86 
ADIANTACE^. 
being perfumed with orange flowers, is called capillaire, and 
known by that name throughout Europe as a refreshing beve- 
rage when diluted with water.”* * * § Now I am not aware that 
A. pedatum has ever been found in Europe ; indeed it is entirely 
absent from Sadler’s list,t which was published in 1830, and is 
the most perfect I have yet seen. From this list it appears that 
Capillus- Veneris is the only species of Adiantum hitherto as- 
certained as an inhabitant of Europe. But even though we 
admit the existence of an error as regards the species, we still 
have the statement that this rare plant is employed in the manu- 
facture of capillaire : is not this also very questionable ? and 
does not the supposition originate in the French name of capil- 
laire being applied to the plant as w^ell as the syrup .?* We are 
told by Bulliard, in his work on the medicinal plants of France, 
that it is known in shops under the name of ^ Capillaire de 
Montpellier,’ and no mention is made of its use as an ingredient 
of the syrup called capillaire, though the author adds that it is 
frequently used in medicine. J 
The medicinal properties of the true Maidenhair have been 
much extolled. Bay, in his ‘ History of PI ants, ’§ gives a very 
detailed account of its wonderful virtues, and gives it too 
with all the gravity of implicit faith. His catalogue of diseases 
curable by preparations of this fern seems to include nearly all 
the ills that flesh is heir to : for his information on this head, 
our illustrious countryman acknowdedges his obligations to one 
Dr. Peter Formius, a Frenchman, w^ho really appears to have 
considered the plant a universal panacea. Still older writers 
also bear testimony to its powers; and Tragus, after enumerating 
sundry of its virtues, boasts of prudently omitting some of the 
uses to w'hich it has been applied, as unworthy of Christian 
men. II It must, however, be borne in mind that there is a great 
want of precision in the distinction of species in most of the 
earlier works, and that other species, more particularly Asplenium 
* Eng, Flor. iv. 308. f De Filicibus Veris, &c. — p. 52. 
I Cette plante est connue dans les boutiques sous le nom de ‘ Capillaire de 
Montpellier;’ on I’emjdoie frequemment en med^cin. Bulliard, Plantes de 
durance, tab. 247. 
§ Hist. Plant, i. 147, 
II Tragus, Hieron, 533, 
