CRYPTOGAMIA— FILICES. Adiantum. 307 



New Holland, akin to this last, require to be well examined, 

 before any thing can be concluded respecting the internal cover 

 us an essential character of Pteris. 



470. ADIANTUM. Maidenhair. 



Linn. Gen. 560. Juss. 15. Fl. Dr. 1 138. Act. Taurin. v. 5. 414. 

 Tracts 245. Sw. Si/n. Fil. 120. fVilld. Sp. PI. v. 5.427. Tourn. 

 t.3]7. Lam. t.870. 



Nat. Ord. see n: 463. 



Masses oi' capsules roundish, marginal, somewhat terminal, 

 distinct, at the back of the yJowr/, each attached to the 

 centre of the under side of its own membranous, rounded, 

 reflexed covers which proceeds from the margin of the 

 frond, being unconnected at its inner edge. Capsules 

 several, stalked, rather small, globose, of 2 valves, 

 bound by a transverse jointed ring. Seeds very minute. 



Roots tufted, or slightly creeping, scaly. Fronds generally 

 repeatedly compound, rarely simple, for the most part 

 smooth. Tjeaflcts stalked, more or less wedge-shaped 

 and entire at the base ; bluntish and notched at the upper 

 margin ; of a firm texture, with fine radiating, or forked, 

 veins. Mai7i stalks and branches slender, elastic, polished, 

 mostly blackish. Covers brown, pale-edged, flat; finally 

 recurved. 



Dr. Swartz first separated from Adiantiim a few species, 

 under the name of Cheilanthes, in which the capsules are 

 situated upon the frond, as was always supposed to be 

 the case in Adiaiitum itself; but it is otherwise in the 

 original species. The difference indeed is often very 

 hard to be discerned, the character of some species being 

 rather ambiguous. Brown and Willdenow however 

 have stamped this new genus with their weighty autho- 

 rity, and the former of these writers describes the disk 

 of each scale, or cover, in Adiantum, where the capsides 

 are inserted, as veiny, the unattached margin only being 

 membranous. 



1. A. Capillus Veneris. True Maidenhair. 



Frond doubly compound ; leaflets alternate, wedge-shaped, 



lobed, on capillary stalks. Covers transversely oblong. 

 A. Capillus Veneris. Linn. Sp. PL 1558. IVilld. v. 5. 449. FL 



Br. 1138. EngLBoLv. 22. L 1564. Hook. ScoL p.2. 157. Bolt. 



Fd. 24. t. 29. J(tc(j. Misc. v. 2. 77. t. 7. BulL Fr. L 247. Dicks. 



H. Sicc.fasc, 6. 16. 



X 2 



