A Dictionary of Choice Ferns. 
97 
ADIANTUM — continued. 
is quite distinct from either of them, as indeed from any 
other Adiantum, through the contracted and deflexed 
character of its foliage. 
A. Birkenheadii. 
Undoubtedly one of the handsomest of the numerous 
Ferns of gaMen origin , and it thrives equally well in the in- 
termediate or in the warm house. Its handsome fronds, 
produced from a tufted crown, about 2^ft. long, are borne on 
slender rough-natured stalks, similar in that respect to those 
of A. diaphanum (A. sefulosum of commerce). Indeed, the 
plant resembles a much-enlarged edition of that lovely 
species, from which it is supposed to have originated, and 
the peculiar way in which it reproduces itself from the bulbils 
formed on its fibrous roots seems to point to its origin. 
It has, until now, proved quite barren. Fig. 53. 
A. Capillus = Veneris. 
To this species the popular appellation of Maidenhair, 
common to all Adiantums, owes its origin. The running 
rhizomes of this species, and of its varieties, are easily dis- 
tinguishable from all others, not only by the dark brown 
scales, but by their habit of firmly attaching themselves 
to any material with which they are brought into contact. 
This peculiarity is, in the case of A, Capillus-Veneris and 
varieties, developed to such an extent that it may be safely 
stated that the presence of soil in their culture is only a 
matter of secondary importance; for, if young seedlings 
originate on a perfectly bare brick wall, or on rockwork, 
there is not the slightest difficulty in establishing them in 
such a situation, and, provided a constantly moist atmos- 
phere and a temperature of 50deg. to 55deg. can be de- 
pended upon, they soon form a complete mass of foliage, 
springing from their matted rhizomes, which have no other 
food than the moisture they derive from the walls. 
This lovely species may be said to be world-wide in its 
distribution, though, so far as this country is concerned, 
tourists and Fern hawkers have greatly reduced the number 
of places where the Maidenhair grew. 
The fronds, Sin. to 18in. long, are generally of a lengthened 
triangular or ovate form, occasionally spear-shaped or oblong ; 
they are of a more or less transparent texture, sometimes 
twice, but at other times thrice, divided to the midrib, and 
furnished with numerous segments or pinnules of a bright 
green colour, perfectly smooth, ^in. to lin. broad, with th<i 
base wedge-shaped, the outer edge rounded, deeply lobed 
from the circumference in the direction of the centre, and 
the lobes again bluntly toothed, and borne on very slender,. 
II 
