Plate 41. 
ADIANTUM Capilltjs-Veneris, L . 
Maiden-hair Fern. 
Gen. Char. Sori roundish or transversely oblong, marginal. Involucres 
formed each of a separate reflexed portion or lobe of the margin of the 
frond, opening inwards, bearing on the under side the capsules on veins 
which are continued from the frond.-—Yeins forked and free in the British 
species. 
Adiantum Capillus-Veneris; caudex creeping, scaly; stipites crowded, slender, 
ebenous, and glossy; fronds ovate in circumscription, a span to a foot long, 
thin, membranaceous, very delicate, tri-quadripinnate ; pinnules half an inch 
long, and as much broad, flabellato-cuneate or obliquely subrhomboid, on 
long, very slender, black petioles, the superior margin deeply and irregularly 
inciso-lobate; sori as broad as the lobe, transversely oblong or subreniform. 
Adiantum Capillus-Veneris. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1558. Sw. Syn. Fit. p. 124. 
Jacq. Misc. v. 2. p.ll.t.l. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 5. p. 449. Sm. Engl. Pot. 
t. 1564 ; Engl. FI. v. 4. p. 820. Hook, and Am. Brit. FI. ed. 8. p. 593. 
Moore , Brit. Ferns, Nat. Print, t. 45. 
Hah. Moist rocks and walls, south and west of England and Ireland, generally 
near the sea : rare. Jersey and probably other of the Channel Islands. Ilfra¬ 
combe, Watermouth, Brixham, and Mewstone Bay, Devon; Carclew, Pen¬ 
zance, and various places between St. Ives and Uayle, Cornwall; Cheddar 
Cliffs, Somerset. Barny Island, Porthkerry, Aberthaw and Dunraven, 
Glamorganshire. The Isle of Man appears to be its northern limit. In 
Ireland, the South Isles of Arran, and near Boundstone, Galway; near 
Tralee, Kerry, and Ballyranghan, Clare, are recorded localities. 
This may be reckoned among the rarities of our native Ferns. 
Chiefly in the southern districts of our island the species seems to 
have attained its northern limits; for in warmer temperatures, in 
almost every part of the globe, it is a frequent denizen : Europe, 
Asia, Africa, and America, as more fully recorded in our ‘ Species 
Filicum/ v. 2. p. 36. In the south of Europe it is extremely 
abundant, and in France, where it is known by the name of 
Capittaire, travellers cannot fail to have seen it luxuriating at 
the mouths of wells, and often considerably down the wells, 
lining them with a dense mass of velvety green. It is a plant 
too of some notoriety, having, from the time of Dioscorides, been 
