390 PROPERTIES AND USES. 



Adantium Capillus Veneris. 

 Venus' Hair, or Maiden Hair Fern. 



This Fern is found in many countries, and is abundant in 

 the South of Europe ; it derives the name of Maiden Hair 

 from the circumstance of a syrup being prepared from it 

 called Capillaire, which being slightly odoriferous, or made 

 so by the addition of Orange flower water, is used by the 

 women in dressing their hair, and for promoting its 

 growth. Dioscorides, and other physicians of his time, 

 attributed numerous medicinal virtues to it, and our old 

 herbalists held it in high repute. Bay, in his " History of 

 Plants," details at great length its wonderful properties, 

 his catalogue of diseases curable by preparations of this 

 Fern seems to include nearly " all the ills that flesh is heir 

 to." Its fronds are still sold in herb shops for the prepa- 

 ration of " Syrup of Capillaire," from which, by dilution 

 with water, a refreshing beverage is made. It contains 

 tannic and gallic acids, and is slightly astringent. 



A. pedatum. In North America this is used for making 

 Capillaire. It is included in the list of herbs prepared by the 

 Shakers, who subject them to heavy pressure, producing, for 

 trade purposes, a kind of hard cake in the form of a brick, 

 of which there are many specimens in the Kew Museum. 



A. trapeziforme is a native of the West Indies, it 

 possesses the same qualities as A. Capillus Veneris* 



A. JEthiopicum is used in South Africa as a pectoral 

 medicine, and A. dolabriforme is used for the same purpose 

 in Brazil. 



Ornithopteris aquilina. 



This Fern is well known by the name of Brake or 

 Braken, it is the most common and at the same time the 

 most useful of Ferns in an economic point of view. 



