that of Loch-
broom, in Rosshire ; Hatfield Moss, in Yorkshire, may be
likewise mentioned. Local history preserves the fact, that
a vast forest occupied its site, about eighteen hundred years
since — a very ancient forest, without doubt, as prostrate
oaks have been discovered above one hundred feet long
fir-trees also, some more than ninety feet in length : all of
which were eagerly purchased for masts and keels of
ships.

The noble trees, which war or storms laid prostrate,
sheltered, without doubt, men of different races. Our
British ancestors dwelt among them ; and recent drainage,
with the removal of peat accumulations, have laid open
Roman roads in the same moss of Hatfield, as also in that
of Kincardine, and several others ; a fact which, taken in
connection with the absence of British remains, goes far to
prove, that a considerable portion of the European peat-
bogs originated in the time of Julius Csosar ; more especially

FE11XS AND 3IOSSES. 19

as the coins, arms, and axes, are clearly not more ancient
than the era of his conquests. Nor can any vestige of the
forests described by that general, and through which the
great Roman road was formed, be discovered, except in the
ruined trunks of trees, which the rapid growth of Bog -moss
concealed for ages.

The aboriginal forests of Ardennes, Seinarna, and Hir-
cinia, with others of equal extent, have long since disap-
peared, and their sites are occupied by swamps and mosses.
That such vast sweeps of woodland once overshadowed a
considerable part of France and Germany are facts pertain-
ing to history ; as, likewise, that their disappearance
resulted from strict orders given by different Roman
emperors to destroy both groves and woods throughout all
conquered provinces. In after years, the same policy was
adopted by Edward I. with regard to Wales ; by Henry II.
as respected Ireland. With the passing on of years, and the
increase of civilization, different Parliaments made laws for
the cutting down of extensive woods, because they harboured
wolves and outlaws. No one, however, cared to remove a
tenth of the prostrate trees ; nor, indeed, could they, for
trees were many, and labourers few. Wherever, therefore,
the noble oaks came crashing down, there they remained ;
their trunks and branches obstructing the free drainage of
atmospheric waters, and preventing many a bubbling stream
that sprung from out the ground from flowing according to
its wont. Mosses accordingly began their ministry ; and
brief space sufficed to enwrap, as with a mighty mantle of
living green, those fallen fathers of the forest. Far as the
eye could reach, even from the topmost bough of the stateliest
oak or fir, would have appeared one wide, interminable
mingling of forest trees ; — now ascending some bold emi-
nence, now stooping down into spacious valleys, then going
on over ample plains, bounded only by the horizon. A few
years passed : where the mighty had stood and fallen, was

20 HANDY BOOK OF

seen, only a wide extent of level or undulating ground, which
bore the name of moss.

Considerable tracts have, consequently, been reduced to
sterility as regards the growth of timber, by exterminating
edicts, and rendered less capable of administering to the
wants of man : but with the progress of civilization has
arisen a desire to appropriate them to purposes of agricul-
ture ; and hence, throughout many parts of England, bogs
have been drained : and rich fields of corn and homesteads,
reward the industry of the agriculturist.

Hatfield Moss, and that of Kincardine, with others of
great extent, bear witness to Roman triumphs, as already
mentioned. Others still are, or were, belonging to a period
of unknown antiquity. The body of a woman was dis-
covered, about a hundred years since, in a Lincolnshire
peat-moor. It was covered with moss about six feet deep,
and had lain there, apparently, for many ages. The nails,
hair, and skin were scarcely, if at all, changed ; and the
antique sandals on her feet told of a widely-different condi-
tion of society. It may be assumed that she was a person.
of some rank— perhaps a British princess, or it might be a
female Druid — for sandals were confined to the higher
classes, or to those who ministered in idol services. A
human body was likewise exhumed, a foot deep in gravel,
covered with eleven feet of Bog-moss. It was completely
clothed in garments made of hair. This curious circum-
stance occurred on an estate belonging to the Earl of Moira,
in Ireland : and the fact of hair garments identifies it with
a period antecedent to the one when British matrons learned
the use of the distaff from their German sisters. No pro
bable conjecture could be formed respecting the animal in
whose skin the ancient Briton had been enwrapped ; but
history leads to the conjecture, that the shaggy covering of
the goat was among the first materials employed in clothing ;
that afterwards the long hair of the caprine races was
blended with the short and soft fur of other animals, by the

FERNS AND MOSSES. 21

aid of gum or glue, and manufactured into that coarse, but
solid felt, known in Northern Asia from the earliest ages, and
thus noticed by the poet : —

" The careful pastor shears their hoary beards,
p And eases of their hair the loaded herds ;

Their camelots, warm in tents, the soldiers hold,
And shield the shivering mariners from cold."

Goats' -hair, therefore, was the chief material used in
ancient British vestments, till an improved condition of
society led to the adoption, from Gaul, of the valuable arts
of dressing wool, and of spinning and weaving cloth. Tra-
dition tells, that such were brought into the island by a
Belgic colony, about a century previous to the first invasion
by the Romans. Authentic history relates, that an imperial
manufactory of woollen cloth was established at Vinta Bul-
garum, now "Winchester.

Canoes, stone hatchets, and stone arrow-heads, evidently
of British manufacture, have been found embedded in moss ;
as also skeletons of a gigantic elk.

Before dismissing this very interesting portion of our sub-
ject, we shall briefly refer to the origin of bog-iron ore,
which is found occasionally at the bottom of peat-mosses.
The frequency of this curious substance is familiar to the
mineralogist, and its formation was long a matter of discus-
sion, until the researches of Ehrenberg seem to have re-
moved the difficulty. He observed, in the marshes about
Berlin, a deep ochre-yellow or red substance, which, upon
becoming dry after the water had subsided, closely resembled
oxide of iron.

BOG-IRON ORE 2000 TIMES MAGNIFIED.

"When submitted to a powerful microscope, the whole was

22 HANDY BOOK OF

found to consist of slender, articulated threads, form-
ing the cases of minute living creatures, called Gaillonclle
ferruginea. No doubt, therefore, now exists, that this
Bog-iron Ore — which is partly silicious and partly ferru-
ginous— comprises millions of these small cases, which
although invisible to the naked eye, are yet so powerftil in
their effects as to occasion the ebony blackness of such oaks
as have been found in peat.

For the sake of our readers who reside near peat-bogs, we
shall briefly mention, that the Grey Bog-moss is the most
common, with its two varieties : — the Zigzag is rare : the
leaves are of a splendid intense green, and when placed
under a water-spout, it assumes the character of a brytan.

Grey Bog-moss. Stems growing together, from three to
twelve inches high, upright : branches, two, three, or four,
from the same part — often drooping from the abundance of
moisture. . Leaves white, egg or oval shaped, concave, soft,
tiling the .branches. Capsules, when ripening on fruit-
stalks, urn-shaped ; generally several together at the top of
the stem.

Such are the natural history and associations connected
with the Bog-moss.

MARCH.

" WHERE'ER we search, tiie scene presents
Wonders to charm th' admiring sense,

And elevate the mind ;
Nor ever spreads a single spray,
That quivers in departing day,
Or turns to meet the morning ray,

But speaks a power Divine. "

WHAT is apparently more insignificant than moss-seeds ': —
in some species only to be discovered by aid of a high mag-
nifier, in others resembling the finest grains of sand. What

FE11XS AND MOSSES. 23

is so utterly invisible as 'the wind — felt in its effects, but
unseen !' Yet the seeds and the wind, working conjointly,
clothe the herbless rock with verdure, and form, as years
pass on, a rooting-place for oaks that ride sea-billows, and
circumnavigate the globe.

Mosses, therefore, and their handmaids, crustaceous
lichens, are needful in the economy of nature : the first, as
already noticed, prepares a slight accumulation of vegetable
mould for the reception of the second ; and these are rapidly
succeeded by grasses and lesser plants, which in their turn
decay, and give place to shrubs and trees, till after the
lapse of years, extensive woodlands often clothe the boldest
and most precipitous ascents. Thus, in the passes of the
Alps, near Inspruck, the high cliffs on either side, though

CTP, OR CHALICE-MOSS.

nearly perpendicular, are mantled with vast forests, that
cast a dismal shade over the road. Time was, when those
rocks were destitute of vegetation, when huge masses were
raged over by fierce winds, and winter rains descended on.
them in their might : had the eye of some passing natu-
ralist been open to discern tilings invisible, he might have
seen a light vapour, borne by zephyrs, and left among the
fissures of those wild rocks, where already the smallest
particles of mould had accumulated ; then came soft rains
and sunbeams, ministering to the tender seeds, till forth
from out their rocky cradles peeped green mosses of various
forms and hues. The Cup, or Chalice-moss of old botanists,
grew there abundantly, and its descendants still linger in

^4 HANDY BOOK OF

pen spaces beneath, the trees'; hecause, as wrote old
Gerard, " It thriveth best in moist barren and gravelly
banks or rocks, creeping flat upon the ground, like unto
liverwort, but of a yellowish-white colour, among which
leaves start up here and there, certaine little things fashioned
like unto a tiny cup, called a beater, or chalice, and of the
same colour and substance of the lower leaves, which un-
doubtedly may be taken for the flowers. The powder of
this moss, given unto small children in any liquour, for
certaine daies together, is a most certaine remidy against
that perilous malady called the chin-coiigh. Albeit, the
remedy doth require care, and is not to be adventured upon,
save under the guidance of an experienced gudewife."

The Toothed, hoary Thread-moss (Bryum liypnoidcs) is
found in the same locality. Concerning this, also, the old
herbalist has thus spoken :— " There is found, upon the top
of most barren mountains, but especially such as at whose
base sea coles are accustomed to be digged, or stones to
make iron of, and also where ore is gotten for tinne and
lead, a certaine small plant ; it riseth forth of the ground
with many bare and naked branches, dividing themselves at
the top into sundiy knags, like the forked homes of deere,
every part whereof is of a whitish colour."

The Northern Hair-moss (Muses septentrionale] is there
also ; that graceful species, first discovered on Ben Nevis,
and nowhere more abundant than on the highest of the
Cairngorm range of Grampian mountains, which thrives
best on rugged sides of windy rocks, where storms contend
for mastery. Yet, who, in looking on this moss, could
imagine that its delicate texture was adapted to bear the
merciless buffetings of winds and rains, unsheltered from
their fury, and covered half the year with a crushing weight
of snow. Yet so it is ; and life is still sustained in this
small weed — a memorial plant, bidding him who looks
towards its sterile growing-place, take courage, wherever
Ms lot is cast.

FEH>TS AND MOSSES. 25

Wherever a small stream wanders in the same wild loca-.
lity, there the Rigid Thread-moss (Bryum rigidum] finds a
home. Rills supplied hy rain are not unfrequent on con-
siderable elevations, and the naturalist who could ascend
some of the most accessible, would often find the mosses
that grow in valleys. This occurs in the instance of the
Rigid Thread-moss, which thrives best where springs ooze
from out the ground. Its diminutive relative, Paludoswn,
abounds in its vicinity, and may be seen on dripping rocks,
or nestling among the massive roots of giant trees, which
are rendered continually moist by extending in their neigh-
bourhood.

Different species of the family of the Earth - moss
(Phascum} are uniformly pioneers to their more attractive
brethren. The Sharp-leaved Dwarf Earth-moss (P. acaulon]
is extremely minute ; but wherever it appears, with its
soft and delicate leaves, a few lines in length, and forming
globular clusters, he who passes away, and returns after the
lapse of a few years, will find its herbless haunt covered
with bushes, perhaps even with young sappling oaks or
elms. The Beardless Earth-moss (P. muticum) may be
readily distinguished by its red and yellow capsules, which
become brown in autumn, and often present a pleasing con-
trast to the vivid green of various kinds. The whole plant
is extremely minute ; it attains occasionlly to an elevation
of half an inch, though more generally is only three or four
lines high. But however diminutive, the Capillary-branched
Earth-moss (P. serratuni) is still smaller. This fairy-
formed moss resembles, at first sight, a thread-like byssus,
and would be scarcely visible to the eye if it did not grow
in patches. Conjectured to be a connecting link between
the Musci and Algae, partaking likewise of the nature of
Phascum and Conferva, it consists of numerous filaments,
which, when subjected to a magnifier, appear creeping,
cylindrical, branched, and jointed like a conferva ; the in-
terstices pellucid, the joints darker green: and yet, how-

26 HANDY BOOK OF

ever minute, and most probably the smallest of British
mosses, every part is elaborately adorned : the. egg-shaped
seed-vessels are pointed, and of a tawny hue when ripe ;
and the veil which serves to protect the seeds from the
effects of weather, or to hide them from the visitations
of small Birds, is most exquisitely finished.

The P. alternifolium, or Alternate-leaved Earth-moss,
has its own specific character. It forms small green tufts,
and the leaves, when examined separately, are short, awl-
shaped, alternate, rather bulging at the base, and expanding
at the ends. The Crooked- stalked (P. curvifolium} in like
manner reveals specific differences, although hardly visible
to the naked eye unless growing in clusters, and bearing its
swollen capsules on small stems. What, it may be asked,
are those peculiar differences ? Straightness in the spear-
shaped leaves that form the involucrum, or veil, while the
other leaves are egg spear-shaped, as also bending fruit-
stalks, terminated by oval seed-vessels, brown and mottled
when fully ripe. Such are the peculiarities of this scarcely
visible moss, which render it different from any other of its
kind, as the yew is different from the poplar. In the
Bearded Earth -moss (P. piliferum), we recognize a remark-
able hoary appearance, occasioned by the long white filiform,
extremities of the leaves.

The above-mentioned are most common among those
mosses which prepare the way for large vegetable develop-
ments, and enable seeds to germinate even in the fissures
and crannies of granite rocks. In the Alpine passes all is
terrible and full of gloom. Giant oaks, grasping with their
firm roots immense masses of overarching rocks, fling their
tortuous and rugged branches far over the defile, and often
reach the opposite bank, of which the summit is lost amid
the shade of intermingling boughs.

The beautiful vale of Tempe, on the contrary, offers an
instance of the fine effect produced by progressive vegeta-
tion. Towards the lower part of this wild spot, the cliffs

FEEXS AJfD 3IOSS.KS. 27

are peaked in a very singular manner, and form projecting
angles on the vast perpendicular masses of picturesque rocks
that extend on either side the glen. According to the depth
of mould, produced hy the decay of lichens and mosses, are
the fissures and ledges of the rocks varied with dwarf oaks,
arbutus, and flowering shrubs.

Thus are we indebted to the gradual progress of vegetation
in which mosses bear such a distinguishing part, for some im-
posing and many graceful varieties in scenery. Bare and
rugged rocks may, in some situations, produce a grand, but
never a beautiful effect ; tinged with such concentric circles,
nebula?, and seeming pencilling of all hues and forms as
lichens present, their sterile aspect disappears, mosses and
ferns take root, and become objects of great interest to
painters and botanists. To these succeed, or else mingle
with them, flowers and small bushes — the dog-rose or honey-
suckle, the daphne laurel, the dwarf cornel and mezereum.
At this point, the rock acquires a considerable degree of
beauty ; but when clothed with forest trees, it becomes —
especially if reflected by a sheet of water — one of the sub-
limest objects connected with natural scenery.

To such of our friends as live in the 'neighbourhood
of those deep cuttings through rocks, which are made
for the laying down of railroads, we recommend attention
to this gradual advance of vegetation. It may not be that
lichens and mosses first root themselves among the ruptured
portions, because the rock being suddenly thrown open to
the action of the elements, and affected by the escape of
different gases, partially decomposes in many parts, and is
consequently prepared for the reception of floating seeds.
Progressive vegetation is, however, soon apparent, and be-
comes a subject of no ordinary interest.

The same effect may also be often traced on a common
wall, and is equally deserving of notice. A green incrusta-
tion is first seen, composed of the earliest germination of
some minute moss ; when this decays, a very thin stratum

28 HANDY BOOK OF

of mould is deposited, which imperceptibly accumulates, and
forms a soil for the reception of other mosses, and such
diminutive plants as the Drapa verna, or Nailwort ; others
of a larger growth succeed, and before much time has passed,
wallflowers, and the elegant snapdragon, with ferns and
harebells, wave in the soft summer air. The walls of the
Jews' burying-ground, near the Queen's Elms, on the Ful-
ham road, present a similar instance of vegetable develop-
ment in its earliest and rudimental state.

Two subjects for consideration are suggested by the men-
tion of mosses, taken in connection with trees or shrubs, and
each has reference to that appendage which generally,
though not invariably, acts as an anchor to the plant. This
appendage is the root; its fantastic form and tenacious
grasp in various instances have been alluded to by poets and
painters, and few, it may be, whose eyes are opened to admire
the natural objects of creation, have not remarked the fine
effect produced in broken foregrounds by the introduction of
interlacing roots with ferns and mosses. Salvator llosa well
knew the magic and truthfulness which they imparted, and
many a painter since his time has visited the wildest soli-
tudes of nature — green lanes and time-worn quarries, over -
grown with old trees — in quest of such ; poets have sung
concerning them, and none more graphically than our own
Spenser and the Bard of Avon. Botanists, too, have loved
to turn aside from the technicalities of science, to linger in
imagination among forest walks, where moss-grown roots
twist adown the banks, and are often embellished with
primroses and bluebells. Strange it seems, that among the
sons of Painting or of Song, none have cared to find a theme
for sketching or description in the elegant moss root, which
binds its parent to some storm-beaten rock. And yet the
mystic apparatus of pipes and organs, of cells and vessels,
equally exists in the minutest fibre of the Capillary Thread-
moss — smallest of British" mosses — as in the sturdy root that
sustains the loftiest oak. The machinery in each is similar ;

FERXS AND MOSSES.

29

the functions of absorption, assimilation, and secretion, with
the flowing of sap and the showing forth of its wondrous
powers, are the same in both. Moreover, I have often
thought, when endeavouring to remove a piece of moss, that
the power of adhesion in its roots is far greater than in
forest trees. Small though they be, and minute the green
patch which they sustain, they nevertheless stride their
sessile fibres so firmly into the rock or stone, that a sharp
penknife (and used by a strong hand) is often required to

OAK FERX, OR WOOD FERX.

separate the moss or byssus from its place of growth. This
is needful ; and were it otherwise, the tribe of which we
speak would be continually swept away by the mere force of
the wind or rain. Hence it is that the roots of mosses are
comprised under the general name of branching; several
kinds are furnished with small claspers, that possess great
muscular strength ; others possess, if we mistake not, a
restricted power of adhering by means of suction.

Ferns are now beginning to unfold, and the botanist who

30 HANDY 1300K OF

seeks for them in woods and bank-sides, may often discover
roimd hairy-looking halls, of a rich brown colour, emerging
from among the grass and mosses. Such halls contain some
infant fern, carefully folded up, hut soon to yield to the
joint ministry of showers and sunheams, and to stand forth
in its singleness and heauty.

Oak-fern grows generally in wild and mountainous dis-
tricts, and, although one of the most elegant and attractive
of our native species, seems instinctively to avoid the abodes
of men, and fixes itself in places overhung with rocks or
thick foliage. The roots are black and fibrous, and the
young fronds make their appearance in March and April ;
they each resemble three small balls upheld on wires, which
gradually unfold, and display a triple division ; the fronds
arrive at maturity early in the summer, and entirely dis-
appear before the storms of winter.

This species, the Polypodium dryopteris of botanists, de-
rives its specific name from being occasionally found among
the mossy roots of aged oaks. Its localities are often asso-
ciated with local scenery and time-haunted ruins, with the
remembrance of Druidic observances and r tes, and places
renowned in history. Dry, stony heaths in Yorkshire,
Lancashire, "Westmoreland, and Scotland, are some of its
favourite resorts, though growing in great luxuriance
beside the fall of Lodore, on the side of Derwentwater, in
Cumberland. "We have gathered it occasionally in Glouces-
tershire, in a wood north-east of the road up Frocester
Hill, and on a rocky lane-bank leading to the romantic
village of Shepseombe, near Painswick, towards the Chel-
tenham road.

The unfolding of this graceful species is ever welcome.
Its emerging from the earth uniformly indicates the passing
by of winter storms, and is accompanied by the lesser celan-
dine, with its glossy yellow cups — the speedwell, and haw-
thorn, and those two most fragrant ilowers, the violet and

FKKNS .VST) 3IOSSES. 31

the meek, soft-eyed primrose. The mezereum, that fills the
air with fragrance, and daffodils —

" That come before the swallow dares, and tint
The winds of March, with beauty."

often affect the same locality.

BROAD FERN.

Fronds of the Broad-fern (Lastraa dilatata, or Aspidium
dilatahim and spinuhsum, and Polypodium cristatum, for
by each of these names has the Broad-fern been designated)
also appear in March, and although thus early developed,
are rarely injured by the frost. New fronds succeed one
another as. the months pass on ; they apparently attain their
maturity in September, and continue green and vigorous
throughout the winter — yet only in sheltered places, for the
Broad fern seems to shrink instinctively from cold.

This fern occasionally assumes a dissimilar appearance
from such as it generally presents, and is therefore somewhat
puzzling to inexperienced botanists. Four types are noticed
by Xewman in his interesting history of British species, and
are as follow : —

The Linear type ; erect, rigid, pale sickly green ; lateral
margin of the frond nearly linear, as figured above.

The Dwarf type : dwarf, nearly erect, rigid, dark-green
or brown ; lateral margin nearly linear ; all the divisions
having a tendency to become convex.

The Triangular type : drooping, deep full green, broadly
triangular ; the divisions slightly convex.

32 HANDY BOOK OF

The Concave type : when luxuriant, drooping ; "when
otherwise, more erect ; triangular, bright beautiful green ;
all the divisions concave.

In every variety, the lateral veins are placed alternately
on the mid- vein, after leaving which, each one sends out an
anterior branch, which bears a nearly circular mass of thecte
half-way between its commencement and extremity. All
the veins terminate before reaching the margin, which is
attached on one side, but is soon lost among the growing
theese, or sheaths.

The engraving represents the triangular or normal form,
which gives a peculiar grace to this interesting species. Few
among the brotherhood of Ferns are more widely-diffused
throughout England, "Wales, Scotland, and Ireland ; grow-
ing not unfrequently on decayed trees, or on old stumps in
hedgerows, on rocks and among stones; and is then, on
account of its black, iibrous, and tenacious roots, extremely
difficult to obtain entire ; but when affecting woods and
forests abounding with dead leaves, finding neither stones
nor prostrate trees wherein to fix itself, the Broad fern may
be readily removed.

APRIL.

" OH ! I have loved where thou wast rear'd in greenest strength to

stray,

And mark thy feathery stem upraised o'er lichen' d ruin grey;
Or in the fairy moonlight bent, to meet the silvering hue ;
Or glistening yet, when noon was high, with morn's unvanish'd

dew."

FEW plants are' more locally restricted than such as com-
pose the Fern tribe; and yet this restriction cannot be
ascribed to the want of shade or moisture. We remember
a well-wooded park in Northamptonshire, watered by an

FERXS AXD MOSSES. iio

ample stream, and having, moreover, a considerable morass,
favourable to the growth of many species, where a few
stunted specimens of the common Brake-fern (Pteris aqui-
&"««) alone were discoverable. They grew under the shade of
trees, in somewhat swampy ground, and* occupied a small
space. Many, in passing, looked upon them with indiffer-
ence ; but their desolate and dwarfish appearance awoke
within us the thought of fallen fortunes and stately homes
exchanged for penury and obscurity.

"TTA ^

COMMON BRAKK.

After leaving the growing-place of this isolated family,
we sought carefully for more favourable specimens, but in
vain. The hedges for many miles presented a rich luxu-
riance of wild roses and honeysuckles ; and a beautiful variety
of flowers common to the season was seen on either side the
village roads ; yet not a single fern. iNor was it till we
reached Oundle, at sixteen miles' distance, that we observed
small tufts of the Scaly Hart-tongue, springing from fissures
in an old bridge which crossed the river Nen. One or two
diminutive Polypodies were seen in the same locality ; they

D

34 HANDY BOOK OF

were, however, imperfectly developed, and had suffered
from the depredation of insects.

The absence of the Common Brake throughout such an
extended space is the more extraordinary, because there is
scarcely a heath or common — a wood or forest, in any part
of the United Kingdom, where it does not hold a prominent
station. Its presence is said to indicate a poor soil ; hut
Newman is inclined to think that its absence from rich and
highly- cultivated ground is rather attributable to the effects
of the plough and hoe. Varying in height from ten or
twelve inches to as many feet, it attains an enormous size in
shady woods where the soil is moist, and sunbeams rarely
enter. Kent is one of its favourite localities ; and we re-
member gathering some fine specimens in a beech wood near
Ebworth Park, in Gloucestershire. The trees were large
and beautiful ; but, with the exception of the Brakes and
common Solomon's Seal, nothing could nourish beneath their
shade : these plants, however, grew profusely ; and it was
cheering to welcome them in a spot where even the common
green moss seemed disinclined to vegetate.

Young fronds of the Brake-fern appear in May ; they are
very susceptible of cold, and the first shoots are almost in-
variably destroyed by the late frosts of spring, even when
the month is considerably advanced. They emerge from
out the earth either bent or doubled, the leafy portion being
pressed against the rachis ; yet not curled, according to the
wont of other species. And as in spring this welcome fern
shrinks from such lingering frosts as seem unwilling to for-
sake the fields, so in autumn their visitations, however
transient, cause the leaves to become of a deep-brown colour,
and thus they continue during the whole winter, frequently
in an erect position, and affording shelter to small animals,
and birds when seeking for insect food.

The roots are brown, fibrous, and penetrating; the rhizoma
is also brown, velvety, of extensive and rapid growth, run-

AND MOSSES. 3o

ning mostly in a horizontal direction, though occasionally
perpendicular. The historian of British Ferns, who watched
with great interest the progress of the London and Croydon
railway, found in the New Cross cutting, great abundance
of rhizomata in a decayed condition, some of which had
penetrated to a perpendicular depth of fifteen feet. And
wherever this fern has grown unmolested for a long series
of years, the soil becomes filled with a seeming network
formed by them.

Seeds of the common Brake, equally with those of ferns
in general, afford interesting objects for the microscope. The
capsules in which they are contained, though appearing
merely as dots or lines on the under- surf ace of the leaves,
are either sitting or sessile, or else elevated on little foot-
stalks, surrounded by an elastic or jointed ring, opening
transversely when ripe, and dicharging the seeds — not merely
causing them to fall upon the earth, but, by aid of the sud-
den jerk of the springing cord, flinging them to a consider-
able distance. During the months of September and October
this curious mechanism effects its destined purpose, and sows
a crop for the ensuing year.

PERN B.OOT.

Many a schoolboy has wandered on a summer holiday
from wood-side to sunny common, pleasing himself and his
companions, as he passed along, with pulling up the finest
Brakes and cutting their roots obliquely : wherefore ? Be-
cause the roots, when cut, present a natural hieroglyphic,
beautifully delineated, and representing either an oak tret
or spread eagle. Some cavalier, it may be following the
fortunes of Prince Charles through glen and glade where
grew the Brake-fern in its wildest luxuriance, gave to this

36 HANDY BOOK 01'

small painting by Nature's pencil the cognomen of " King
Charles in the Oak." A mournful fancy, truly, had he who
thus named it ; but, ever since, the name has descended
from sire to son, through generations of schoolboys, to the
present day. Linnaeus, in like manner, resting beside a
rocky bank in Lapland, where the Brake-fern grew in such
profusion as to form a canopy above his head, chancing to
cut one of the stems a little way below the earth, found to
his great surprise that it presented a kind of minute pencil-
ling. Mindful of the Imperial Eagle, either as a cognizance
of the House of Austria, or else having respect to the stern
occupant of rugged mountains, winging his bold flight over
regions of perpetual winter, he gave to it the name of Pterix
aquilina.

The Pteris is not only abundant, but extremely useful ;
it is preferred in Scotland for thatching cottages and sheds,
and serves in Wales for littering horses. You may see,
even in the streets of London, cart-loads of this favourite
fern at the doors of fruiterers and fishmongers. I often
turn aside, when passing, to look upon its well-remem-
bered branches ; and many a thought arises of far-oft'
scenes, where the Brake-fern flourished amid the loveliest
haunts, by stream or wood-side, or on sunny heaths, among
wild thyme and the bee-orchis.

Cottagers have recourse to the ashes of the common Brake
for obtaining a tolerably pure alkali, mixed with water,
and formed into balls, which are afterwards heated in the
rire ; they arc much used to make lye for scouring linen.
In countries where coal is scarce, the peasantry find them
invaluable for heating ovens and burning limestone, for
they yield a very great heat : when seen in the gloom of
evening thus gleaming from some lone lime-kiln among
rocks and aged trees, the effect is exceedingly pleasing.

A coarse kind of bread is prepared from the roots in some
inhospitable regions of the globe : in countries, too, where
fruits abound, and palms and citrons yield abundance of

FK11NS AND BOSSES. 37

vegetable stores, the young shoots are often sold in bundles
as a kind of salad. Those who prepare kid and chamois
leather for sale employ ferns in dressing it; and of ten while
the chamois hunter pursues his prey amid Alpine solitudes,
his children range at the base of the stern rocks which he
lias ascended, in quest of this valuable fern.

And a truly wild plant is this same Brake, avoiding the
haunts of man, and delighting in the purest air of heaven,
among wastes and mountains, associated with legendary
lore, and many a border tale of thrilling interest.

" Beautiful fern !

Thy place is not where art exults to raise the tended flower,
By terraced walk, or deck'd parterre, or fenced and shelter'd

bower ;

Xor where the straightly-levelled walks, of tangled boughs between,
The sunbeam lights the velvet sward, and streams through alleys

green.

Thy dwelling is the desert heath, the wood, the haunted dell,
And where the wild deer stoops to drink, beside the crystal well ;
And by the lake with trembling stars bestud, when earth is still,
And midnight's melancholy pomp is on the distant hill."

TRUE MAIDENHAIR.

The True Maidenhair (Adiantum aapillus- Veneris of
nuthors) is the rarest and most beautiful of British ferns.
He who adventures into moist caves, or on rocks near the
sea-coast, may chance to find here and there a tuft of this
elegant plant, firmly rooted in the crevices, yet uniformly

38 HANDY BOOK OF

preferring a perpendicular surface, from whence its delicate
fronds spring forth in a nearly horizontal direction, inclining
upwards at the extremity.

Jn Cornwall, dripping rocks near St. Ives are favourite
growing-places of this rare fern ; as also a small cove on
the eastern side of Carrack Gladden, and a cove between St.
Ives and Hayle. At the Lizard Point, that most southern
promontory of England, the scene of many a bitter parting
from those who are bound to the westward— botanists are
likewise rarely disappointed in collecting some of the finest
specimens.

Fern collectors who visit the principality of Wales during
their summer excursions, may find the species in a some-
what considerable range comprised within the rocks of
Dunraven, in Glamorganshire, and Barry Island. A marked
restriction with regard to locality prevails in Ireland ;
although abounding with such dripping rocks as the Maid-
enhair principally affects, as yet it is discovered only in
the south isles of Arran ; among the Cahir Couree moun-
tains, near Tralee, at the foot of a romantic rock facing-
south-west ; and on the banks of Loch Bulard, near
Urrisbeg, Connemara.

Professor Beattie, who loved ferns, and sought them out
in their most secluded haunts, mentions the true Maiden-
hair as growing on the banks of the Carron, a rivulet in
Kincardineshire.

The generic name, Adiantum, is derived from two Greek
words, signifying to moisten, or become wet. This elegant
plant is about five or six inches in height ; the leaflets are
fan-shaped, and of a very delicate transparent green ; the
roots are fibrous, black, and wiry ; the rhizoma black and
scaly ; young fronds appear early in May, though their
divisions are not fully developed before June. They mostly
continue green till winter! but shrink instinctively from
storms and piercing winds : the botanist who then seeks for
them finds only a few dull brown branches, where a few

FEKXS

MOSSES.

39

ays previously their graceful tufts looked green and cheer-
ful in the fitful gleams of a waning sun.

We have mentioned the favourite localities of the True
Maidenhair ; among these the south isles of Arran afford

ome of the finest specimens ; and so abundantly grows this
most beautiful of our native species in their mild and humj
atmosphere, that the natives use a decoction of the fron s
instead of tea. They know not how eagerly fern collectors

BLECHNTTM SPIC.VXT.

often adventure life and limb, scrambling up dripping rocks,
or exploring some lone sea-cave, in quest of the fern which,
they scarcely heed ; or with what delight the possessor of a
portable glass-house, when placing it in a staircase window,
or on some table in a favourite room, deposits vithin it a

40 HANDY BOOK OF

young plant of the True Maidenhair, that he may watch its
progress with the deepest interest.

The Blechnum spicant of Withering and Roth is now
assigned to the genus Lomaria. Mr. Smith, of the Kew
Botanic Gardens, restricts the genus Blechnum to those
species in which the lateral, or side veins, continue beyond
the line of thecae, and to the margin of the pinna ; the genus
Lomaria to such as present the lateral veins terminating in
the line of thecse. This distinction is extremely simple, and
must steadily be borne in mind.

Few, if any, local associations pertain to this frequent
species. It occurs on road-sides and village commons,
in. woods, by streamlets, and on moist heaths ; in the
southern counties sparingly, but more abundantly in the
northern. The roots are wiry, black, and tough ; the
rhizoma both tufted and hairy ; emerging simultaneously
from the earth with the lily of the valley, the cowslip and
sweet violet, the white saxifrage and woodruff; it does not,
however, again seek the shelter of maternal earth, but con-
tinues green and luxuriant through the winter. The most
casual observer may, perhaps, have noticed the beautiful
arrangement of fern-seeds on the lower surface of the leaves;
in some, profuse — in others, wanting. This peculiarity is
very obvious in the Lomaria spicant : and some slight dif-
ference exists between such fronds or leaves as are called
fertile, and such as are seedless ; it is not, however, sufficient
to perplex the learner. Paley accounts for this singular
arrangement of the seeds. " In all plants," said he, " two
purposes are obvious ; viz., the perfecting and preserving
the seeds." Seed-vessels are mostly lodged in the centre —
the recesses or labyrinths of the flowers. They are sur-
rounded with concave petals, which serve to reflect upon
them both light and warmth ; and when any deviation
occurs, it bears an especial reference to some peculiarity of
flowering or station. Thus, in some water-plants, the per-
fecting of the seeds is carried on within the stem ; in the

FEJIXS -VXD MOSSES. 41

papilionaceous or pea tribe, a pent-house, formed of fragrant
petals, protects the capsules from wind or rain. In the
family of ferns, their seeds are placed either in spots or lines,
and have, undoubtedly, regard to windy growing -places, on
rocks or ruins, or open heaths where the species congregate.

Though neither historic nor poetic associations are
awakened in the mind of him who gathers the long, slender
fern-leaf — hear you not the voices of young children calling
eagerly to one another ? " Look ! look !" say they, " what
is that brownish green ball among the primroses ?" and then,
regardless of torn pinafores or wet feet, they scramble up
the dripping or stony banks, among brambles and dog-roses,
and in their eagerness too often spoil the desired prize. The
ball itself is beautiful ; and those who love to watch the
gradual expanding of leaves and flowers observe with plea-
sure, that not only are the leaves rolled together, but the
leaflets also. Remove one of the leaflets carefully, and you
will discover on the back two white lines, extending from
the base to the point, bordered with green, and depressed in
the middle. These white lines are delicate membranes,
containing minute pellucid bodies, supported on foot- stalks.
High magnifiers, moreover, discover small bodies of a
brownish cast on the youngest leaflets. They consist of
two parts : the' one, very slender and pellucid, proceeding
from the rib ; the other, a coloured oval-shaped ball, stand-
ing upon it. "When the leaflets are fully unfolded, the rib
becomes more turgid, and the globules disappear.

The Rock Brake, or Parsley-leaved fern, is found on
rocks, and heaths, and old walls, especially in the northern
counties. Tourists to Borrowdale, Cader Idris, and the
Highlands of Scotland, may meet with this pleasing fern in
many of their favourite haunts. It generally rises to the
height of about four or five inches, and, when growing plen-
tifully, its bright green leaves present a cheerful contrast to
the lichen-dotted and dark weather-beaten masses of rock
to which it clings. Though found occasionally in the ere-

42

HANDY BOOK OF

vices of old stone walls, the Parsley-leaved fern thrives
best among the shapeless hlocks of stone which time or
storms have strewn upon the sides of mountains. In Eng-

SEEDLESS ROCK BRAKE.

FERTILE ROCK BRAKE.

land, therefore, the lakes and mountains of Cumberland and
Westmoreland, of Lancashire and Yorkshire, reveal this
delicate species ; the first two, very ahundantly ; the second,

FEEN3 AND MOSSES. 43

more sparingly. A similar assignment and restriction is
discoverable throughout Wales. Botanists who visit the
mountainous regions of Carnarvonshire often meet with
specimens rooted among stones, which some convulsive
movement of the earth has shattered in times long past ; let
them not, however,. expect to find an equal abundance of
the Parsley-leaved fern on the sides or summit of Cader
Idris, or in the wild and beautiful localities of Dolgelly,
Aberglaslyn, Stranberris, or Beddgelert, with its rushing
waters, and rocks shaded with high trees, where, as tradition
says, the last of the Welsh bards used to wake the echoes
with wild and mournful melody ; nor yet at Llanberris,
Tan-y-Bwlch, and Llyn Tregarien. Newman reports, that
ho noted at least forty localities of the Parsley -fern during
the course of a pedestrian excursion in the Highlands, but
invariably in small tufts, on old walls, or among stones ;
these localities occurred in the mountainous parts of Aber-
deenshire, Perthshire, and Argyleshire. In Ireland, the
Mourne mountains, County Down, and the liberties of Car-
rickfergus, County Antrim, are mentioned as habitats of
the same fern, though sparingly distributed.

Allosorus crispus is the name assigned by Bernhardi,
Sprengel, Sadler, and Presl, to the Rock Brakes, or Parsley-
fern, the Pteris crispa of Smith and Withering. It has been
rendered the type of a new genus by three eminent bota-
nists; Bernhardi gave it the appellation A llosorus: Desveux,
that of Phorobolus ; Brown, that of Oryptofframma ; Lin-
i!03us called it Asmunda crispa ; Roth, Onocleoides ; Gray,
Slegania Onoclea crispa. Young botanists will find it need-
ful to remember these dissimilar names.

The root is fibrous ; the fibres numerous and tough, and
tenaciously adhering to the wildest growing -places ; hence
the Parsley-fern, though slight and delicately formed, is
enabled to retain its position on the side of mountains over
which the rains and storms ot winter prevail unchecked.

The fronds, or leaves, appear in May, and disappear in

HANDY HOOK OF

autumn, when frosts begin to whiten the fields. Fertile
leaves, or such as produce seeds, are nearly triangular ;
they are composed of numerous separate pinnulso, each on a
distinct foot-stalk — the pinna), as well as the pinnulse, being-
alternate. The character of the barren, or seedless frond,
is various ; it resembles in configuration that of parsley,
being crowded, or crisped ; but the divisions are intrinsically
the same as those of the fertile, or seed-producing frond : in
both the rachis, or spike-stalk, is slender, smooth, pale-
green, and naked for rather more than "half its length ; the
coloiir of the frond is of a bright and beautiful green.

Fig. a represents a seed-producing frond, when the mar-
gins are rolled over in order to protect the theca). Fig. b,
a leaf showing alternate lateral veins, which are generally
forked ; with a mass of theca) attached at each extremity.
The veins do not reach the margin. Fig. c, a seedless
frond.

FKUXS AND MOSSES. 45

MAY.

" MANY a poet, in his lay,

Told me May would come again ;
Truly sang the bards, for May
Yesterday began to reign !
She is like a bounteous lord, •
Gold enough she gives to me —
Gold ! ay, such as poets hoard,
' Florins of the mead and tree ;
Hazel flowers, and fleurs-de-lis!'
Ferns that grow the stream beside,
Where the leveret loves to hide."

DAVYTH AP GWILYM.

AWAY to the woodlands ! to the mossy bank, and stream-
side, in quest of ferns — to the rock or wall, the wild heath
or sunny dingle — there grow these loneliest children of the
spring or summer ! and scarcely may the wind or shower
fertilize the dreariest crag, or a wandering sunbeam visit
the most secluded cavern, where you cannot find them.

Take, therefore, a small basket, or tin case, and collect
such specimens as you desire to preserve ; it may he that
you have merely a space of a few yards, yet this, with judi-
ciouscare, will become a Fernery. Observe, when gathering
your specimens, the situations in which they grow — whether
on an horizontal or sloping surface ; whether rooted in the
ground, or simply adhering to some weather-beaten rock ;
whether exposed to storms or sunshine ; and, according to
their respective growing-places, arrange them in- your
Fernery at home. If you live in the neighbourhood of a
glass-house you can obtain abundance of clinkers : if not, in
this building age you will have no difficulty in procuring
pieces of broken bricks, with which to imitate the rugged-
ness of nature. Fill some of the interstices with crumbling
mortar, for the reception of those ferns that grow naturally
in the crevices of mortared walls ; and they will, despite of

46 HAKDT BOOK OF

rains and constant waterings, in which ferns delight, re-
main comparatively dry : this is needful, because, although
the species mostly abound in humid places, some are injured
by too much wet. Bog earth, or leaf mould, will afford an
excellent rooting for moisture-loving ferns. Possibly neigh-
bouring trees, high walls, or tall unsightly buildings, may
shut out a summer's morning sun, or even not permit a
single ray to illumine some dark corner. This, however,
need not perplex you : the corner, cheerless though it be,
and necessarily damp, will afford a welcome habitat to. the
Scolopendrium vulgare, or Hart's-tongue, which especially
delights in old wells and humid places, and is nowhere so •
abundant as in deep shade and moisture. Notwithstanding
these apparent predilections, it will be well to place ferns of
dissimilar localities side by side, in the deepest shadow and
brightest sunbeams ; such, for example, as the common
Hart's-tongue, and its relative, the Scaly. You will then
be able readily to observe how luxuriantly the one expands
and seemingly rejoices, either in shade or sunbeams, while
the other appears to pine for a more congenial habitation.

It is all-important that ferns should be well watered, and
yet as gently as possible. If you possess a garden engine,
let the stream descend in an almost imperceptible shower ;
if you have only a watering-pot, hold it high, and avoid a
heavy watering. Nature teaches this : for rain rarely in-
jures by its force even the feeblest flower. If the day has
been cloudless, refresh your ferns, and that copiously,
every evening during summer. In autumn withhold your
hand ; such as conceal themselves beneath the earth in
winter begin to prepare for their long sleep ; in others, the
fronds have ceased to grow — while some that remain green
and render cheerful many a leafless hedge or rocky bank,
have already their full size and substance developed. But
however circumstanced, they all require perfect rest ; the
sap scarcely circulates — a state of vegetable quietc rss ensues,
and they cannot be disturbed or stimulated with- .t injury.

FKRXS AXD 3IOSSES. 47

Mosses may be introduced with great advantage ; they
speedily cover the earth or stones, and retain humidity from
dews or showers ; and if you wish to please your children,
plant among them a few primroses and harebells. The sight
of them may even recall to your own mind the gladsome
days of childhood, when you gathered such among the grass,
or beside some babbling stream rushing from out a wooded
bank. The snowdrop, and a tuft or two of cowslips, will

1 Dk beautiful amid the ferns; it may be that, when in
spring they lift up their familiar faces, you will incline to
give your wife and children a treat into the country, far
away from the sight of crowding houses. Such holidays
refresh the spirit ; they fill the mind with gladsome thoughts
and pleasant memories, and he who occasionally enjoys them
returns invigorated to his daily duties.

The owner of a small court cannot do better than em-
bellish it with ferns. They grow where flowers yield no
beauty ; and, instead of that unsightly and desolate aspect
which courts often present, a beautiful assemblage of graceful
plants may be readily brought together.

While recommending the study o these interesting plants
to those especially whose visits to their growing-places are
few, and somewhat restricted, we desire to impress upon
their memories the component parts of every fern, viz.— the
roots, rhizoma, and. fronds. The small fibres above pictured
represent the roots : the long tube-like horizontal stem is

48 HAJfDV BOOK OF

part of the rhizoma, properly called creeping, because it ex-
tends a long way beneath the soil : but when otherwise, is
known as a tufted rhizoma ; the upright stems are fronds,
by some botanists designated branches, by others leaves.
This part comprises a main stem, which extends from the
rhizoma to the extreme point, and is called the rachis: the
branches on either side are called pinna1; when not com-
pletely divided from each other, as in the Hard-fern, pinna ti-
fid ; if divided, pinnate. When the pinnte are divided
into branches on both sides, the branches are called pinnulcc;
of this the Brake presents a familiar example, as also of a
further division into lobes. Theea>, when applied to ferns,
signifies capsules, or small vessels for containing seeds; these
are beautifully arranged, on the undcr-surface of the leaves,
in dots or lines. In those pertaining to the Marsh-fern, a
small v.'hite kidney-shaped spot is obvious, consisting of a
m:-'ubranous substance, called the indiiKiuin.

liut many an enthusiastic lover of ferns and flowers has
not even a small court to call his own. He occupies, per-
chance, a single room, and sighs in vain for the possession
of those beauteous ferns which delighted him in youth.
We *vdll cheerfully point out a simple method by which his
wish may be fulfilled. Obtain from the glazier four pieces
of glass, equal in size and thickness — from the linen-draper
a piece of scarlet galloon (for this colour suits well with
green), and bind it tight round the edges ; fastening it at the
ends firmly with a needle and thread of the same colour.
This done, sew the edges together, and form a square glass
frame, to which a cover must be fixed by the same means ;
provide a thick square board, with a groove all round, the
size of your glass-house, or, what would be preferable, a
strong box, sufficiently deep to contain five or six inches of
light sandy earth ; plant in this a few young ferns of diffe-
rent kinds ; moisten the earth slightly, and cover them with
your glass-house. You may thus have a continual object
of interest to greet your first awaking : ferns, it may be,

PERNS AND MOSSES.

49

that grew beside your father's cottage, or where you
gathered nuts in. autumn, associated with thoughts of home
and boyhood pleasures, bringing back to mind many a word
of loving counsel to guide and cheer your onward progress.

COMMON rOLYI-ODY.

Lift up your head, young botanist, and think not that
terns grow only on the ground ! A beauteous brotherhood
of the Common Polypody Polypodium vulgare) is looking
down upon you from the summit of a beetling crag ; and
yonder old pollard is crowned with a tuft, among which the
carlet-leaved crane's-bill and blue-bells are waving lightly
in the breeze of summer, and a little linnet is pouring forth
his melody. There are many happy creatures among that
tuft of Polypodies. See you not the sulphur -coloured but-
terfly, and her sister with gorgeously tinted wings — a few
industrious bees, singing at their work, and the emerald-
coated beetle taking a nap among the lichens ? We will
not, however, speak of these, but rather of ferns and the
common Polypody — one of the best known and most abun

50 HANDY BOOK OF

dant. A friendly fern is this same Polypody — found in
almost every hedge beside our paths, on the surface of
storm-heaten rocks and deserted ruins, where it quickly
succeeds such lichens and mosses as first established them-
selves, where even the small Nailwort refuses to vege-
tate.

The roots are brown, and occasionally clothed with a
thick pile ; the rhizoma is brown also, having a densely-
covered skin or cuticle, which dries and peels off after a
year's growth, leaving the rhizoma delicately smooth — a
peculiarity rarely observable in ferns.

Leaves of the common Polypody are generally uniform ;
variations, however, occasionally occur, and should be
noticed by the botanist : for this purpose we recommend a
small book, with white paper, and pencil, to be carried in
the pocket. As a specimen of the practice, we copy a note
by Newman, transferred into his admirable "History of
British Ferns :" —

" The common Polypody is somewhat parasitic, preferring
the stem of a tree, or the half-decayed stumps of hazel and
whitethorn bushes — over these its creeping rhizoma delights
to wander. In the South of England it ascends the loftiest
trees ; and in Epping Forest I have often seen it orna-
menting, with its bright green fronds, heads of the pollard
hornbeams, when the wintry blast has stripped them of
their summer verdure.

" In England this fern has insinuated itself into the
mortar of our walls, houses, churches, and bridges ; into
our hedgerows also, and has become, in a manner, domes-
ticated, yet does not enjoy such a perfect freedom as
amid the humid, rocky, and shady dingles of Kerry and
Wicklow."

Memorandums of the kind are readily made — they pre-
serve the memory of favourite haunts, where grew the finest
specimens, and when read to others may become suggestive
of similar pursuits and pleasures.

FERXS AND MOSSES. 51

This fern, though, universally distributed, is, in our
minds, particularly associated with the remembrance of
Windsor Castle. Large tufts attracted our attention on
the walls of the old Keep, where James of Scotland, the
poet king, passed his dolorous captivity during the reign of
Henry IY. They sprung, if we mistake not, from a fissure
near the window from whence the captive looked down on
the lady of his love,* when all unconsciously she gathered
flowers in the small garden that extended at the base of the
stern old fortress.

Hark to the rushing sound of the waterfall ! its white
foam may be seen among the trees, and far beneath our
pathway. Tread carefully, — the bank is very steep, and
though covered with brushwood and brambles, its sides are
nearly perpendicular, and a false step might send you into
the racing stream. Now we are safe, and can stand securely
. on the old bridge, which, as antiquaries tell, led from one
kingdom of the Saxon heptarchy to another. Look over the
parapet — the whirl of the eddying torrent is almost bewil-
dering ; but calmly grows that beautiful tuft of fern above
the raging waters — the fern of waterfalls! to which the
unmeaning name of Beech-fern (Polypodium pliegopteris of
authors) is applied. Why, we cannot tell: for this re-
markably graceful and well-marked fern has rarely, if
ever, been found beneath the shade of beech trees. It
grows in damp localities, on dripping rocks, or in cavernous
recesses, and within the spray of falling waters, where its
wiry rhizoma, tough and uniformly creeping, often forms a
network over perpendicular rocks.

The species are widely diffused. In this country, the
mountainous districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, West-
moreland, Cumberland, Durham, and Northumberland, -are
its favourite icsorts ; growing also near the town of Lud-
low, renowned in Border history. In Scotland, Wales, and

* Daughter of the Duke of Somerset,

HANDY BOOK OF

Ireland, not a mountain rill nor waterfall but owns this
favourite fern — on mountains, too, where clouds congregate,
and among huge unsheltered masses of rocks raged over by

BEECH FEKN*.

storms. Those who visit the Pass of Glencoe and Loch.
Katrine — the one with its dread records of crime and
misery, the other smiling in perfect beauty — may notice
this graceful fern as not unfrequent in both localities.

The Beech-fern, on account of its humid haunts, is
somewhat difficult to cultivate in a Fernery. Newman,
however, adopted a most ingenious expedient with com-
plete success. He suspended above the fern a vessel con-
taining water, which he allowed to drop slowly on a stone
or flat tile contiguous to the plant ; the fronds were in con-
sequence kept moist i»y the mimic spray that rebounded
from the surface.

FERNS AND MOSSES. 53

That man may justly be considered a benefactor to his
species who opens or facilitates new sources of enjoyment,
equally with him who causes wheat to grow where it never
grew before. "We hail the simple expedient of the drip-
ping vessel as eminently calculated to induce the posses-
sors of small outlets to beautify them with such ferns as
require shade and moisture — to go forth among the lanes
and woods at intervals of leisure, and derive enjoyment
from the healthy recreations that are within their reach.

Think not to meet with the Woodsia ihensis, and W.
hyperborca, the Polypodium arronicum of Withering, either
in England or Ireland. In "Wales the genus is rare, even
on Snowdon ; Dr. Richardson gathered it from a moist
black rock nearly at the top of Clogwyn y Garnedd, facing
north-west, and directly above the lower lake. Glyder
Vawr (or the Hill of Tempests), and Clogwyn y Garnedd, in
Carnarvonshire, afford isolated specimens. In Scotland it
seems restricted to Perthshire, Ben Lawers, Forfarshire,
and the Clova mountains.

For the sake of travellers whose summer or autumn
excursions may lead them to those parts, we shall mention
that the roots are long, fibrous, and brown ; the rhizoma
tufted, brown, slightly scaly ; the young fronds, or leaves,
appear in May, and continue green till September or Octo-
ber. The shape of the frond is linear, or strap-shaped —
lanceolate, or spear-shaped— and pinnate, which term has
been already explained ; the pinna? are attached by their
stems only — they are indented, but not pinnatifid.

In the absence of specimens, we avail ourselves of New-
man's admirable delineations of this rare fern.

Fig. 1 represents two pinna? detached and magnified ; the
upper shows the masses of theca? in their natural position ;
the lower exhibits the veins, and the points of attachment
of the thecse at their extremities, the theca? themselves being
removed.

HANDY BOOK OF

Fig. 1.

Sadler, who considers the Woodsia ilvcnsis and TF. liyper-
borea as distinct, thus characterizes them : —

FERNS AXD ilOSSES. 55

W. Jiyperborea. — " Frond linear, lanceolate, pinnate —
under surface clothed with soft hairs ; pinnse nearly ovate,
obtuse at the base, unequally cuneate, nearly sessile (or
stalkless), obtusely lobato-pinnatifid ; masses of thecsc
becoming nearly confluent, or running one into the other ;
stripes smooth ; rachis pilose."

W. ilrensis. — "Frond oblong, pinnate — hairy beneath ;
pinnso opposite, lanceolate, pinnatifid — the lobes oblong,
obtuse, lower ones spreading ; masses of theca? confluent ;
stripes and rachis scaly -villose, or soft-haired. A small
portion of the rachis is naked, the veins irregularly distri-
buted, the mid- vein is not to be traced without difficulty,
no single vein appearing superior to the rest, none reach-
ing the margin, and each at its extremity bearing a mass of
thecse."

We have recommended the introduction of different kinds
of moss in Ferneries, both on account of their beauty and
utility. Nature places them together ; wherever the fern
spreads forth her ample fronds, there the simple moss
nestles beneath their shade — the one shelters her humble
friend from the fierce beams of a noonday sun — the other
gratefully protects the roots of her benefactress from
drought, by imbibing and retaining whatever moisture is
afforded by night-dews ; a fact thus beautifully exemplified
in the following admirable lines : —

FERXS AJTD MOSSES; OR, THE LINKS BY WHICH SOCIETY IS HELD
TOGETHER.

There was fern on. the mountain and moss on the moor —
The ferns were the rich and the mosses the poor ;
And the glad breeze hlew gaily — from heaven it came —
And the fragrance it shed over each was the same ;
And the warm sun shone brightly, and gilded the fern,
And smiled on the lowly-born moss in its turn ;
And the cool dews of night on the mountain-fern fell,
And they glisten'd upon the green mosses as well.

56 HANDY BOOK OF

And the fern loved the mountain, the moss loved the moor,
For the ferns were the rich, and the mosses the poor.
But the keen blast blew bleakly, the sun waxed high —
Oh ! the ferns they were broken, and withered, and dry,
And the moss on the moorland grew faded and pale ;
And the fern and the moss shrank alike from the gale.
So the fern on the mountain, the moss on the moor,
Were wither' d and black where they flourish' d before.

Then the fern and the moss they grew wiser in grief,

And each turned to the other for rest and relief ;

And they plann'd that wherever the fern-roots should grow,

There surely the moss must lie sparkling below.

And the keen blast blew bleakly, the sun waxed fierce —

But no winds and no sun to their cool roots could pierce.

For the fern threw her shadow the green moss upon,
Where the dew ever sparkled undried by the sun ;
When the graceful fern trembled before the keen blast,
The moss guarded her roots till the storm-wind had pass'd.
So no longer the wind parch'd the roots of the one,
And the other was safe from the rays of the sun.

And thus, and for ever, where'er the ferns grow,
There surely the mosses lie sparkling below ;
And thus they both flourish where nought grew before,
And both deck the woodland, the mountain, and moor.

JUNE.

"THE cave was very chill, and damp withal,
And yet from out its lone depths shone a light
So pure, unearthly, radiant, that no eye
Might gaze unmoved upon it."

Extracts from our Note-Book.

June 4th. — Visited a lonely granitic cavern on Dartmoor.
The entrance was difficult, somewhat dangerous, in conse-
quence of heavy rains, which had occasioned a considerable

FEKNS AND MOSSES. 57

fall from the roof. Unlike caves in general, which arc
often, snaded with high trees, and having clear streams
flowing near, of which the gentle murmur is blended with
the song of birds and whisperings of winds among the
branches, Argol's Cave looked damp and cheerless, and was
associated in our minds with Druidic superstitions and
fallen cromlechs. The naturalist who ventured unad-
visedly into that same cavern might have started back with
some degree of apprehension ; for out of its recesses gleamed
forth a softened and beautiful light, enhanced by the twi-
light gloom that brooded within. This phenomenon, con-
nected with peculiarity of structure, has its counterpart

LUMINOUS INMATE OF AKGOL S CAVE. — SMALL
HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.

among birds and insects, in the exquisite plumage of the
humming-bird, and the burnished wings of the opal beetle;
among stones, in the Labrador feldspar, or the precious opal
of Hungary. The light thus wondrously gleaming from off
the humid soil resembled a carpet of burnished gold, and
was seen to the greatest advantage at the distance of a few
yards, more especially when beheld from a favourable angle
of vision. On near inspection, a variety of closely-scattered
stones formed the basement of Argol's cave ; they were
covered with filmy irregular network, scarcely perceptible,
from extreme delicacy of texture ; and the light which
served to betray the lonely, lovely inmate of the cavern,

58 HANDY BOOK OF

was caused by rays of light concentrated by, and reflected
from, the innumerable and inconceivably minute lenses of
the leaves.

Botanists who visit Derbyshire during their summer
excursions, may find the Hypnum lucens, or Shining
Feather-moss, in the shady recesses of Rowter Rocks, a
mile or two north of Winster. It grows in different situa-
tions, among woods, wet ditches, and on moist banks and
rocks.

Withering speaks of it as having trailing branches, egg-
shaped, pointed, and flat ; leaves shining as if wet with
dew ; fruit-stalks an inch and a half long ; capsules small
for the size of the plant, somewhat oval, more or less
nutant, dark brown; lid, spit-pointed; veil straight, sharp,
whitish.

It occurs to us that the mild golden green light in
Argol's cave is emitted by some species of conferva— unless,
indeed, the shining Feather-moss is greatly deteriorated in
size by its gloomy habitat.

Luminous plants produce an inexpressibly pleasing effect
in their lone and desolate growing-places. Counsellor
Erhman spoke of them with enthusiasm, when, having
descended into one of the Swedish mines, he saw those
vegetable glow-worms gleaming along its walls, or spark-
ling in some obscure recess. Caverns in the granitic rocks
of Bohemia are often beautifully decked with a species of
luminous moss ; and our own coal-mines occasionally exhi-
bit a light sufficiently clear to admit of reading by its aid.
But nowhere, perhaps, is the effect produced by vegetable
phosphorescence so exquisitely beautiful as in the mines of
Hesse, in the north of Germany, where the walls of tho
air-galleries appear as if illuminated with a pale light,
resembling that of moonbeams when stealing through
crevices into some gloomy recess, from which all of vegeta-
ble beauty is excluded. None, an looking on the fairy
gleams that pervade the Hessian mines, could imagine for a

FEKNTS AND MOSSES. «ib

moment from whence the glancing lights proceeded ; they
would attribute them rather to some peculiarity in the
strata of which the mine is composed, or to a kind of glis-
tening spar that reflects the light of day. And yet that
phosphorescence has a vegetable origin, an emblem, we have
thought, of those gentle and retiring ones who render
cheerful homes that have nought else of gladness to com-
mend them, who shed the light of their pure examples OA'er
the moral gloom by which they are enveloped.

Dartmoor abounds in mosses of all shapes, and tints of
green ; those which delight in arid places find their dwell-
ings on rocks and scarry banks, on cromlechs, and huge
rocking-stones, fixed by time or accident ; such as thrive
best in moisture grow profusely beside the racing streams
that water its wide expanse ; old trees uphold to light and
air others of a pendulous character ; while not a few remain
contentedly on maternal earth. Among these the Hypnum
MJrtcwMj or Soft-ribbed Feather-moss — though occasionally
affecting the trunks of trees and walls, carpets wide spaces
on the moor, and exhibits the richness and softness of silk.
When growing on the trunks and branches of trees, it may
be scarcely removed entire, its small roots adhering so firmly
to the bark; the leaves are soft and shining, slender,
closely tiled, and ending in long hairs ; the branches mostly
point one way, with long, creeping, crowded shoots ; the
capsules are long, nearly cylindrical, but thickest at the
base ; and though minute, the fringe which surrounds the
distinctly-formed mouth is white, with a beaked lid, and
pale-coloured veil.

Xone among British mosses are more pleasing to the eye,
both in form and colour, than the Hypnum purum, or

otless Silky Feather-moss, common among woods, on

]>,..., and in meadows. Dartmoor is one of its common

habitats ; it grows equally in places open to the sun, and

ade of those few memorial trees that linger

in their loneliness and sterility, where once extended a

GO HAKDY ROOK OF

vast brotherhood of stately trunks and intermingling
branches.

The species may be readily known byits peculiarly sleek
appearance, by its freedom from dirt, and its long cylin-
drical-winged scaly shoots, as also by being a span long in
wet, but shorter in dry places. The leaves are thin and
soft, smooth, and rather shining, and when dry, crumpled.
This fine moss derives its name of spotless from the pecu-
liarity already noticed.

June 9th. — A deeply interesting day. Gathered tufts of
the Pendulous Feather-moss (//. curtij3endulum)from a dwarf
oak in Wistman's Wood, Dartmoor.

Wistman's Wood is associated with the most ancient records
of our country. Its dwarf oak-trees, widely and wildly
scattered, arise from out the interstices of granite masses
that lie scattered in all directions, or else grow among
them. Those trees, once stately and umbrageous, sprung
most probably from the roots of such as were destroyed by
fire, when many a widely-extended forest was cut down or
burnt in winter, in order to dispossess the wild beasts and
outlaws that sought their covert* Those stunted-looking
trees, exposed to the continual action of bleak winds that
rush howling past the precipitous descent on which Jhey
grow, have lost their upper branches, and look as if shortened
of half their height ; few, if any, are more than ten or twelve
feet high ; but though deprived of their 'natural beauty with
respect to height, such branches as still remain hare spread
far and wide, twisting 'in the most fantastic manner, and
festooned with ivy and creeping plants. Their trunks are
also thickly imbedded in a covering of moss, and seem of
enormous thickness in proportion to their height ; but such
is not the case, their apparent size is owing merely to the
rich garniture that envelopes them. The moss by wiuJi
they are invested, and which occasions stunted branches not
larger than the wrist to equal in apparent size the trunks of
giant oaks, is simply the Pendulous Feather-moss in its

TEKXS AND 310SSES. 61

fullest development, growing from eight to twelve inches
long, and producing thecse in the greatest profusion. The
same species also affects the trunks of beeches in woods ; it
may be found on stumps in Enfield Forest near Southgate,
and in Yorkshire ; on large stones scattered over the
Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire, and on. the heights of
Snowdon.

Those who go in search of the Pendulous Feather-moss
among the blasted oaks of Dartmoor will do well to remem-
ber, that though wearied with the toil of climbing the rocky
path that leads to "Wistman's "Wood, they may not sit down
to rest on the immense masses of granite around and beneath
the trees, cushioned though they be with the thickest and
softest moss, lest they should disturb a nest of adders. Of
this an old man warned us who served as a guide across the
moor. "When thinking of the awful rites that were carried
on by Druids among the groves of Dartmoor, when Baal and
Ashtaroth were propitiated at early dawn, we could not help
imagining that somewhat of the curse denounced on such
unhallowed places rested on the site of the old oaks. " Ser-
pents hiss there — the shepherd does not make his fold there,
and the bittern screams amid its desolation." This was
literally true. Nothing could exceed its sterile aspect, not
a moving object met the eye — no sound was heard except
the rushing of waters and the cry of a solitary bittern flyir g
towards the valley of the Dart.

June Wth. — Sought for some time the Hypnum bryoides,
or Bryum-like Feather-moss, which grows mostly in shady
places, woods, and ditch-banks. Found at length a small
brotherhood on the margin of a stream, which having for-
saken its usual channel in consequence of a pebbly accumu-
lation that hindered its onward progress, wasted itself upon
the grass.

This kind of hypnum is very small, but distinguished by
its capsules, edged at the mouth with a deep red fringe.
Linnoous speaks of it as the smallest of the genus. The

62 HANDY BOOK OF

shoots are two or three lines in length ; the leaflets seven or
eight pair ; fruit-stalks long or longer than the shoots, gene -
rally solitary, reddish ; leaves green, not pellucid ; capsules
small, upright, oblong, green ; veil very small, greenish ;
lid scarlet ; mid-rib of the leaflets pellucid.

The growing-place of this minute hypnum had much of
grandeur and sublimity. A vast plain extended on all sides,
looking in the distance like a desolate wilderness, or rather
as an ocean after a storm, heaving in large swells, and yet
presenting on a nearer view an almost endless continuation
of narrow valleys, of lofty hills and craggy rocks, strewn
either in their depth or far up their sides with enormous
masses of huge stones.

Ili/pnum, triguetrum and undulatum, equally affect the
dissimilar localities of Dartmoor. The first, Great Triangular
Feather-moss, abounds upon the roots of trees, and on dry
pebbly banks ; the other, which bears the name of Waved
Feather-moss, prefers shady places, woods, and moist rocks,
or the top of Snowdon. This fine species differs essentially
from the rest of its genus, by having white, membranous,
and undulated leaves, and still more remarkably from all its
British congeners, by furrowed capsules. It is a span long,
lying flat ; the leaflets are closely tiled, in a double or triple
series ; the fruit-stalks long, slender, reddish ; veil, straw-
coloured, with a brown spot at the end ; the leaves are
tender, pellucid, smooth, shining, pale green, and not chang-
ing colour when dry.

The Triguetrum presents a widely different appearance,
indicating that it dwells low upon the ground. The branches
are unequal ; the leaves broad, triangular, not keeled, tender,
pellucid, pointed, pale green when growing ; involucrum
ridged, oblong, composed of reflected scales, sometimes two
or three together ; fruit- stalks seldom more than an inch
high ; capsules upright, thin, when ripe thicker, leaning,
and crooked. The whole plant spreads to a foot in length,
reddish, elastic, rising upwards, often growing upright,

AND MOSSES. G3

although the branches frequently bend towards the ground,
where their extremities strike and take root.

In this respect the humble Feather-moss resembles its
giant relative (the Ficus Indica of Hindostan and Cochin -
China), of which the lateral branches, sending down shoots
which take root in the earth, compose a grove that often
covers a wide area. "We use the term relative — though one
grows low, and may be trodden upon by every passer-by,
and the other rises to a commanding height — because all
vegetables are related, individuals of one great family ; and
what the Banian is to those who walk beneath its branches,
whether Hindoo, Chinese, or European, so is the unassuming
Feather-moss to insects that find a home and storehouse
within its precincts. And if it be allowable to apply lines
descriptive of that vast and peculiar Banian to its lowly
brother, we may say with equal truth —

" Many a long depending shoot,

Seeking to strike its root,

Straight, like a plummet, grows toward the ground ;
Some on the lower boughs which cross their way,
Fixing their bearded fibres round and round,
"With many a ring and wild contortion wound ;
Some to the passing wind, at times with sway
Of gentle motion swung."

June llth. — A rainy day, yet passed pleasantly in spread-
ing out the mosses which we had gathered between sheets
of blotting-paper, and then laying upon them a heavy
weight. Travellers are not provided in this respect, but
we found an excellent substitute in a board borrowed from
the landlady of our little inn, and this we covered with
stones. Besides our note-book, we had taken the pre-
caution of bringing another with blotting-paper sheets
about the same size ; and these, with tin cases for holding
ferns or mosses, were all that we required for our botanical
excursion.

June 12th. — "Went forth again upon the moor. The

64 HANDY BOOK OF

heavy rain, of yesterday swelled many a wayside stream
that flashed and sparkled in the sunbeams, and every blado
of glass was surcharged with rain-drops. Light- wreathing
mists arose from off the moor— now flying up the hills —
now chasing each other across the valleys — now seeming to
open, and to present long vistas of rock and dingle, to
which the beams of a cloudless sun imparted the magic of
aerial tints and hues.

Our path led across one of the wildest portions of Dart-
moor. A tiny rill, rising in solitude and silence, had
swelled into a stream, and the stream, as it flowed on,
received the contributions of other streams, which at length
in their congregated might became powerful and rapid.
Athwart this stream stretched one of those primitive bridges
which our rnde forefathers had most probably erected ;
the racing torrent rushed impetuously beneath, bounding
over vast masses of stone, and falling in foaming sheets oC
dazzling whiteness. But though old and lichen-dotted,
and grey with age, that same old bridge was beloved of
flowers; the blue forget-me-not, the harebell, the golden
saxifrage, with red crane-bills, and yellow snapdragons,
looked down in .beautiful companionship on the hurrying
waters. Among these were several small ferns of con-
siderable beauty — the Brittle-fern especially, which is fond
of bridges, and establishes itself in the interstices of their
stones. This plant, equally elegant and fragile, is much
sought after ; the genus to which it belongs was established
by Bernhardi, who, having rejected the previous names of
Cystea, Polypodium, Aspidium, Cyclopteris, gave it that of
Cystopterisfragilis, or Brittle-fern.

On referring to Newman's " History of British Ferns,"
we observed that the name thus given appears to have been
adopted by nearly all subsequent botanists — that the genus
contains a limited number of species, which, although of
wide dispersion, are restricted mostly to old walls and
buildings, or dry stony places ; it may be that a torrent

FEKXS AND MOSSES.

65

dashes beneath, or else beside them, as in the instance
just cited ; but then the roots are firmly fixed among stones
or pebbles. Such plants as pertain to this fragile genus are
of small size, of erect and elegant growth, and remarkably
brittle. " One species only belongs to this country, and on
this much labour and ingenuity have been expended, in the

^ytM%4

&

?'l>

V1

rtrt

BRITTLE FERN.

hope that some of the most remarkable of its Protean fronds
may be exalted to the dignity of species." Thus far the
naturalist of Godalming, who has beautifully delineated
many a wild occupant of wood or roek.

We rejoice to find the Potytrichum aculeatum, or Com-
mon Prickly-fern, in one isolated spot ; the more especially
because this fern, though universally distributed, seems to
delight in the neghbourhood of man, itp favourite habitat
being hedgerows, and the vicinity of cultivated fields ;
when sown by winds on moors, or the sides of mountains,
it rarely attains its full development ; and he who sees the
Common Prickly-fern growing luxuriantly in .a hedgerow,
beside some way-side cottage, would scarcely recognise it in
a desolate and unpeopled district. The same fern, however,
grew luxuriantly in one of the wildest parts of Dartmoor.
" Perhaps," we said, while looking at it, "men TO ay have
dwelt here in ages long past, and these friendly ferns,
watching on the sight of some deserted home, continue as
memorials of the past."

6(» HAXDY BOOK 01'

Few of the fern tribe are more pleasing to the ere. The
young fronds become developed in April and May ; the apex
is circinnate (or bent backwards), and remarkably grace-
ful ; the pinnas are also bent backwards. The whole plant
attains its full expansion in July, and the seed appears to
ripen in September. Unlike the generality of their brother-

1. COMMON TKICKTA'-FEHX.

hood, Prickly-ferns are decidedly evergreen, and continue
throughout the year, uninjured by hard frosts and driving
storms ; they even linger on till late in the succeeding
summer, like the members of some patriarchal family
who dwell peaceably together. Hence it happens, not un-
frequently, that four generations are attached to the same
root, equally green and nourishing, yet naturally producing
leaves of a widely different character. Even experienced
botanists have therefore been somewhat puzzled by dis-
similarities, which have suggested the idea of different
species.

Four forms are assigned to the Common Prickly-fern.
Newman, however, considers that three only can be
reckoned ; and these he comprises in a single species, to
which he assigns theLinu-sean name of Aculeatitm, terming
the different forms merely varieties. Thus : —

Tar. 1. — "Angular type: frond doubly pinnate; pin-
nulsc ovate, bluntish, stalked, and auricled at the base ; the
whole plant light, feathery, graceful, and extremely
flexible." Figured as No. 1.

FERNS ASD MOSSES.

(57

2. ASPIDIUM ANGULARE of 3. POLYPODIUM ACULEATUM

Smith and Hooker. of the "English Flora."

Var. 2. — " Lobate typo : frond doubly pinnate ; pinnulac
pointed, decurrent, serrated — tlie formost of tbc lower pair

68 HAOTY JJOOK OF

on each pinna very large, and pointing to the hard apex of
the frond ; the whole plant rigid, heavy, compact, and un-
bending ; growing in general horizontally." Figured hy
No. 2.

Far. 3. — " Lonchitiform type: frond simply pinnate;
pinnso stalked, undivided, piickly ; habit weak, flexible,
pendulous." Figured as No. 3.

June \\tli. — Specimens carefully placed within the leaves
of our blotting-book; and the book itself closely tied
together. Farewell to Dartmoor ! with its rocks and
cairns, its rushing streams, and contrasted scenery.

" Dartmoor ! thou wast to us in childhood's hour
A wild and wondrous region. Day by day
Arose upon our youthful eye thy belt
Of hills— mysterious, shadowy, clasping all
The green and cheerful landscape, sweetly spread
Around our haunts; and with a stern delight
We gazed on thee. How often on the speech. • t

Of thy half-savage peasant have we hung,
To hear of rock-crown'd heights, on which the cloud
For ever rests, and wilds stupendous swept
By mightiest storms ; of glen, and gorge, and cliff
Terrific, beetling o'er the stone-strew'd vale :
And giant masses, by the midnight flash
Struck from the mountain's lofty brow, and hurl'd
Into the foaming torrents !"

CARRINGTON.

FEKNS AND MOSSES. 69

JULY.

" Green the land is where my daily

Steps in jocund childhood play'd —
Dimpled close with hill and valley,
Dappled every close with shade ;
Summer-snow of apple blossoms, running up
From glade to glade."

ELIZABETH BARRETT.

BACK to our own cottage home, mid glens and waterfalls,
where grow most of the ferns and mosses which we found on
Dartmoor ! Who that have travelled forth in quest of
knowledge, — Nature's pilgrims, visiting each shrine and
dwelling-place of the rarest or loveliest of her offspring, —
do not remember the delight with which their hooks con-
taining specimens were opened, and how vividly arose
before their mental view the rock, or stream, or bank, the
solitary glen or woodside, from whence they gathered the
plant, the fern, or moss, which they had journeyed far to
find?

Such were our feelings as we carefully removed our ferns
and mosses, looking on them with somewhat of pride, when
noticing that not even the smallest pinnae had been injured
in drying, nor yet a single root distorted from its place.
Then came the pleasure of arranging them, of assigning the
mosses to our moss-books, and the ferns to occupy the pages
of a larger volume ; the writing of their names and where
they grew, with such botanic memoranda concerning
cromlechs and old rocking-stones, ancient bridges across
racing torrents, and the trees of "YVistman's Wood, as
brought up pleasant memories of our rambles on that wild
moor, which has no parallel in British scenery.
/ We gave you, botanical friends, drawings of the ferns,
but one wet day did not suffice for delineating such mosses

70 HANDY UOOK OF

as we gathered. Accept them now, for we are at home
again, and have abundant leisure for the employment of
oui' pencil. But first let us consider the component parts
of these small plants, and reflect for a brief space on their
admirable construction.

Observe those urn or vase-shaped vessels, on the summit
of stems or peduncles arising from among green foliage !
They contain innumerable seeds, which are either sown by

winds when ripe, or scattered immediately upon the earth,
and the base of the upholding stem, closely examined, dis-
covers a sheath of scaly leaves. Those leaves were all-
important to the welfare of the plant ; before the peduncle
springs up to light and air, they serve as a kind of calynx
to protect the embryo fruit, and bear the name of sheath or
perichctium : a capsule, b pedicle, c sheath. Observe, also,
two important parts connected with the capsule, before the
period when it splits open and its contents are scattered
abroad — d the operculum or lid, which closes the mouth,
and e the calyptra or veil, which covers both the lid and
capsule like a conical roof; / is the fringe or peristome
(peristomiwn), which becomes apparent when the seeds
being fully ripe no longer require protection, and the casting

IVEUNS AXD MOSSES. « I

off of the lid discovers the opening, which is generally
ornamented by a circle of saw -like teeth.

Mosses are exquisitely varied, and many of the stems
which uphold flowers containing one or 'more stamens, but
no pistils, have a star-like appearance at the top. Beautiful
in their minuteness, they form interesting objects for the
microscope ; their serrated and ribbed leaves are uniformly
thin, pellucid, and veined like network; the roots are
fibrous ; and not unfrequently both stems and branches
throw out fine roots whenever they come in contact with
the earth, or any supporting substance. Some few are so
exquisitely fine as to require a high magnifier in order to
discover their various parts ; yet even these have stems and
capsules, and occasionally present the appearance of fairy
trees ; more generally they are from one to three inches
high, though the great Hair-moss (Polytrichum commune),
and some kinds of bog-moss, which grow in watery places,
are nearly two feet in height.

Obtain a microscope, if you wish to study mosses atten-
tively, and to become acquainted with the most delicate
species ; one with a simple lens will magnify sufficiently,
and for this purpose we recommend Ellis's aquatic micro-
scope, according to the suggestion of Dr. Drummond. If,
on the contrary, you are contented with less close investiga-
tions, a common magnifying glass, purchased for a few
shillings, will suffice. Thus will a new world be opened to
your minds ; and many a moss or lichen-dotted stone that
would otherwise be passed unheeded will become suggestive
of much that is worthy of regard.

Ireland has been deservedly called the paradise of mosses ;
some of the most beautiful species grow there abundantly
beneath the shade of trees in marshes, and beside water-
falls ; the Fontinalls antipyretica, or Greater Water-moss,
especially, which delights in the neigbourhood of cataracts,
and flourishes the most where a racing stream eddies eside
its growing place, and tosses on high its billowy spray.

72 HANDY BOOK OF

Such as grow in tropical regions prefer the shade of rocks,
especially when assigned to alpine heights, where the tem-
perature of the climate is rendered moderate by their
elevation.

The brotherhood, like most of their cryptogamic relatives,
are tenacious of life ; even when apparently dead, a shower
presently revives them. They thrive, too, in places un-
favourable for general vegetation ; and hence, wherever a
wandering sunbeam enters, or breezes gain access, some
tiny moss, it may be, finds a home. You may discover
them equally in cold, damp caverns, and in fissures among
rocks, or on walls open to the sun.

"Wonderful it is, that when some species are subjected to
great drought at the time appointed for ripening their
seeds, they acquire the property of absorbing and retaining
moisture, like succulent plants ; the process of ripening
consequently advances rapidly, even if the heavens deny
rain, and the earth is hard as iron. But though assigned
to different regions of the globe, and various growing places
in this country, they generally affect temperate and cold
regions, and often, in companionship with lichens, present
the last trace of vegetation towards the limits of perpetual
snow. Their uses are multifarious — they protect young
plants and seeds during the heat of summer, and in the
depths of winter, and form retreats for insects and small
animals. Travellers who explore the vast forests that ex-
tend far north, relate that the trunks and branches of the
trees are covered with mosses, especially on the northern
side ; and that by means of these natural indications, those
who traverse them in quest of animals readily find their
way.

Abundant in mountainous countries — rare on plains ;

• somewhat restricted, also, in its localities, the only station

where this moss has been discovered in the eastern angle of

Great Britain, is on the sandy waste near Yarmouth. The

dark and almost blackish green, cylindrical, and straggling,

KEKNS AND MOSSES.

73

though somewhat pinnate stems of the shining Feather-
moss, are very peculiar. Hooker speaks of gathering it in
the wildest parts of Dartmoor, at least eight or ten inches
long, and in a fine state of fructification.

H. Purum. — Leaves closely imbricated, oval, with a very
short point, concave, their nerve reaching half-way up;
capsule ovate ; lid conical.

H. Lucens. — Leaves ovate, nerve disappearing belour the
point ; fruit stalks long ; capsule ovate.

We cannot, perhaps, do better than occupy the remain-
ing pages with observations transcribed from our note-
books, relative to such ferns as we have gathered in our
botanic rambles, whether near our home, or in distant
localities.

74 HANDY BOOK OF

H. LUCENS.

The Marsh-fern or Lastraa thelypteris ; Polypodium
thelypteris of Withering, Lightfoot, Berkenhout, and Hud-
son, and bearing at least four names assigned by botanists,
is one of our rarest and most local species. It abounds in
wet and marshy grounds, and moist woods and bogs, where
its black, slender, and wiry rhizoma often creeps to a wide
extent. The roots are also dark, fibrous, and, in some in-
stances, very long ; they frequently penetrate to a con-
siderable depth, while the rhizoma spreads widely and
horizontally.

This local species is unknown in Wales and Scotland, and
in Ireland is generally believed to be restricted to the county
of Antrim, near the north-east coast of Lough Neagh.

" On Lough Neagh's banks, where the fisherman strays,

When the clear cold eve's declining,

And sees the round tower of other days

In the stream heneath him shining."

Throughout England, the localities of the Marsh-fern are
widely spread, but universally of a moist and humid cha-
racter. Learmouth Bogs, in Northumberland, are con-
sequently its favourite resort ; as also marshy places
in Cheshire; Whittlesea Mere, Cambridgeshire; Filsby,
Ormsby, Bolton Bay, Horning Marshes, Kent; Norfolk;

PERNS AND MOSSES. tO

Ham Pond, near Sandwich, where it luxuriates in the
meadows, and banishes all other ferns from the neighbour-
ing wood ; those who visit the Isle of Wight, will find this
marsh-loving fern near Fresh- water Gate.

For the sake of botanists who may be somewhat puzzled

MARSH FERN.

when referring to "Withering's Arrangement of British
Plants, pp. 995, 996, we subjoin a concise description of
the Marsh-fern, extracted from the History of British
Ferns, being anxious rather to avail ourselves of the aid
afforded by that valuable work, than to rely exclusively on
our own judgment.

76

HANDY BOOK OP

Some of the fronds are barren, others fertile. The former
rising from the bog in May, the latter in July — they both
disappear with the first frosts of winter. The frond is lan-
ceolate and pinnate ; the lowermost pinnae are shorter than,
the third and fourth pairs ; they are attached by their

VEINS AND THEC.E.

stalk only ; about one-third of the rachis is without pinnae ;
the pinnae are pinnatind, the pinnulse rounded, and always
entire ; the whole plant is erect, very slender, delicate, and
fragile ; it is of a pale green colour ; in size varying con-
siderably, in some instances even to four times the usual
dimensions. The fertile fronds are uniformly larger and
of stronger growth than the barren.

The lateral veins are alternate ; they are forked almost
immediately on leaving the mid-vein, and each proceeds to
the margin of the pinnula, bearing a circular mass of thecae
almost directly after the fork. Each mass of seeds has, in
an early state of the plant, a small subreniform indusium
attached on one side to the vein, at the point to which the
stalks of the thecoe arc affixed.

KEENS ATS'D MOSSES.

77

Green grows the Mountain-fern, on many a lordly ridge
and herbleps crag, in quarries, and where clouds congregate :

V^*"

MOUNTAIN FERX.

tiiroughout North Wales, therefore, high mountain ranges
are often covered with its widely-spreading fronds ; and so

7M HANDY BOOK OF

abundant are the brotherhood among the highlands of
Scotland, as often to take the place of the Eagle-fern. We
have gathered it in many of the northern English counties :
on the Glee Hills in Shropshire, and near Matlock. North-
amptonshire, though generally unfavourable for the growth
of ferns, cherishes this wild species in some of its localities,
and botanists speak of having found it both in Hereford-
shire and Oxfordshire. In Wiltshire, on the contrary,
Mountain-ferns are scarce, though indigenous to Somer-
setshire, Kent and Sussex, Norfolk, Essex, and Middlesex,
among which Tunbridge Wells, Epping Forest, and Hamp-
stead Heath, are very accessible to Fern collectors.

Withering speaks of the Mountain-fern under the appel-
tion of Poly-podium Orcopteris ; Hudson and Berkenhout
give it the simple name of Fragrans ; Bolt-on, that of
Thelypteris ; other botanists, Aspidium.

A peculiar characteristic pertains to this interesting
species, namely, yellowish resinous glands, spreading over
the back of the leaves ; they inhale a fragrant scent, which
induced Hudson to regard them as the P. fragrans of
Linnarus.

This graceful fern is pleasantly associated in our remem-
brance with the Clee Hills in Shropshire, covered with wild
thyme, and ranged over by innumerable bees, when gather-
ing their honey harvests. We have counted twenty, or
even thirty leaves, encircling a common centre ; and among
them the wild hyacinth often lifted up her peerless blue-
bells, as if grateful for their shelter. It was pleasant to go
forth from day to day, and watch the gradual unrolling of
the leaves ; to observe how accurately the pinna) were
placed at right angles with the rachis ; while the swallow,
obedient to the voice of spring, darted swiftly through the
heavens, and the skylark soared and warbled in his up-
ward flight. Ferns and blue-bells, the lark and swallow,
were then to us as monitors, noting the beauty and the
order of reation ; each in its little sphere obedient to the

FERNS AND MOSSES. 70

elements, and communing with, them ; each one unfolding
or arriving, or attuning its heaven-taught minstrelsy in
accordance with unalterable laws, which have never
changed since the round earth emerged from chaos in its
glory and its beauty, and went on its way rejoicing amid
kindred worlds.

Little or no variation occurs in the figure of the frond or
leaf. It is uniformly elongate, lance-shaped, regularly
pinnate, acute or sharp-pointed at the end, and gradually
diminishing from about two-thirds of its length to the base,
the lower pinna) being remarkably short — a peculiarity
which sufficiently distinguishes it from all other ferns.
A small portion only of the rachis is bare, and covered with
scales. The pinnse are linear, acute at the apex, somewhat
distant, deeply pinnatifid, and affixed to the rachis only
by their stalks; the pinnulce are rounded, and slightly
crenate.

OF THE MOUNTAIN FEKX.

The veins present a simple alternate series, ceasing before
they reach the margin ; circular and naked thecre are borne
by each, and yet occasionally the veins divide nearly at
their* termination, in which case each division reveals a
separate mass. These masses, varying on cither side fror.'

80 HANDY BOOK OK

five to ten in number, form regular and nearly marginal
series, extremely ornamental, and presenting pleasing ob-
jects for the microscope.

AUGUST.

" I cannot but think the very complacency and satisfaction which
a man takes in these works of Nature, to be a laudable, if not a vir-
tuous habit of mind."

ADDISON.

THE geography of plants is a subject of the deepest interest,
suggestive, too, of pleasant thoughts, and often bringing be-
fore the mental view remembrances of bygone days, when
rambling through woods and vales, by streams and over
breezy commons, some long sought-for plant was discovered
in its own lone habitat. We speak not of that perfect order
which pervades the universe, concerning the assignment of
vegetable tribes or families to regions far remote — of the
bread-fruit and the palm to sunny climes, and fir-trees to
cold inhospitable lands — of plants invaluable to mariners,
among otherwise sterile rocks, in seas where men go in quest
of whales. Our attention is directed rather to exemplifica-
tions of the same arrangement, conspicuous in this country
and its sister island ; and of this the Trichomanes speciosurn
of Willdenow, or the T. alatum of Withering, affords a
striking instance.

The Bristle-Fern, for such is its familiar name, is one of
the most interesting and local of British species. .Newman
reports it as utterly unknown in England, Wales, and Scot-
land—«,s growing sparingly in the county of Wicklow, at
Hermitage Glen and Power's Court Waterfall, though at
neither of these localities has more than a single specimen
been discovered ; luxuriantly near Youghal, Glendine, in
the county of Cork, and equally so at Turk's Waterfall, near

FERNS AND MOSSES. 81

Turk Lake, Killarney. The same naturalist gathered speci-
mens of great beauty to the left of the site whence tourists
obtain the first view of the fall. He tells us, that about fif-
teen yards higher up the stream, a rocky bank projects into
the river, which can only be approached by leaping from
stone to stone, amid the racing torrent and deafening roar

BRISTLE-FERN.

and spray of the descending waters. Friendly roots and
branches aided the adventurous botanist in climbing up to
the wild growing place of the beauteous Trichomanes, who
dwelt securely on a rocky bank, her dark green fronds
dripping and begemmed with sparkling drops, shining and
glittering in the sunbeams. Thus cherished, amid rocks
and waterfalls, grows the fern of which we speak, sought for
in vain amid green fields and on village commons, where
the eye-bright and the cistus, the twayblade and bee-flower,
open to the purest air of heaven.

The roots of this rare plant, equally with its rhizoma, bear
a considerable resemblance to those of the Polypodium vul-
gare, or common Polypody. The latter is black, velvety,

a

82 HANDY BOOK OF

tough, and of great length, occasionally many yards, and
often forming a kind of net- work on the perpendicular sur-
face of damp rocks, Avhich afford no kind of hold to the
widely-diffused roots. This is the character of the fern
when favourably situated for its full development ; other and
smaller plants are mentioned as possessing more root and
less rhizoraa, the former of which were fixed in a thin layer
of earth, where a brotherhood of mosses grew luxuriantly.

The leaves appear in summer, yet rarely before August,
and seldom attain to maturity till late in October, when the
fronds of the previous year may be generally seen, dark
coloured, but unfaded. Botanists who visit tropical regions
speak of the genus Trichomanes, as comprising many rare
and beautiful species. Go into the native woods, say they,
of the West India islands, and observe how gracefully the
trunks of noble trees are clothed with this elegant natural
drapery. If you have hitherto passed unheedingly by the
ferns of your own country, regardless of their symmetry and
exquisite variety of form, it may be because of their unob-
tru&iveness ; but you cannot withhold your admiration from
those of exotic growth. They look down upon you from
beetling crags — they cast deep shadows over your path —
they often rise to a commanding height, waving and quiver-
ing far above your heads, while such as clothe the trunks of
giant trees, present in their forms and leaves some of the
most beauteous developments of vegetable life.

When speaking of the British species, Sir T. E. Smith de-
scribes the masses of thecse as being roundish, terminal, and
imbedded in the margin or segment of the frond. Indusium
urn-shaped, in texture similar to the frond, and continuous
with it, forming one leaf dilated upwards, and opening out-
wards, permanent. Thecae several, sessile, crowded at the
base of a permanent cylindrical common receptacle, whose
capillary naked point projects beyond the cover, each
roundish, with two valves, and bounded by a vertical-
j ointed ring.

FERNS AND MOSSES.

83

Such is the definition of the generic characters as given
in the English Flora. The author of a History of British
Ferns, to whom we have frequently referred, furnishes, how-
over, a different description of the Bristle-fern, which, in
justice to our readers, we shall transcribe, remembering how
singularly different species of this interesting family are
affected by wet or dry summers, or by dissimilarity of
growing places.

" The mass of thecse is attached to the centre of a vein,
after its ultimate division, and invariably to that one which
is situated nearest the mid-vein of the frond, pinna, or
pinnula, as the case may be. At the attachment of this
mass of thecac, the wing loses its green and serai-mem-
branous appearance ; its cuticles separate, and form an
elongate, cup-shaped receptacle, which includes the mass of
thecse. The vein itself, after bearing the theca?, runs
through the receptacle, and projects considerably beyond its
extremity, in the similitude of a bristle."

The Scaly -hart' s-tongne (Ceterach OJficinarum) has ever
been my delight. It has no beauty to commend it, as

SCALY-HART'S-TONGUE.

figured above ; but when growing on walls and rocks, in
company with the harebell and small snapdragon, its fre-
quent companions, there is something indescribably pleasing

84 HANDY BOOK OP

in the aspect of this unassuming fern. Perhaps we love it
the more because of gathering it in our youth, on many a
summer holiday, from an old wall at Totnels, near Pains-
wick, Gloucestershire. We knew little of rocks and xuins
then ; but a legend of deep interest was associated with that
lichen-covered wall, and its contiguous mansion, and it
threw around the whole a kind o'f romance which vividly
affected our young imaginations.

Since then, we have gathered the same fern in widely
different localities, but never without a feeling somewhat
akin to melancholy : for who can look back unmoved on the
haunts of childhood ; and what powerful awakings up of
past realities are often elicited by the simplest fern or
flower !

Ye green ferns ani flowers,

Beloved in past hours,
Ere the young heart hud yielded its gladness ;

We gaze on you still,

By the gush of the rill,
In the depth of our spirit's lone sadness.

Thus sung a mournful poet ; but let us rather? rejoice in
the beauties and wonders of creation ; and if, perchance,
while looking at some plant or flower, such asi the eager
hand of childhood gathered in its gladness, and tendered as
a tribute of its love to those whom now the earth owns not,
their freshness and up-springing may well remind us of that
glorious morning when parted ones shall meet again, and
this " mortal shall put on immortality."

Unlike the Bristle-fern, which is locally res'iricted, the
fern that gave rise to this digression very genei ally occurs
in the south-western counties of England and .Ireland, al-
though of rare occurrence in the midland ai i northern
counties ; and in Scotland is to be met with 01 ly at Dun-
donald, near Paisley, and at the carse of Gowri i, according
to the testimony of Dr. Young, and Mr. Jam 33 Macnab,

FE11NS AND MOSSES. 85

curator of the Horticultural Society's Experimental Garden
at Edinburgh.

We shall transcribe the various localities of the Scaly-
hart's-tongue, for the sake of young botanists who may
either reside in their vicinities, or visit them during summer
and autumnal rambles, prefacing our notices with the obser-
vation that in this country it has apparently become
naturalized in the interstices of walls and ancient buildings,
striking its small roots into the mortar, or accumulations of
vegetable mould, scant though they be, yet sufficing for the
requirements of such a tiny plant.

JEtiyland. — "Yorkshire, very rare; a few fronds so
labelled are in Herbaria." On Ragland Castle, and Tin-
tern Abbey, in Monmouthshire ; diffused through various
parts of Somersetshire, Devonshire and Cornwall ; in the
former, the neighbourhood of Bath, Bristol, Wells, and
Langport, are its favourite growing places. In Berkshire,
Pusey, near Faringdon ; in Hampshire, the walls of the city
of Winchester ; in Kent, Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone
church, Swancombe church, Shorn church. Old walls in
Hereford and Leominster reveal the same interesting plant ;
those also of the Abbey church at Malvern ; Ludlow Castle,
in Shropshire, inseparably associated with the Mask ofComus;
as likewise walls in the vicinity, are occasionally varied with
small tufts. The dry fissures of rocks, at Doveda'c, Ched-
dar, and those of a rock beside the road between Carnarvon
and Bangor, are believed to be the only places where it
occurs in its natural habits.

In Wales. — Walls and rocks near Bangor, andtheneig
bourhood of Swansea, are acknowledged localities ; as
caves in Holyhead mountain.

In Scotland. — Dundonald and the Carse of Gowrie, ac-
cording to Hooker.

In Ireland. — Counties Dublin, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Tip-
perary, Cork, Kerry, Clare, and Galway.

Roots of the Scaly-hart's -tongue are endowed with the

6 HANDY BOOK OF

singular property of penetrating mortar ; thus admirably is
even the humblest plant adapted to the site which it is de-
signed to occupy. The green leaves or fronds appear in
May and June, and attain perfection in August ; they con-
tinue uninjured by frosts or rains, and are uniformly
fertile.

This small fern is easily distinguished, even when growing
among such as arc deteriorated by ungenial soil, or ex-
posure on walls and rocks. The rhizoma is tufted, brown,
and scaly, and a small portion of the rachis alone is naked,
beset more or less thickly with pointed, chaffy scales.
" The frond is linear, elongate, and pinnate, or pinnatifid ;
the pinnae are attached to the rachis by their entire base,
and are sometimes also connected with each other ; they are
obtuse, rounded, and crenate ; the entire under-surface of
the frond is covered with brown, pointed scales, thought by
some botanists to be analogous to the indusium of other
ferns."

" The side veins are few in number, alternate and irre-
gularly branched ; they terminate before the margin of the
pinna, and are united at their extremities, dividing the
pinna into numerous compartments. The anterior branch
of each lateral vein bears an elongate mass of theca), fixed
apparently to the back of the vein, and seeming as if forced
aside by the surrounding scales." Occasionally they are
attached to a lateral vein, which in each pinna runs parallel
with the rachis.

Four names have been given to the Scaly-hart's-tonguo
by different authors. Hooker, Mackay, and Francis call it
Grammitis celcrach ; Linmeus, Withering. Hudson, Light-
foot, Bolton, Bcrkcnhout, Asplcnium celcrach ; Smith and
G alpine, Scolopcndrium cetemceh ; Willdenow, Celcrach
officinale. Such are the various appellations by which this
pleasing little fern is known to botanists ; but however fre-
quent on inland rocks, and old walls cemented by mortar
mixed with clay, we are informed that it is becoming very

FERNS AND MOSSES.

87

scarce in places frequented by fishermen, being in great re--
quest for bait in rock-eod fishing.

Dioscorides celebrates the medicinal virtues of this fern,
as affording an almost universal panacea.

The Asplenium trichomanes, or common Spleenwort of
botanists, is very generally diffused. You may gather it

COMMON BPLEENWOBT.

from moist rocks in mountain solitudes, on old walls, and
beside rushing torrents, on bamcs, n neagerows, ana from
the gothic windows of dismantled abbeys, where a scanty
supply of earth, in some small crevice, affords a resting-
place for its tiny roots. Newman once observed the same
plant in the valley of the Wye, near the small town of Bualt,
growing in such profusion on a bri.lge as to form a con-
tinuous covering of green ; and truly, said he, ' ' There is
scarcely anything in the vegetable world more beautiful
than such a sight." He recommends its cultivation, and
assures his readers that the effect produced on the biidge by
natural growth, may speedilj be realized at home. Imagine
an unsightly wall, or a heap of stones still more unsightly,

88 HANDY BOOK OP

in some dull corner unvisited by sunbeams, dppressing the
mind of him who is daily constrained to look upon them;
contrast with this the pleasure of going forth into the woods,
where, perhaps, some time-worn ruin recalls the memory of
feudal greatness, and gathering from its walls tufts of the
common Spleenwort to plant among the interstices or stones.
If woods or memorial ruins are far away, you may seek for
the same fern in other localities ; and to this succeeds the
pleasure of planting, watering, and watching the unfolding
of one small leaf, then another, till, as months pass on,
the bare wall or stones are mantled with a luxuriant vege-
tation.

The roots are black, tough, and penetrating ; wherever
the smallest fibre insinuates itself, there the common Spleen-
wort makes good his footing, it may be in rock or wall,
exposed to the fury of fierce winds or scorching sunbeams,
or within the spray of waterfalls ; this matters not. The
Spleenwort, is a citizen of the vegetable world, appearing in
May and June, arriving at maturity in August and September,
and remaining green throughout the winter.

Would you seek to place this fern among your specimens,
observe that the "rachis is naked for a third part of its
length, smooth, shining, and black throughout ; that the
frond is narrow, linear, and simply pinnate; the pinnaD
dark green and very numerous ; irregularly ovate, obtuse at
the apex, and more or less crenate at the margins ; that
though they are usually distinct and distant, occasionally
they are crowded, and each recumbent on the one preceding
it ; that, moreover, they are attached to the rachis solely by
their stalks, falling off like the leaves of phanogamous plants
when the frond approaches decay, and leaving the rachis a
bare denuded bristle." In size the common Spleenwort
varies considerably ; at one time presenting a fairy-like
app 'arance, at another one of considerable dimensions.

Observe, also, that the lateral veins are forked shortly
after leaving the mid- vein, the anterior branch bearing an

FERNS AND MOSSES. 89

elongate, linear mass of thecse, almost immediately after the
fork ; this mass is at first covered with an elongate, linear,
white membranous indusium, which, as the thecse swell,
becomes obliterated ; the black masses likewise become nearly
confluent in two portions : they, however, rarely unite over
the mid-rib, though ten or twelve in number.

This common fern has no pretension to medicinal virtues.
Withering merely speaks of it as being generally substituted
for the true Maidenhair in making capillaire — a syrup which,
\vhen perfumed with orange flowers, is considered an agree-
able beverage.

Fern collectors must now begin to gather such specimens
as they desire to possess ; and where is there a fern that
does not amply repay the trouble of preserving ? Unlike
flowers, which often become discoloured, or lose their vivid
tints and graceful forms, these plants dry well, and retain
the symmetry of their leaves and pinnae ; suggestive, too,
are they of pleasures yet to come, among green woods and
lanes, and bringing to remembrance many a country walk,
•when the cuckoo's song was heard, and ferns began to unfold
in sunny brakes.

" Let Fate do her worst, these are relics of joy,
Bright beams of the past which she cannot destroy;
Oh ! long be our hearts with such memories fill'd,
Like the vase in which roses have once been distill' d ;
You may break, you may ruin the vase, if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."

Such ferns as you wish to preserve should be gathered in
dry weather, yet not when the pinnae are slightly curled by
the heat, which is frequently the case, but when the whole
plant is fully developed. Lay the specimen thus gathered
between several sheets of blotting-paper, taking care that
even the finest root or pinnae remains uninjured. Subject
the whole to a Considerable pressure, and let the fern con-
tinue unexamined for a few days ; then carefully remove

90 HANDY BOOK 01''

the weight and blotting-paper, lest any degree of humidity
should require a change of paper. This, however, rarely
occurs, except in the case of the Hart's-tongue, a water-
loving fern, or that of the Moonwort. Replace the weight,
and let your specimens remain in a dry place for a month or
six weeks, when they may be safely removed to the pages of
your fern-book, upon which it is desirable to tack them
with a fine needle and silk or thread, in two or three places,
according to the size of the fern. Do not forget to set down
the places where grew your specimens, and any historic or
biographic memoranda that can be comprised in a few lines.
If, also, you meet with poetry befitting the ferns or their
localities, such quotations will render your book still more
interesting.

When the stems of the ferns are unusually thick, we have
found it desirable to place on either side folded sheets of
blotting-paper, so that the finer portions of the fronds may
sustain an equal pressure.

SEPTEMBER.

How beautiful are ripening fields of grain,
Varying the landscape. And how fair the scene
Of bill and dale, and woodland spreading wide ;
"With cottage homes, and village fanes, that lift
Their spires to heaven.

WHY is it that the Brake-fern grows profusely in some
parts of Kent, whilst almost every other fern is wanting P
that banks and hedgerows in the neighbourhood of Syden-
ham, especially, are profusely feathered with this interesting
species ? We have spoken elsewhere concerning the Pteris
aquilina — of its wide diffusion, and association with memo-
rial sites and ruins; but nowhere have we seen it more

AND MOSSES 91

pleasingly localized than in a sloping field which extend
from the turnpike road on Sydenhara Hill towards the village.
Ripening ears of grain grow luxuriantly on either side the
patrnvay ; to some they might have formed a rustling canopy,
but to us they presented the semblance of tall stems, up-
lifting their luxuriant heads to air and light, bringing
forcibly to mind the vivid description of St. Pierre, who
loved to lie down among the grass and corn, and observe
the dappled insects that darted merrily in all directions.

Half-way down, the view was beautiful ; full in front
arose the stately tower of Upper Sydtnham church, and in
the distance the tall spire of Penge church was seen among
the trees. Far as the eye could reach were hills and woods,
and in the middle distance corn-fields and pasture land,
with sheep and cattle. While lingering to admire the lovely
landscape, comprising in its length and breadth much that
is especially characteristic of English scenery, we observed
on our left a space of broken ground covered with ferns and
furze, and encircled with rustling grain ; on the verge of
this wild spot, and nestling among the corn, stood a small
brotherhood of Brake -ferns, so comparatively small and
delicately formed, that the eye, in looking on them, seemed
to behold vegetable prototypes of those modest and retiring
ones who shrink from the rough paths in which others of
less gentle mood delight to venture. But our problem has
not yet been solved. "Who may tell the reason why, in a
land thus favoured with hills, and dales, and sunny glades
among the woods, the Brake-fern alone is found ? This is
one of Nature's mysteries ; or it may be that we are in-
structed by the wonderful arrangement of the vegetable
world, that all things have their prescribed limits — that,
moreover, the smallest plant or fern has a lesson inscribed
on its leaves, which the passer-by will do well to read,
bidding him take note, that each one is endowed with
qualities which represent somewhat in the moral world.
Thus, for instance, the geographic arrangement of trees, and

92

HANDY BOOK OP

shrubs, and flowers — of herbs and parasitic plants, admirably
exemplifies the assignment of different races, among men,
to various portions of the earth ; while such as mostly beau-
tify the trunks or branches of old trees, hint instructive
thoughts of mutual benefits, and of that dependence on each
other which renders every individual a benefactor to his
kind.

IheAthyriumJiUx-femina, or Lady-fern — the Polypodium
Jilix-femina of Lightfoot, Bolton, and Withering — though
growing profusely in moist and shady places, about rivulets,
and on heaths, yet frequently adorns the aged heads of

XADT-FEEN

pollard trees, and often springs from out of the hollows
wrought by time, or woodpeckers. This species, one of the
most elegant among British ferns, though universally yet not
equally distributed, is pleasingly associated in our remem-
brance with a wild and solitary place in Gloucestershire,
which botanists may visit with advantage. That place is
called Custom Scrubs ; its locality is beside the old road
from Stroud to Cheltenham, where the traveller, having
ascended a considerable eminence, passes a fine beech wood,

FERNS AND MOSSES. 93

and looks down on the pretty little town of Pains-wick,
beautifully situated on the declivity of a hill, the summit
of which is crowned with an old Roman Encampment thrown
up by Ostorius. The road passes a series of valleys, renowned
in history as the last strongholds of the ruthless Danes in
the time of Alfred ; and on the verge of the most remote
and solitary, stands Custom Scrubs, with its rude cottages,
and profusion of dark junipers. There grows the Lady-fern,
a name expressive of its graceful and fragile form. Ray
applied the term to our common Brakes, but Linnaeus, with
that delicate perception of whatever was most appropriate,
assigned to it the one of which we speak.

Two distinct types of form pertain to the Lady-fern, and
may be thus described : —

1. Flattened type. — "The fronds are broad, heavy, and
drooping, and often of considerable size, perhaps even from
three to five feet in length ; the pinnulaa are perfectly flat,
with all-their cuttings clearly displayed ; and the masses of
thecaa seldom, if ever, become perfectly confluent. Plants
of this type vary infinitely in the cutting of the pinnulse ;
also in the colour of the rachis, which is green, or inclining
to red, purple, or even brown."

2. Convex type. — " The fronds are more narrow, rigid,
erect, light, and feathery, of a smaller size, but still occasion-
ally reaching from two feet to thirty inches in height ; the
pinnulae are convex, the margins uniformly bent downwards;
the masses of theca? crowded and confluent ; the rachis some-
what pellucid, and very brittle. This type is generally pale
green, sometimes nearly white, occasionally of a pinkish
tinge, and even nearly as red as coral."

Observe, also, that in these two very marked varieties,
the one with broader segments of dark green hue, and having
a rachis of pale purple, is less common than the variety of
which the segments are of a more delicate texture, and the
frond itself of a pale green. The latter varies considerably

94 HANDY BOOK OF

in size, according to soil and situation. In damp and. shady
places, beside streams, and en dripping rocks, it becomes the
Filixfemina of English botany, according to Professor Don,
in the Transactions of the Linncean Society, vol. xvii.
p. 436 ; in more open and exposed situations, the Aspidium
irriguum of Smith. But in ne tber of these states is it to
be regarded as a distinct form. Newman further mentions,
that the margins of each pinnulae are folded together, in that
variety of which the segments are of a more delicate texture
— and that they are so convolute as nearly to meet, which
character causes each pinnula? to look very narrow from
above ; whereas, such as pertain to the other variety are
spread out, and flat — the serrature, or lobes, being perfectly
displayed.

The root is fibrous, black, and wiry ; the rhizoma is ver-
tically elongate, rising, in some specimens, several inches
above the surface of the ground, even occasionally (o a foot
in height, and thus evincing "considerable proximity to
the Dicksonia), and other tree-ferns." The fronds appear
in May ; and the bending downward of the apex, after the
fashion of a shepherd's crook, causes them to resemble those
of the Filix mas.

Examine the frond. ' ' In form it is somewhat lanceolate
and pinnate ; the pinna? are linear, more or less crowded,
acute at the apex, and regularly pinnate ; the pinnulse are
very distinct and distant, either deeply serrated, pinnatifid,
or pinnate ; one-fourth of the rachis is naked, but has
numerous black scales."

Observe, also, that the mid-vein of the pinnula is waved ;
that the side-veins are forked shortly after leaving the mid-
vein ; that, further, the anterior branch of each is elegantly
varied, about half-way between the mid- vein and margin,
with an elongate, somewhat reniform mass of thecae, which
is partially covered by an indusium attached on the con-
cave side of the mass. When approaching maturity, the

FEENS A5TD MOSSES. 95

indusia are forced aside, and ultimately lost, the masses
become circular, and often confluent, covering the entire
under surface of the pinnula.

This pleasing fern has many names. She is the Athyrium

Jttix-femina of Roth and Presl ; the Athyrium irriguum and
Icstum of Gray ; Asplenium Jilix-femina of Bernhardi,
Hooker, Mackay, Don, and Francis ; the P oly podium filix-

femina and rhceticum of Linn feus, Hudson, and Berken-
hout. But however named, and wherever growing,

" Where the rushing stream is longest,
There the Lady-fern grows strongest;"

the frequent companion of waterfalls, and mantling many a
wild dripping rock with luxuriant vegetation, Seek for the
finest specimens, therefore, in places most congenial to their
development, and spread them, as previously recommended,
between sheets of blotting-paper, where they must remain
till perfectly dry.

Nor less pleasing in its rocky habitat is the Spear-shaped
Spleenwort, the Asplenium lanceolatum of all botanists,
the most local of any of the ferns, and generally believed
to be confined to the coasts of Merionethshire, Caernarvon-
shire, Devonshire, and Cornwall, and the neighbourhood of
Tuubridge Wells. Those, therefore, who desire to obtain
this interesting species, must, in Kent, seek for them on
the face of an ivy-mantled cliff near the High Rocks, as
also on a similar locality on the Rocks at Tunbridge Wells ;
in Devonshire, Morwell Rocks, on the banks of the rushing
Tamar, are their favourite growing-places, with similar
localities beside the Tamar, opposite the Lady Mine ; and
such as may be seen contiguous to Cann Quarry, on the
banks of the Plym. Their long, black, slender, and pene-
trating rhizoma, which run to a great depth, fix them
securely on rugged declivities near St. Ives, and in the
Scilly Islands, where, unharmed by tempest, they grow

96

HANDY BOOK OF

luxuriantly, and invite many an adventurous botanist to
scale the dizzy heights whereon they grow.

You may not find them in Scotland, nor yet in the
Emerald Isle, whose waters yield the most beauteous sea-

ls* Variety. Ind Variety. 3rd Variety.

SPEAR-SHAPED SPLEEXWORT.

•weeds. In Merionethshire they are located near Barmouth,
on rocks and walls ; in Caernarvonshire, on a rock to the
left of the road between Tan-y-bwlch and Aberglaslyn, and
on a second rock close to the latter place.

But though the roots (as above mentioned) are long and
penetrating, and evidently designed to anchor the small
fern in its exposed growing-places, it is found occasionally
on old stone walls, sheltered from the winds of heaven.
The rhizoma is brown, tufted, and densely covered with
bristle-like scales ; these should be carefully preserved, as
somewhat of the character of the plant depends on them.
The youg fronds open with the hawthorn and harebells, in
May, when the cuckoo's " one word spoken" rejoices the
young enthusiast who spends his summer holiday in woods
and meadows. August witnesses their maturity, and
during the months of Avinter they continue fertile.

Listen now to the distinctive characteristics which per-

AND MOSSES. 97

tain to the Spear-shaped Spleenwort, and mark them, well ;
for, otherwise, the differences of the three varieties may
elude your vigilance. The form of the frond, as noticed by
an experienced botanist, is various, and owes much of its
variety to dissimilar situations. "The first is of erect
growth, nearly linear, and simply pinnate, the pinnoe being

1st Variety.

stalked and lobed. In this form it produces seed abun-
dantly ; the masses, when fully grown, are perfectly cir-
cular ; and such is their mode of growth, every part of the
frond being perfectly flat, and the entire part ridged."

' ' A second variety, of pendent growth and larger size, is
lanceolate as regards its form ; the pinna) are pinnate ; the
pinnulae stalked, serrated, and somewhat quadrate ; the

2nd Variety.

fronds often, reach to a foot in length ; they usually issue
from dark holes or shaded spots, and the lower pair of pinnae
are .often bleached, weak, and of small size — the surface
being generally flat, although occasionally slightly con-
cave ; when this occurs each pinula partakes more or less

H

98 HAXDY BOOK OF

of the character, as in the figured specimen, where the
detached pinnula shows the veins and incipient indusia."

"A third variety grows nearly erect, hut bends over at
the extremity ; and the entire frond, together with each
individual pinnula, possesses such a rigid and inflexible
convexity, that it is next to impossible to flatten the plant
by pressing it." The form is expressed in the engraving,
but the convexity cannot be well described.

The lover of ferns does not readily grow weary while
observing the exquisite variety of seeds by which they are
distinguished. In the Spear-shaped Spleenwort, the lateral
veins are branched, and a branch runs to the extremity of
each serrature ; the masses of thecse are ainxed near the
extremity of the veins, and somewhat alternately, one
branch bearing a mass, and the next being without one :

3rd Variety.

each mass is at first elongate and linear, and covered by a
linear white indusium ; the indusium afterwards disap-
pears, and the mass becomes nearly circular.

The Black Spleenwort, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum of
authors, the A. lucidum of Gray, is universally distributed,
growing alike in shady places and on rocks open to the sun,
though attaining its greatest luxuriance when nestling in
the fissures of old walls, amid the rents of ruins, or in damp,
shady hedgerows.

FEUNS A!Nl) MOSSES. 99

BLACK SPLEENWOKT.

Engravings may afford accurate sketches of this favourite
fern, but they cannot supersede the necessity of minute
descriptions, which are indispensable for young botanists,
who will, otherwise, be deceived by accidental resemblances
to other ferns.

Take notice, therefore, that the root is strong and wiry,
and the rhizoma tufted, black, and covered with bristly
scales ; , that the rachis is extremely smooth and shining,
having a few scattered scales at the base ; and that one-
third of the entire length is naked, which portion is usually
black, or of a dark purple. You may gather the fronds
before the end of May, or in the beginning of Jime ; at first
they are nearly erect, but they shortly begin to droop, and
finally become quite pendent. September is the season of
their, maturity, and it is pleasant to look upon them when
green and vigorous beneath the leafless branches that often
screen them in winter from the wind. Strange contrast are
they to denuded oaks and hedgerows, with their dark and
cheerless-looking fibres ; the rain may fall in torrents, and

100 HANDY BOOK OF

the fields become white with snow, but still the Black
Spleenwort rejoices the passer-by by its ample and luxuriant
fronds.

We have spoken of the roots, and the rhizoma, the scales,
and rachis. It now remains to notice, that the frond is
triangular in form — that the apex is acute and attenuated
— that it is pinnate, with triangular pinnre, acutely pointed,
pinnate, and alternate ; whilst the pinnulee themselves are
alternate and triangular, the lower ones pinnate, or pin-
natifid, with notched lobes.

It is needful, likewise, to observe that the side-veins in
the lobes, or pinnula1, are irregularly alternate, and mostly
forked after diverging from the mid-vein. One or both
branches of this divided vein bear an elongate linear mass
of theca), situated near the mid- vein, and at first completely
covered by a long, narrow, white, scale-like indusiuin,
Avhich opens towards the mid- vein. When the thecse swell,
and approach maturity, this small scale is gently raised and
pushed from its site ; it is next turned aside, and finally
disappears, when the under surface of the frond presents a
. continuous mass of rich brown seeds.

We may lastly remark, in the words of a brother botanist,
" that the superior length of the lower pinnae, and the
oblique angle at which these, and indeed all the pinnae, are
attached to the rachis, with the more central position in the
pinnulae occupied by the thecsc, are characters by which the
Black Spleenwort may be readily distinguished."

F;;;;XS AMJ MO- . 101

OCTOBER.

" Long work it were,
Here to account the endless progeny
Of all the weeds that bud and blossom there ;
But so much as doth need must needs be counted here.''

SPEXSKU.

WELCOME Nature's handmaids, small mosses, which look
green and cheerful when summer's flowers have ceased to
deck the meads and banks, and all joyous birds are flown to
distant climes ! Ye have laboured much, yet willingly, in
the spring-tide of your time, and now ye sit contentedly on
the once stern and herbless declivity, mantled by your active
ministry with ferns and flowers. I well remember your"
bleak growing place ; no joyous insect ever settled on its
surface, no industrious bee sought there her honey harvest —
flowers there were none, neither had the smallest fern struck
its tiny roots into the fissures of the rock. At length came
one of your persevering sisterhood, making a loving compact
with sunbeams and soft showers, with nimble gases an<i
wandering zephyrs ; and when each one had kindly lent his
aid, 'and that small moss, forming to herself a home, wns
securely settled, others of her companions hastened to dwell
beside her. Now, within the fissuies, and on rough crags
up the stony sides of giant rocks, and nestling on their

summits, grow green mosses. Look upon them, passer-by

nay more, gather a few, and carefully examine their com-
ponent parts. Forest trees do not present a greater or aaoro •
marked variety ; nor is the stateliest oak or pine, the bread--
fruit or cocoa, the banian or the cinnamon, morewondrously
adapted to their respective habitats, or more curiously fur-
nished with air and sap vessels for all the functions of vege-
table life, than these neglected mosses.

102 HA>'i>y BOOK OF

Perclianco you have not thought respecting thorn : to you
they are nameless even. Let it not ho so, however, for the
future ; for every living thing, as I have often said hefore,
hath its own hrief history, which we should endeavour to
understand — nay more, its characteristic structure and vary-
ing embellishments.

Take, for example, the Brynm triqnctrum, and bear in
mind, while looking at it, that the following subdivisions
pertain to the Brya, which it is needful to remember : —

Capsules sessile, or near!// so. — Capsules on fruit-stalks, upright.

1. Stemless.

3. Stems trailim

2. Upright. 4. Stems upright.

Iloundish, egg-shaped, and oblong capsules, pertain to the
family of Brya.

Capsules on fruit-stalks, leaning.

1. Stem none, or very short and unbranched.

2. Stems upright.

Capsules on fruit-stalks, drooping.

1. Stem none, or very short and unbranched.

2. Stems upright.

B. triquetrum, or Ventricose bog-fringe moss — assigned
by Withering to the family of 3fnimn ; by Messrs Hooker
and Taylor to that of Bryum — is described by the latter as
having branched and elongated stems ; lance-shaped, acute,
sorrated, and reticulated leaves, with pear-shaped capsules ;
the fruit-stalks are very long, and the whole plant ausAvers
to the derivation of the generic appellation JBrt/um, derived
from a Greek word /3/oww, signifying to sprout or shoot up,
in allusion to the perpetual greenness and vivifying powers
of this somewhat rare plant. Under its name Mnium, the
Ventricose or bog-fringe inosS is mentioned by able bota-
nists as not unfrequent in turf-bogs and marshy places, also

MOSSES.

103

on mud or gravel, by the sides of rivulets and springs, in
the ascent of Snowdon and Glyder Yar, or the Hill of Tem-
pests, and on the sandy brink of the river at Mavis Bank,
near Edinburgh. Under its name of Bryum the same moss
is, however, noticed by Dr. Scott, in his dried collection, as
being found on the bank of some lake in Ireland, the only
station for this fine plant in the British dominions being thus
vaguely specified by him. The discrepancy is in some
degree accounted for by the admission of Messrs. Hooker
and Taylor, " that the differences between this moss and B.
iiinium c&spiticium are almost insufficient, and that it is
more distinguishable by its larger size, proliferous habit,
and brown or purple hue, than by any more essential cha-
racters." All botanists are aware, that in the same indi-
vidualg great differences result from soil and station. Such
therefore may be the case with the Bog-fringe moss, re-
specting which Dellenius mentions that " the red kind is
found in the mountain torrents of Snowdon, the green in
high boggy heaths about London and Oxford." Mr.
Griffith speaks of having gathered it near Celin House, two
miles from Holywell, in Flintshire.

TIUQfETEUM.

104

HANDY BOOK <)Y

The peristome of the B, triquctrum is compact, and
formed with great regularity. Five horn-like projections
present two openings in each, and are curiously varied with
transverse bands : they are apparently based on four short
bee-hive-shaped protuberances, upheld by a circular foun-
dation, with zigzag and banded embellishments.

The peristome of the B. ventricosum presents a some-
what different appearance, varied and yet similar. The
three sharp pyramidical-shaped processes have a single
opening each, while those of triquetrum are furnished with
two ; they have, moreover, intermediate decorations, resem-

Perls'ome.

HRYV.M VENTIULOSUM.

bling strings of upright beads. Observe the broad belt with
its seeming scales, and the three unique terminations turned
up at the base of each, after the fashion of a Chinese slipper.
Ladies might derive from many a wayside moss, when
highly magnified, hints for worsted work of no ordinary
beauty ; those, also, who devise ornamental patterns for
artificers of various kinds, might frequently discover elabo-

FKKXS AND MOSSES. 10j

rate decorations, scrolls, or braiding in many a fringe or
capsule that projects from out a bed of moss.

The _B. rentricosum has also been placed among the
Jlntums. We state, however, on the authority of Messrs.
Hooker and Taylor, that this interesting moss pertains to
the family of Bryum, and these are its characteristics : —
Stems elongated, and branched leaves, oblong, acuminated,
scarcely serrulate, margins recurved, nerve reaching beyond
the point, capsules oblong and pendulous. The stems are
frequently from two to four inches or more in height, in-
cluding innovations. The ventricosum delights in marshy
ground and the crevices of damp rocks, where it grows
abundantly, and is often of a deep brown or reddish hue.
of which the whole plant generally partakes more or less.
The nerve is reddish.

The S. punctatum, Dotted fringe moss, is assigned by
Withering to the Mnium tribe ; by Hooker and Taylor to
the Bryum, "Who may decide between such varying
opinions ? We incline, however, to the judgment of the
latter authorities, and shall therefore give their concurrent
description of this singular moss : — Stems elongated, leaves
roundish ovate, very obtuse, reticulated, margins thickened
entire, nerves disappearing below the point, capsule ovate,
or rather oblong egg-shaped pendulous, lid short, rostrate :
leaves, largest in the order Musci, approaching very nearly
to those of the Cinclidium stt/yium, inner peristome of a
firm and rigid texture, outer teeth pale coloured.

Seek for this interesting moss in marshy places, on the1
roots of alders and water-loving trees, where it vegetates in
large patches, and the leaves have occasionally a scarlet
rib. Bogs in the West Riding of Yorkshire are its favourite
growing places, and there the brotherhood obtain their
fullest development. The broad and inversely egg-shaped
leaves are elegantly varied with small dots.

" Prepare your sweetmeats," says the Chinese proverb.
" and your friend will come ;" " Think of him, and he will

106

HANDY BOOK 01'

surely appear," responds the English. We trust that the
frequent wish for accurate information relative to mosses,
Avill cause this hitherto comparatively neglected branch of
natural history to be placed on the same sure basis as sea-
weeds and shells. In the instance of the undulated Fringe-
moss, or Byrum undulatum, the usual difficulty occurs.
Withering speaks of it as a Mnium ; Hedwig also. Hud-

I.eaf magnified.

BHYUM PUNCTATCM.

son and Hooker as a Bryum. The root is strong and creep-
ing ; the shoots from three to six inches long, cither
branched or otherwise ; the leaves are thin, pellucid, spear-
shaped, waved, and serrated ; capsule pendant with blunt
lids ; veil straight and pointed, according to Dcllenius ;
flowers extremely minute, but when examined with a
microscope, the unfruitful ones are seen to be surrounded by
strap-shaped leaflets, in the centre of shoots ending in mimic

AND MOSd-ES. 107

We have elsewhere observed that every plant and flower
has its winged or creeping resident, nay, every locality and
soil: "As for the stork, the fir-trees are her house; the
high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for
the conies." (Ps. civ. 17, 18.)

Even the humblest moss that grows on cottage thatch or
wall, in moist shady woods, or about the roots of trees and
hedges, shelters some tiny insect, that finds therein a home
and store-house. On tbe leaves of this simple moss, and
also upon the Dicranum bryoides, or Bryum-like feather-
moss, in Wallington Woods, Northumberland, a minute and
elegant insect, the Leangeum Trevelyani, may sometimes
be discovered. None, perhaps, among the insect tribes are
more radiantly beautiful, or more attractive from its
symmetry, delicate formation, and varied hues, than this
minute creature. The eye gazes upon it with extreme de -
light; and though thus minute, it is endowed with even'
requisite faculty for enjoyment ; and how know we whether
this charming little being, which presents one of the love-
liest objects in creation, does not especially rejoice in the
fairy-formed home wherein she dwells ?

Nor less worthy of regard is the Bryum hygrometricum of
Huds, the Furaria hygrometrica of Roth and Hook, and the
Minium hygrometricum of Withering ; for such are the
various appellations assigned to the Revolving fringe-moss.
This tribe is common in woods and heaths* on garden walks,
old trees and walls, among decayed wood, and where coals
and cinders have lain. We remember our favourite walk
in a shrubbery, where the Revolving fringe -moss grew so
luxuriantly as to form a carpet of verdure. Children re-
sorted in summer to that shady walk, and therefore the
green covering was continually trodden upon, although re-
newing its beauty and freshness whenever dews were heavy,
or passing showers watered that wild spot. In places rarely
visited the case was otherwise ; there the stems of the Re-
volving fringe-moss rose from one to two inches in height,

K8

HANDY HOOK OF

though mostly buried in the earth ; and fruit-stalks, a full
inch long, upheld their pear-shaped, golden yellow capsules.
Those who seek for it in December will discover this same
moss, very small, and nestling closely on the ground, with
line oblong, taper -pointed leaves, from which young fruit-
stalks project like fairy spears. In January, the four-sided,
and straw-coloured veil appears ; in February and March ,
capsules become apparent, and ripen in April and May.

B. PAIAJSTRK.

1, 2, Capsule and Leaf magnified.

Thus regularly and invariably progresses this small mossj
six months are witnesses to its first emerging and proceeding
through various changes, till its final perfecting by soft
showers and warm sunbeams. Then it is that the vital,
principle is fully developed ; and if the fruit-stalk be
moistened at its base, the head makes three or four revolu-
tions ; but if at the upper portion, it turns the contrary way.
Spiral fibres are, therefore, assigned to the Revolving fringe-

AND ilOSSES. 109

moss — they answer the same end as those of the water-lily,
and all such plants as are peculiarly affected by light or
moisture.

The essential characteristics of the Bryum palustre, or
Forked fringe-moss, according to the testimony of Hooker
and Taylor, consists in the stems being much branched, the
leaves lanceolate, obtuse, entire, with margins revolute; the
capsules ovate, oblique, sulcated, lids conical. We recog-
nize in this rarely-noticed species a beautiful provision for
the dispersion of those innumerable seeds which are con-
tained in the small ribbed capsules : the stems, previously
upright and holding their seed-vessels erect, for the obvious
purpose of obtaining as much air and light as possible, bend
downwards when the seeds are fully ripe and the lid ready
to fall off. When the seeds arc shed, the capsules become
crooked — wherefore, we know not ; yet doubtless for some
purpose connected with the vegetable economy of the
plant.

Subjects of engrossing interest, either as respects their
beauty or rarity, or the memorial sites among which they
grow, may be selected from the rugged bank that first
attracted our attention. Here is the Minium orcuatum, or
Curved-stalked fringe-moss of Dicks and Withering, as-
signed to the Bryum tribe, an extremely beautiful moss,
unknown on the continent, though of common occurrence in
the mountainous districts of Ireland, and not unfrequently
in many parts of England. The stems are upright, but
spreading and serrulated. The barren flowers are terminated
and stalk-like ; the fruit-stalks terminal, crooked, and sur-
rounded by young shoots. The golden yellow globular
capsules have narrow mouths, their fringes are varied with
short, upright, acute red teeth, and the minute lids are
scarcely beaked. A. fuscous woolly substance constantly
surrounds the shoots — a material, it may be, for the winter
domicile of some dependent insect. I^or less vivid than the
capsules are the fruit-stalks, which spring from out the base

110

IIANIJY

erf the mimic branches ; they are golden red, about half-an-
inch long, and crooked ; the leaves arc serrulated chiefly
towards the end.

Thus perfect in all its parts, the Curved-stalked fringe-
moss is eagerly sought for by collectors ; and in order to
assist them in their pursuits, we instance the following
growing-places : — Bogs in the northern parts of Yorkshire,
and moist places on Glyder Mountain, North "Wales. Boggy
places in Scotland ; and among bogs, in company with
Jfnium palustrc, in Greenfield, Saddleworth, Yorkshire ;
and Stanley, Cheshire. The banks of Avon Las, near
Pistyllwen, in Llanberris parish, are varied with this elegant
moss, as also the foot of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh,
and the recesses of the mountains of Cumberland.

Beautiful in its assigned locality is the Brywn ligulatum ,
Long-leaved thread-moss, one of the largest as well as
handsomest of British mosses. Sir James Smith compares

X

1. B. LIGULATUM. — 2. Portion of a leaf, magnified to show the
network. — 3. Interior of peristome, — 4, Exterior.

l-: iiXS AX1) MOSSES.

Ill

it to a grove of fairy palm-trees, drooping gracefully over
the moon-lit dancers, when they prank it merrily on the
dewy sod. Beautiful and shining foot-stalks, resembling
polished shafts, of a dark red colour, uphold capsules of
equal brilliancy, among which the tiny people may float in
and out, now lost in their dark shadows, and again re-
appearing in the fidl beams of a cloudless moon.

Linnasus gave to the Dark Mountain fringe-moss the name
which now it bears. Botanists, in modern times, have re-

B. DEALBATUM. Leaf Magnified.

ferred it to the Mnium, Dicranum, and Tricliostomum tribes ;
and, therefore, our readers will not be surprised if they rind
it under either of the above heads. A recent and high
authority has, however, resumed the appellation given by
the Swedish naturalist.

Unlike many of its family, which grow best on arid moun-
tains, and walls- open to the sun, the Dark Mountain fringe-
moss requires a soil, however meagre. It grows on stones
thinly covered with mould, near Llanberris, in Carnarvon-
shire, and in the West Riding of Yorkshire ; frequent in
the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland; it affects also
rocks on the hill-side, about fifty yards above Garthmelio,
the seat of R. W. Wynne, Esq., Denbighshire.

112 HANDY BOOK OF

A variety, with trailing sterns and brownish green leaves,
somewhat open, with branched shoots, floating on the water,
or mantling stone and pebbles, round which some prattling
stream forms eddies of white foam, may be readily dis-
tinguished by short and blackish fruit -stalks, and straight,
oblong, dark green capsules. This variety is not uncommon
in rivulets that water the moors of the Peak of Derbyshire
and in the racing torrents near Llanbcrris, Carnarvonshire.
Mr. Griffith gathered a fine specimen in the first brook after
crossing Pont Alwen, between Denbigh and Cerrig y
Druidion.

The Bryum dcalbatum, or Pale-leaved thread-moss, is a
somewhat rare moss in England, though not unfrequent
among Scottish mountains, especially on Ben Lawers. Bo-
tanists will readily distinguish it, by observing that the
capsules are roundish, somewhat bent, toothed and fringed,
and that the leaves are spear-shaped, acute, and expanding.
Such are its chief characteristics ; and when submitted to a
microscope, there is much found to admire in this simple,
rock-adhering moss. Minute leaves, which resemble the
finest scales, become enlarged, pellucid, finely but obscurely
serrated, and seem as if covered with network ; the scarcely
perceptible capsule displays its teeth and fringes, and deli-
cately formed lid. A pitcher in truth it is, filled with the
finest seeds, upheld with others of its kind to the genial
influence of air and light, and when that purpose is accom-
plished, bending to the earth.

The Bryum marginatum, or Bordered thread-moss, is
equally worthy of attention. The shoots are mostly simple,
the leaves egg spear-shaped, pointed, finely toothed, and
bordered with a mid-rib and thick red edge, the capsules
egg cylindrical, with a beaked lid. All this is obvious to
the unassisted eye, and the yellowish hue of the Bordered
thread-moss readily distinguishes it ; but when seen through
a microscope, how greatly is its beauty heightened ! The
lurid hue of the nerve and margin in each leaf becomes of a

1'EHXS AMD MOSSKS.

113

brilliant deep blood colour, and the veil is equally observable.
True it is that these peculiarities render the moss obvious at
first sight, but as. the hand of the carver and polisher brings

B. MARGIN ATUM. — 1. Capsule. — 2. Portion of a leaf. —
3. Leaf magnified.

forth the excellence of cameos and gems, so do the lenses
of the microscope alone reveal the exquisite perfections of
Nature's minutest works.

NOVEMBER.

" Mosses are Nature's children. I have seen them
Smile in their beauty on the lone sea-clift',
By rushing torrents, or on herbless granite,
Where nought beside, save some meek, pale-faced lichen
"Would brook to linger."

OTHER individuals of the genus Bryiun are deserving of
minute inspection. Their numbers and varieties are such,
however, as to render selection difficult ; we shall, there-

i

114 HANDY BOOK OF

fore, briefly notice a few of the rarest, or most beautiful,
and then pass on.

The Bryum argenteum, or Silvery-thread] moss, though
frequent on sunny banks and walls, on roofs and rocks, is
deserving of especial notice. The capsules are egg-shaped,
upright when green, pendent when ripe; and this for the
purpose already noticed, namely, that of scattering the
seeds upon the earth as from a reversed pitcher. The leaves
are egg-spear-shaped, ending in hairs, but so pressed against
the stems, as hardly to be distinguishable by the naked
eye ; the fruit-stalks rise from the base of the shoots to
nearly half an inch ; and he who subjects the capsule to a
magnifying glass, will readily discover that the lid is short
and blunt, that the mouth is elegantly fringed, and the veil
deciduous. The plant grows in patches about half an inch
high ; in autumn, and early in the winter, of a vivid green,
then shining and silvery white, especially when dry, a
peculiarity which distinguishes the Silvery - thread moss
from all others of its brethren.

The gravel- walks of Oxford Physic Garden, in the time of
Dillenius, were pleasingly ornamented with variety 2, of
which the shoots were pale or dark-green, occasionally
shining, the leaves more crowded, and the mouth of the
capsule without a fringe. We know not whether this kind
still holds its accustomed place ; but our botanical friends,
who visit Oxford, will do well to seek for it.

Bryum cubitate, Elbow-stalked thread-moss, and largest
•of all the Brya, may be readily distinguished by its golden-
coloured, reddish-brown, and brightly glittering fruit-
stalk, having an elbow-like bend a little above the base,
and upholding a depressed and pendant, club-shaped, and
very long capsule, with an upright and numerous-toothed
fringe. The shoots are somewhat branched, rather re-
cumbent at the base, and the stems are trailing, often three
inches long, the leaves occasionally bristle-pointed, but nut
uniformly so.

FEltXS AND ilOSSES. 115

This interesting species looks well in a moss book. It i>s
agreeably associated with clear, cold streams in the neigh-
bourhood of Snowdon, and with the bonny banks of Aber-
i'eldy. Hooker and Taylor arrange the Cubitatc under
B. ventricosum ; Griffith considers it as not specifically
distinct from Alpinum.

X(_'verthek'ss, a considerable difference subsists between, the
Cttbitate and Alpinum, as noticed by Withering; and thus
his description runs : — " Densely compact in growth, vari-
ously branched, yet irregular. Leaves numerous, oblong,
keeled, straight, acute, opaque, smooth, shining, purplish-
green ; but in old plants, purplish below, dark-red above.
Fruit-stalks an inch high, dark-red purple, issuing from a
large purple tubercle, veil purplish. This species is best
known by its deep shining purple colour, and its rigid stems
and leaves : the former remaining perfectly straight even
when moistened. Rocks in mountainous regions are the
favourite growing places of this beautiful moss, than which
few among its bretliren look Jietter when carefully dried.

The Great hairy-thread moss, JS. rurale, friend of the
peasant's hut, readily affixes its tiny roots in roofs, whether
thatched or tiled, and on walls and the trunks of trees.
Linnaeus mentions, that when this moss extends over
thatched buildings, the thatch, instead of lasting only about
ten years, will endure for an age. He suggests, that it may
prove a great security against liability to accidents from
lire, which renders such covering very objectionable.

Had Linnaeus lived in the present age, and seen, as we
have lately had frequent occasion to observe, traces of fire
among the dry furze and grass which mantle the sides of
deep railway cuttings, he might fully have appreciated the
value of this moss. Sparks from the fiery iron steed, whirling
his living masses of many hundreds of human beings with
incredible rapidity, not unfrequently set fire to dry herbage ;
even to hay-stacks, occasionally, when too near his path ;
and woe to the peasant's thatched hut that stands beside it I

116 HANDY EOOK OF

But he whose roof is covered with this friendly moss, may
sleep securely. The snorting of the fiery steed need not
disturb his slumbers ; his children are safe in bed ; flashes
of fire — breathings of that tremendous racer — may lighten
by his windows, and fall upon his roof; but they do no
harm among the dense and elevated tufts of the Great
hairy-thread moss. This moss has little of external beauty
to commend it except when growing in wide patches, and
presenting in its aggregate, during rainy weather, a fine
yellowish green, which often pleasingly contrasts with the
grey bark of aged trees, or old thatch on barns and cottages.
In dry seasons, the same moss looks of a dull grey or brown.
As regards its obvious characteristics, we may briefly men-
tion that the capsules are cylindrical, the lids conical and
acute, terminated at the mouths with long fringes ; that the
shoots are branched, the leaves reflected inversely, heart-
shaped blunt, hair pointed.

Beautiful specimens for preserving in moss books may be
obtained from the family of Thread-moss, both as regards
their form and hue. The .7?. aureum is one of these. In
this, and in M. crtuhtm, the stem is half as long as the
fruit-stalk, and extremely shining ; the strap-shaped leaves
arc of a greenish golden hue, forming altogether a firm tuft,
and distinguishable by their slenderness and length ; the
fruit-stalks are an inch and more in length, purple, iridis-
cent, and issuing from a brownish green involucrum, vary-
ing occasionally from pale red to golden yellow, and
upholding pear-shaped and green capsules, which, like the
supporting shafts, change to. yellow red. Although of some-
what rare occurrence, this elegantly varied moss grows on
rocks in Nottingham Park, as also among the Berwyn
Mountains, in the roads between Bala and Llangunnoy,
and on Snowdon.

The transition is natural from mosses to ferns. Compa -
nions are they on many a weather-beaten crag, and wheu
the sisterhood of mosses have prepared a dwelling-place for

IT; HNS AJND 110SS.KS. 117

plants of larger growth, ferns are the first to dwell beside
them. Such is often the case with the Tunhridge filmy-
fern, the Ilymenopliyllum Tunbridf/ense of Smith and
Hooker, of Mackay, Gray, and Francis, the Trichomanes
Tunbriilycnse, or Tunhridge golden-locks of Linnteus, Hud-
son, Withering, Bolton, and Light-foot.

In England the localities of this singular fern are moist
clefts of rocks, and stony places, growing somewhat
luxuriantly on the high rocks of Tunb ridge Wells ; it also
embellishes the coast of Sussex, and is found among the
pebbles at Cockbush. Many a rushing torrent on Dartmoor
reflects its winged leaves ; and botanists speak of it as
being not unfrequent on. the mountains of the north. Mr.
Aiken gathered it from crags in a shady dell near Llan-
herris ; Mr. Winch from beside the tumbling falls of the
dread Lodore ; another botanist at the Cil-hepstc Waterfall,
near Pont-nedd-vechan, and on Brincous in the vicinity of
jS'eath, Glamorganshire. Variety the 2nd, with fructifica-
tions on naked fruit- stalks, is not unfrequent on rocks
beneath Dolbaden Castle, near the lake of Llanberris, and
on. the rock called Foalfoot, on Ingleborough in Yorkshire.

The Tunbridge filmy-fern is presumed to be as yet un-
known in Wales and Scotland. But Ireland owns it in
various romantic localities, in the counties of Galway and
Kerry, Cork and Wicklow. Those who visit the Lakes of
Killarney may find it spreading over the rocks in great
beauty and luxuriance.

The roots are black, wiry, and slender ; the rhizoma
creeping, wiry, slender, long, and black. The fronds con-
sist of a branched series of veins, each one being clothed
with a membranous or filmy wing ; the branches or pinna?
are alternate, more or less subdivided ; the subdivisions or
pinnula? are mostly in pairs, the margin of the wing is cre-
nated, and very minxitely spiny ; the masses of thecoe are
in flat marginal receptacles, situated at the union of the

118

OJOOK OF

pinnfe with the racliis ; in this species the receptacles have
a serrated external margin.

Hooker mentions the Filmy-fern in his ' ' FloraTLon-
dinensis," as belonging to a very beautiful and extensive

genus, established by Smith, for the most part inhabiting
the tropics. One species alone is European, though not
included in the Floras of Germany and Switzerland,
notwithstanding their rocks and waterfalls, and damp,

AKD. M.OSSKS. 119

shady wood-sides, in which, the species congregate. La
Bellardiare and Mr. Brown met with luxuriant specimens
in New Holland ; the former described one especially as a new
species, under the name of Ilyinenopliyllum ciiprcssiforme.

Hooker speaks also of the Jlymenophyllum atatum, or
Winged-stacked goldilocks, a rate plant, but hitherto im-
perfectly understood. Ray noticed it in his Synopsis, and
also Dillenius, as growing on dripping rocks at Belbank,
half-a-mile from Bingley, in Yorkshire, at the well-head of
a remarkable spring, and there Dr. Richardson discovered
it in modern times. We cannot sufficiently deprecate the
ruthless habit of destroying plants by tearing them from
thsir growing places for the sake of preserving only a few
specimens. To some such recklessness we owe, most pro-
bably, the disappearance of the Winged-stacked goldilocks,
or fern, from a spot, consecrated by the visits of Ray and
Dillenius, where it grew till the year 1782, and then dis-
appeared, according to the testimony of Hailstone, in
"Whitaker's " Craven." The species may be readily met
with throughout the Snowdon district, and in many parts
of the principality of Wales, where harps were heard in
unison with the headlong rush of waterfalls; among the
Highlands also, in localities too numerous to mention ; and
in Ireland, especially at Powerscourt Waterfall, and on
^hady banks and rocks exposed to the spray of the torrent
above Turk Cottage, Killarney, where it grows in company
with the rare Jungermannia HutcMnsice.

The frond is from four inches to four and a half high ;
primary pinnae three inches long, tie upper gradually
shorter, and these, as well as the secondary ones, are ovate-
lanceolate, margin entire, furnished with a slender brown
nerve or mid-rib, prominent on both sides, and running-
down the middle, llachis winged, with a broad foliaceous
margin. The substance of the frond is membranous, smooth,
beautifully reticulated, of a brownish-green colour. Cap-
sules roundish sessile, fixed by the disk, compressed brown,
collected together near the middle of the receptacle ; the

120

HAXDT BOOK OF

disk in eacli is reticulated, the elastic ring largo, and the
seeds round.

Such is the elaborate description given by Hooker, who
seems to have regarded the Filmy-fern with no ordinary
interest. It was, perhaps, associated in his mind with many
a pleasant summer ramble.

The Rue-leaved Spleenwort, Asplemum rutamuraria of

RVR-LK iVl.D BPI/RKNWORT

1MJRXS AND MOSSES. 121

authors, to the generic name of which Murate ycrmanicum
and Atternifolium were assigned by Gray, NVilldenow,
AVulfen, Smith, and Francis.

Few plants are more generally diffused than the Rue-
loaved Spleenwort. Growing abundantly among the rocky
liills of Scotland in a perfectly wild state, one of its favourite
localities is Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, and thither the
lover of ferns often hastens to seek for it. One might
imagine that the pure breezes, and warm gleams of sun-
shine, that visit Cader Idris and Snowdon, would favour the
growth of this pleasing fern, but such is not the case ;
travellers who seek for it among those romantic solitudes
will find it growing but sparingly. Yet, notwithstanding
this restriction, the same fern is common throughout the
northern, western, and southern counties of England, as also
in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, where it is found on almost
i- very ruin, old church, or wall, or bridge, whether of brick
or stone. The dweller among crowded houses, and the hurry
of " street-pacing steeds," who still retains his healthy love
of ferns, may readily discover the Rue-leaved spleenwort on
the walls of Greenwich Park, though more abundantly
rooted in the crumbling mortar that fills interstices in the
brick portion of the wall, than in the stone. Like the mouse
and sparrow, half-domesticated associates. of man, it dwells
wherever he has fixed his abode ; associated equally with
memorial ruins and the humblest way-side hut, recalling to
memory days of feudal splendour, and the peaceful occupa-
tions of rural life.

The roots of the Asplenium ruta muraria are black and
wiry ; the rhizoma is equally black tufted also, and clothed
with bristly scales. Associated with the coming back of mi-
gratory birds, and the ripening of early fruits, the fronds
appear in May and June, arrive at maturity in September,
and continue green throughout the winter till the ensuing
May. They are invariably fertile. The rachis is black or
dark purple, smooth and shining, and for more than half its

122 HA?;mr 1500K OF

length, uniformly unclothed. "The normal form of the
frdnd is triangular and pinnate, the pinnae being alter-
nate, and also pinnate ; the pinnulse are of varied form, but
mostly somewhat triangular or lozenge-shaped; their exterior
margin is generally serrated."

' ' Veins radiate from the stack to the exterior margin of the
pinnula), and to these are attached the elongate linear masses
of theete, two, three, four, and even five on each pinnula?
these are at first covered with an elongate, linear, white in-
dusium, which is pushed aside by the growing thecae, turned
back , and finally lost, the back of the pinnula becoming
eventually covered with a dense brown mass of thecse."

Newman speaks of a remarkable form of the Rue-leaved
spleenwort, found in several localities throughout Germany,
Hungary, and Scotland, and considered by botanists as a
distinct species, under the name of Asplenium germanicum,
or A . alternifolium. A representation of the plant, copied
from his History of British Ferns, page 71, and named by
him the alternate type of A. ruta muraria, is given above
A. A. "The form of the frond is elongate and pinnate; the
pinna? are distant, small, linear, alternate, and generally
notched or divided at the apex. C presents a specimen
gathered by Newman, at Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh.
It has three dissimilar fronds, and is introduced as forming
a connecting link between the. normal type of the common
Rue-leaved Spleenwort and the continental specimens. The
same botanist remarks that if a naturalist was to commence
with the first figured and most frequent, and advance re-
gularly through the others, he would find it difficult to
divide the plants into two distinct species. Botanists of
eminence, however, have thought otherwise, but the opinion
of Linnscus may be quoted as corroborative of the one above
mentioned.

Sir S. Smith considers that the Rue-leaved spleenwort is
an intermediate species between Septentrionale and Ruta
muraria, though distinct from both.

in.-

123

This singular looking fern, the AspJenium scptcntrionale
of Smith, Hooker, Galpine, Gray, and Francis ; Acrostichum
scptentrionale of Linnaeus, Bolton, Hudson, Lightfoot,
Berkenhoot, known by the appropriate name of Forked
Spleenwort, is perhaps one of our rarest ferns. It was con-

rORKED SPLEENWORT.

*idered for many years as peculiar to Arthur's Seat, but has
since been gathered in Carnarvonshire, though sparingly ;
luxuriantly on a wall by the roadside leading out of Llanrwst,
towards Conway, exactly opposite a farm-house, and about
a mile from Llanrwst. For the sake of botanists who desire
to add this rare plant to their collections, we shall mention
its localities.

England. — Northumberland, Kyloe Crags, Cumberland,
Honiton Crags, and on rocks in the neighbourhood of Scaw
Fell.

TTWes. — Carnarvonshire, Pwll Du, in the romantic Pass
of Llanberris ; and on Glyder Vawr, above Llyn-y-Coon,
very sparingly ; a mile from Llanwrst, on the road to

124 HANDY BOOK OF

Conway, growing luxuriantly on a wall at the left-hand
side.

Scotland. — Arthxir's Seat and Braid Hills, near Edinburgh,
formerly abundant, now rare ; Perthshire, near Dunkeld.

Ireland. — Unknown .

The roots are long, iibrous, crooked, intertwined, and,
together with, the rhizoina, which is large and tufted, form
an amazing bulk. The specimen procured by Newman, at
Llanrwst, had three hundred fronds ; and after shaking oft'
u good deal of the earth, the mass of roots and rhizoina
weighed several pounds.

The form of the frond is elongate, lanceolate, and fur-
nished laterally with one or two short bifed teeth or serra-
tures ; the apex also terminates in a bifed point, diminishing
imperceptibly towards the base, and terminating in a smooth
ruchis, black at the extreme base. The veins are nearly
simple, few in number, one uniformly runs into each serra-
ture. The theca? are attached to each vein in a continuous
line, covered at first by an indusium of similar shape, opening
towards the mid- vein of the frond, thrown back as the thecae
swell, and finally disappearing. The lower surface of the
i'rond presents a continuous mass of thecso.

Pleasingly associated with the return of the wandering
<love, with the cheerful yet monotonous song of the cuckoo,
and the coming back of the swallow family, green leaves of
the Forked Spleeuwort appear in March and April ; they
arrive at maturity in August, and retain their verdure
throughout winter ; they grow in an horizontal position,
from out perpendicular or slanting banks or walls, and are
figured in their natural size and position.

The Sea Spleenwort, Asplenium marinum of authors, is
widely diffused throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and
Ireland, wherever the fissure of the sea-cliff, or the roof of
a marine cave, affords a congenial growing place. Specimens
of an enormous size have been gathered from the roof of a

FEKXS AMJ .MOS> K!-.

125

Jarge cavern at Petit Bot Bay, in the island of Guernsey,
and also in the islands of Madeira and Teneriffe.

Cornwall, with its sea-cliffs, and remembrances of Druidic
times, is peculiarly favourable to the full development of the
Sea Spleenwort, which grows there to a larger size than in
the northern counties.

The root is black and wiry, tough, long, and so firmly
'fixed in the crevices of rocks, as to require a strong hand for

SEA SPLEENWORT.

its removal. The rhizorna is nearly spherical, black, and
covered with bristly scales ; the fronds make their appear-
ance in June and July ; they ripen their seeds in October,
and remain green throughout the year. Fronds of successive
seasons may be found equally strong and verdant in July
and August.

" The frond is linear, and simply pinnate ; the pinna) are

stalked, ovate, and serrated, two larger ones frequently

occur near the apex ; the pinna) are connected by a narrow

wing running along the rachis."

' Observe how curiously the side-veins are forked almost

126

immediately after leaving the mid- vein — that the anterior
branch bears an elongate linear mass of rust-coloured thecte ;
this, when young, is covered by a white membranous
indusium of the same shape as the mass, uniformly opening
towards the apex of the frond.

Beware, young -botanist, while seeking for this fern in
marine caverns, or in the fissures of sea-cliffs, that you
make yourselves acquainted with the time when the tide
rises from day to day. You may otherwise have to wade
amid the dashing spray, or else to peril life and limb, in
climbing up the slippery sides of rocks, with your hard- •
earned treasures in your hands ; happy, if you escape passing
the night on some high crag, which barely affords you a safe
standing-place above the strife of waters.

GREEN SPLEENWORT.

The geographical range of the Green Spleenwort, Asplenium
viride of authors, A. trichomanes of Linnseus, is very limited.
In Ireland it is believed to be confined to a single mountain
— Ben Bulben ; in this country to the extreme northern

AND MOSSES. 127

counties, where it is generally intermixed with the Asplenium
trichomanes ; in Scotland, to her loftier mountains ; those
especially of the western islands ; in Wales, to the Snowdon
range, though most profusely in the Assure called Twll Dee,
and at the base of the fissure where it opens into Cwm
Idwell ; Cader Idris, Brecon Beacon, the Lady's Waterfall
by Neath, and rocks within a few miles of thp same place,
are also acknowledged localities. *

Few among the brotherhood of ferns are more delicately
formed than the Green Spleenwort. The root is fibrous,
black, and somewhat tender ; the rhizoma black, scaly, and
tufted. In May and June, when the meadows are bright
with fiowers, and warbling voices resound from every hedge
and thicket, the fronds lift up their heads ; they attain
maturity in August, and remain green throughout the
winter.

For about a third of its length the rachis is uniformly
naked ; half this part is black or purple ; the remainder to
the apex of the frond, and all the pinnae, are of a bright
emerald hue ; the form of the frond is narrow, elongate,
linear, and simply pinnate, and though the pinnae are not so
numerous as in A. trichomanes, they are somewhat quadrate,
but without angles, and more or less crenate at the margin ;
they are in general placed alternately on the rachis, are
usually very distinct and separate, occasionally crowded,
and attached to the rachis by their stalks only.

But the most decided specific character belonging to the
plant is, " that the lateral veins are either simple or forked,
bearing an elongate linear mass of thecse, almost immediately
on leaving the mid- veins ; and that, if forked, the division
takes place beyond the mass of thecse. The veins do not
reach the margin of the pinna : the theca? are at first covered
by a linear, elongate indusium, which soon disappears, and
they become confluent in a ferruginous mass, occupying the
centre of the pinna, and concealing the mid-vein. The
masses at first are four or six in number."

128 11 ANDY BOOK OF

DECEMBER.

" Lonely the forest spring! a rocky hill
Rises beside it, and an aged yew
Bursts from the rifted crag, that overshades
^ The waters cavern'd there. Unseen and slow,
And silently they swell. The adder's tongue,
Eich with the wrinkles of its glossy green,
Hangs down its long lank leaves, whose wavy dip
Just breaks the tranquil surface."

a pleasant ramble have we taken together, reader,
among the woods and in green lanes, where ferns grew wild
and high, beside the roar of ocean, in quest of such as dwell
on crags, and even in sea-caves, where the marine Spleen -
wort loves to hide. Now that trees are leafless, and most of
the fern tribe have retired to their winter quarters beneath
the earth, we must refer to our dried specimens for the four
remaining species which we have still to describe.

Here, then, is the Scolopcnclriitm rulf/arc, the Common
Hart's-tongue, the S. qffidnarum, land Asplenium scolopcn-
drium — for such are its three names — a peculiarly handsome
and ornamental fern, which grows alike on streamlet brink
and in the clefts of arid rocks or aged ruins. Of almost
universal distribution, and with the exception of some parts
of Kent and Northamptonshire, where ferns in general re-
fuse to vegetate, this interesting species is found in every
part of the British empire. The child who peeps warily
over the edge of a wynch-well, may see its long graceful
leaves reflected in the dark waters beneath ; and those who
rashly peril life or limb in climbing to the sea-crow's nest,
in the slippery sides of wild cliffs, may often notice luxu-
riant tufts of the same fern waving far above his head.
True it is, that the botanist may walk for miles, and return
disappointed to his home, saying, that nowhere has he been

FERNS AND MOSSES.

129

able to I5nd the Hart's-tongue ; but let him go over the
same ground another day, looking carefully in the thickest
parts of hedges, and he may return Avith fully -developed
specimens. In Scotland, where the Scohpcmln'um is

HART'S -TONGUE.

sparingly distributed, he who searches can seldom travel far
without recognising it in some favourite locality. In Ire-
land it is far niore abundant, and is not only profusely
scattered in the most dissimilar situations, but attains almost

130 HANDY BOOK OF

giant growth in the neighbourhood of Sligo, and among the
romantic solitudes of KUlarney, where the fronds, radiating
from a common centre, arch gracefully in a semicircle.

The roots may be briefly described as black, of consider-
able length and thickness, and of great tenacity ; the
rhizoma is tufted, scaly, blackish, and almost spherical.
Simultaneously with the arrival of the cuckoo, and the
flowering of the cowslip and marsh-marigold in meadows,
the Hart's -tongue uplifts its head, often in their immediate
vicinity, and pleasingly contrasting its light green leaves
with the delicate yellow petals of the one, and the brighter
tints of the other. Though storms are abroad, and snows
lie deep upon the ground, we might find this hardy species
in its sheltered haunts ; for the fronds, which arrive at full
maturity by the end of September, continue green and
vigorous throughout the winter, and generally await the
springing forth of a fresh progeny in April.

DISSIMILAR LEAVES OF THE HART'S-TONGUE.

The habit of the plant is well marked, and is decidedly
different from every other species. Any further description
is therefore needless, except to notice that the form of the
frond is elongate, linear, and undivided ; acute at the apex
or termination, and cordate at the base. Such is the case
when fully developed ; but seedling plants present a variety
of forms, and the young botanist will do well to remember
the peculiarities which they occasionally assume.

FERXS AND MOSSES.

131

Those who like to collect memorial plants, may find dwarf
specimens on the old gateway leading to Saltwood Castle, in
Kent — last halting-place of the murderer of Thomas a-Bcc -
ket ; luxuriant ones, on the left hand bank leading from
that once stronghold of feudal splendour, where they grow
in company with several other species.

It is more than probable that the plant mentioned by
Gerard under the name of Hemionitis stcrilis, found by him
in a gravelly lane leading to Oxey Park, near Watford,
fifteen miles from London, and also on the wall of Hampton
Court, was no other than the Hart's-tongue. " It is a very
small and base herb," wrote he, " not above a finger high,

OSMUND UOYAL.

having four or five small leaves of the same substance and
colour, and spotted ou the back like unto Hart's-tongue."
The dwarfish appearance which the old herbalist describes,
may be ascribed without doubt to its sterile growing-place :
for, although individuals of the species grow luxuriantly in
the clefts, or on the summits of high rocks, this peculiarity

HAXDY 1500K OF

results from the moisture imparted by clouds and vapours
in their lofty domiciles. We have frequently had occasion
to notice, that plants which prefer humid situations in low
grounds, thrive equally well on hill-tops, and that for the
.same reason.

Hail to the banks of Loch Tync, and those of far-famed
Killarney ! Our specimen was gathered in the first home
of the Flowering -fern, or French brachcn — the Osmwida
rcf/ahs of authors — the crown prince of English ferns.
Though widely diffused throughout various portions of Great
Britain and Ireland, the species is nowhere more abundant
or luxurious than in the above-mentioned localities, rising
at one time to the height of eight feet, at another bending
gracefully over the water's edge. This peculiarity is very
obvious at Killarney, where the long fronds form arcades of
verdure, affording a Avcleome shelter to the nimble coot,
from whence she gazes fearlessly on the tourist, though
often skimming near in his rapid boat. Beautiful are the
lakes, and mountains, and trees of this wild spot ; and yet
Sir Walter Scott, when visiting Killarney, uttered not a
word in praise of them, till he reached the place where
grew the Flowering-fern, and then it was that he broke
silence, saying, " This is worth coming to see." " And
truly," wrote jSTewman, to whom we are indebted for the
anecdote, " I did not wonder at the great man's taste ; to
me it appeared the most wonderfully beautiful spot I had
ever beheld, and this beauty is mainly owing to the immense
sixc- and number of "the French brachcn' s pendant fronds."
Widely is this fern distributed, and yet its " metropolis'1
appears to be the west of Ireland, more particularly Con-
neniara, where it not unfrequently covers the smaller islands
with a carpet of verdure ; those in the centre being generally
rigid and erect, such as grow around the margin pendulous.
You cannot mistake it wherever growing, as, with the ex-
ception of the lonely Moonwort, no other fern bears its seeds
in spikes. The roots are strong and fibrous ; the rhizoma

1KKXS .VXD MOSSES. 13o

tufted, and very large, and hence capable of annually pro-
diieing such a weight of foliage ; young fronds, varying in
number from six to twelve, appear in May, and attain ma-
turity in August. Unlike the Hart's-tongue, they cannot
bear the severity of winter, but shrink from the first frosts,
and presently disappear. Xo sooner, however, do the
suUen^clouds of an ungenial season pass away, and fierce
winds cease to howl through forest walks, than they come
forth from their hiding-places with a rapid and vigorous
growth, and, until nearly brown, present a reddish hue.
The fronds are fertile and barren.

We owe to Dr. Withering the appropriate name of
" flower-crowned prince of English ferns," by which he-
designates the lordly brachen. He speaks of.it as affording
a curious instance in its seeds of long- suspended vitality,
as the plant, though previously unknown for many miles
around Birmingham, suddenly appeared on an archery-
butt at Moseley Common, artificially raised with mud from
a deep pit, wherein the seeds had probably lain for a great
length of time. Do not fail to procure this interesting-
species ; it is very available for rock-work, especially if
removed with a portion of bog-earth, and can scarcely fail
to produce an ornamental effect wherever growing. Take
care to avoid cutting with the spade its enormous rhizoma ;
when this is done the plant becomes so much weakened
as scarcely to recover its pristine vigour ; but, should the
injury accidently occur, observe that the rhizoma has a
whitish core or centre, termed by old Gerard, in his
" Herbal," " the heart of Osmund the Waterman."

Botanists trace in the Moonwort — Botrychium lunaria of
Smith and Hooker, the Osnutnda lunaria of Linnams, which
often, from its diminutive size, escapes that notice which
the stately Osmuncfa rcyalis cannot elude — a fancied re-
semblance to the moon, presented by its leaves, and which
has caused it to be held in superstitious reverence. Many a
youth and damsel have gone forth beneath the clear calm

134

HANDY BOOK OF

beams of the full moon, to gather its "leaves of power/'
printing the dewy sod with noiseless tread, and dreading to

5IOONWORT.

look around. And still the cottage by the wood remains,
as poets tell, with its bee -hives and gushing streams —

" "Whence rapidly, with foot as light
As young musk roe's, out she flew,
To cull each shining leaf that grew,
Beneath the moonlight's hallowing beams."

Singular varieties occasionally occur, but the specimen in
oxir fern-book is the most frequent. Though widely dis-

FKHXS AND MOSSES. 135

tributed in various parts, it is yet somewhat rare, and is
more widely diffused in England than in either Wales,
Scotland, or Ireland. The root differs materially from that
of the true fern, as also the rhizoma, which appears little
more than a sxibterraneous portion of the root. Newman,
whose observations on this favourite branch of natural his-
tory are derived from personal inspection, notices that before
the Moon-.wort has felt the influence of spring it exists in a
quiescent state, consisting of a simple stem scarcely an inch
in length, and placed vertically in the earth, somewhat
attenuated at the lower extremity, while the upper has a
whitish bud-like termination, the embryo frond of the
coming season. That part of the rhizoma which especially
derives nourishment from the earth, bears two distinct whorls
of thick yellowish succulent roots ; the upper portion is
encased in alternate scale-like sheaths, and the elongation
of the rhizoma shows that the young frond is about to shoot.
The frond, which is almost universally a single one, appears
in April 'br ilay, erect and straight, as if to welcome the
coming back of the swallow people ! It is fertile except in
seeding plants, and occasionally reaches the height of six
inches.

The Adder's- tongue ( Ophioglossum vulyatum] is generally
distributed throughout England, but is comparatively scarce
in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Its favourite growing-
places are moist, damp meadows, and the sides of streamlets,
where the scarlet Lychnis loves to nestle ; and is occasionally
so abundant as to cover acres of grass-land with its long,
smooth, hollow frond, appearing in May, and withering at
the latter end of August. A few only of the fronds are
fertile, and from out the acute and slanting, the deep green
and leafy portion of such, uprises a straight, erect, club-
shaped spike, somewhat longer than the leafy part, and
bearing seeds in a double longitudinal row. When the
seeds are fully ripe, you may readily see the gradual opening
of the theca) transversely, waiting, as it were, for the pass-

136

'HANDY HOOK OF PERNS AND MOStiES.

ing-by of autumn winds, that bear them in their airy
chariots over dale and hill.

Thus ends our pleasant converse about the family of British
Ferns and Mosses. As regards the first, we have transferred,
fi-om their growing-places to the leaves of our Herbarium,
all known species ; and while remembering the many healthy
Avalks which we have taken together, let us not forget their
names and characteristic peculiarities : and when the voice
of Spring again summons the sleeping tribes, let us go forth
to welcome them. As respects the second, we have briefly
noticed a very few ; trusting that the beauties or peculiarities
of such may incline the votaries of nature to desire a farther
acquaintance with their tribe.

ADDER' S-TONGUE.

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