SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF 

 BRITISH FERNS 



ADIANTUM CAPILLUS VENERIS (The Maiden-hair Fern) 



Plate II 



This very pretty and delicate species is a solitary member of a large 

 genus as regards the British Isles, in which, indeed, it only exists, 

 as it were, on sufferance, as a native, properly, of warmer climes. 

 Hence it is only found on our warm coasts, and under culture 

 requires a warm house, or at any rate one from which frost is 

 excluded. Elsewhere it is widely distributed in many parts of the 

 world where the climate is favourable, and moist conditions prevail, 

 at any rate, locally. Fig. 14 depicts sufficient of a mature frond 



Fig. 14. Ad. c. v. (pinna). 



to permit of easy recognition of the species, which, as will be seen, 

 bears its fructification in short marginal patches, which are pro- 

 tected by the inturned edges of the rounded projections on the 

 edges of the subdivisions of the frond. It forms very pretty pot 

 specimens, planted in broken peat, silver sand, and a little loam, 

 in which its black, creeping rootstock travels slowly, throwing up 

 the fronds at short intervals. 



Curiously enough, despite its limited area, several very marked 

 varieties have been found, by far the handsomest of which is Ad. 

 c. v. var. Comubiense, a fairly exact imitation of that beautiful 

 exotic, Ad. Farley ense, undoubtedly the most beautiful Adiantum 



61 



