TRUE MAIDENHAIR. 
87 
Trichomanes and A. Ruta-mm'aria^ were confounded with the 
present under the common name of Adianlum, or, in England, 
of Maidenhair ; neither should it be forgotten that the boasted 
virtues of herbs and simples have, for the most part, proved fic- 
titious, and many of those, once most famous, have fallen into 
utter disuse. 
I'he roots are wiry, black, and fibrous ; the rhizoma, or un- 
der-ground stem, black and scaly, and creeping though very 
slowly : the young fronds make their appearance in IVJ ay, are 
fully developed in July, and remain green till the winter : the 
future divisions of the frond are not apparent on its first ex- 
panding ; three or five pinnae only appear, and these, in a few 
days, become divided into pinnules. 
Although the form of the frond has been repeatedly described 
by botanists in precise terms, it must be considered irregular : 
the rachis, or principal stem, is throughout naked, shining, and 
nearly black ; the branches, or pinnae, are alternate, and on these 
are the pinnules, also alternate, and each on a distinct foot-stalk : 
botanists describe these pinnules as wedge-shaped, or fan-shaped, 
but their form is not uniform, and often varies greatly in the 
same frond. The fronds are generally fertile, the exterior mar- 
gin of each pinnule being divided into a number of lobes, and 
the terminal portion of these is bleached, scale-like, reflexed, 
and bears the capsules of seed in somewhat circular clusters on 
its internal surface : this reflexed margin, and also the situation 
of the veins, is shown in the detached pinnule to the left of the 
cut at page 83 : the veins divide frequently, and without regu- 
larity, and run into the bleached reflexed portion of the lobe, 
ceasing before its extreme margin, and each bearing a cluster of 
capsules at its extremity ; this will be seen on reference to the 
lower figure in the same cut, which represents 
only one lobe or division of a pinnule : the 
reflexed portion, turned back, and showing the 
clusters of capsules, is unshaded. When bar- 
ren, which occurs but seldom, the margins, in- 
stead of being bleached and reflexed, are 
continued on the same plane as the disk of the pinnule, are 
sharply serrated (as represented in the annexed figure), and per- 
