(6) EBONY SPLEENWORT
Asplenium platynèuron. A. ebèneum
Fronds upright, eight to eighteen inches high, linear-lanceolate, the fertile ones much taller, and pinnate. Pinnæ scarcely an inch long, the lower ones very much shorter, alternate, spreading, finely serrate or incised, the base auricled. Sori numerous, rather near the midvein, stipe and rachis lustrous brown. ("Ebony.")
This rigidly upright but graceful fern flourishes in rocky, open woods, and on rich, moist banks, often in the neighborhood of red cedars. Having come upon it many times in our rambles, we should say it was not uncommon.
A lightly incised form of the pinnæ has been described as var. serratum. A handsome form discovered in Vermont in 1900 by Mrs. Horton and named Hortonæ (also called incisum) has plume-like fronds with the pinnæ cut into oblique lobes, which are coarsely serrate.
[Illustration: Ebony Spleenwort. Asplenium platyneuron (Melrose, Mass., G.E. Davenport)]
[Illustration: Bradley's Spleenwort. Asplenium Bradleyi a, from Maryland; b, from Kentucky (From Waters's "Ferns," Henry Holt & Co.)]