224 



F£/?.VS. 



and very soon expand their delicate leafage to the action of the air. At 

 the base of the stipe and a little way up the glossy stem are thin, ovate, 

 light-brown scales, but these soon disappear as the young plant gains 

 hardihood, and we see no more of them. The very young fronds, those 

 of the plants of a few years' growth, are exact miniatures of the older 

 fronds, and lovely fairy-looking things they truly are. I think that few 

 ■of our perennial rooted ferns bear fruitful fronds before the third season 

 at the very soonest, some proi)ably still later, which I think is the case 

 with the Osmundas and Onocleas. Elegant as is the English Maiden- 

 hair {AdiantiDii Capillns-Veiwris), it is not more beautiful in colour or 

 graceful outline than our Canadian species. 



Adiantiim capillaire is the American name for our Fairy Fern, 

 which is given under the supposition that it is the plant irom which the 

 old French settlers extracted the famous Capillaire, used as a pleasant 

 cooling drink, though now almost out of use. 



The classical name is derived from a Greek word, signifying — with- 

 out moisture. The surface of the frond is never wet, as neither rain nor 

 dew will Uc upon it. The seed of the A. pedalum is difficult to obtain ; 

 it is shed as soon as ripe, being as fine as the finest powder; if cultivated 



1 should think it should be, by taking up young plants of the first or 

 second year's growth, with a sufficiency of the black leaf-mould in which 

 it delights to grow. The only variety I have found in this fern is one 

 where the pinnules are shorter and broader, and the colour deep sad 

 green ; the foot-stalks very short and closely set, so as to give a crowded 

 over-lapping aspect to the frond ; the outline is more arc-like or hemi- 

 spherical, and the main stem shorter. I have gathered several specimens 

 at different times, but the form is not common : the age of the root- 

 stock, and variety in the soil, will give a difference in colour and growth 

 — but, generally speaking, there is more constancy in the appearance of 

 this charming fern than in many others. Professor Lawson, speaking 

 of the Canadian Adiantum, says, fine as it is in Canada he has seen 

 specimens from Schooleys Mountain where the semi-circular frond 

 measured two and a half feet in the radius. 



" In the days of the old herbalists," says G. W. Johnson in his 

 work on British l-erns, " the true Maiden-hair Fern was considered not 

 only efficacious in many diseases, but especially potent in promoting the 

 length of ladies' tresses, and to this attributed power it owes its name 

 both among the Eatins and the moderns." He gives the following 

 recipe for making the celebrated syrup called Capillaire : 



" Maiden-hair leaves, 2 ounces ; Liquorice-root, peeled and shred, 



2 ounces ; boiling water, 5 pints. Let them stand for six hours, strain 



