ADIANTUM. 
9 
ADIANTUM CAPILLUS VENERIS 
This most elegant Tern was not known by our early 
botanists to be native of this country. Gerarde says, 
“ The right Maiden-hair groweth upon walls, in stoney, 
shadowy, and moist places near unto fountains, and 
where water dropeth. It is a stranger to England; 
notwithstanding I have heard it reported by some of 
good credit, that it groweth in divers places of the west 
country of England.” Parkinson had heard it “ re¬ 
ported that it is found in Gloucestershire.” Bay, in 
1686, says, “it rarely or never occurs in England;” 
nor was it known for certainty that it is a native of this 
country until found by Mr. Llhwyd (Lloyd) at Barry 
Island and Porth Kirig, in Glamorganshire, about the 
year 1700, and it was first announced in the third 
edition of Bay’s Synopsis Methodioa Stirpium Britani- 
carvm (vol. i. 123), published in 1724. 
Rout black, scaly, and with wiry, fibrous rootlets. 
Fronds usually six inches high, but under favourable 
culture twice that height; evergreen in sheltered situa¬ 
tions, but usually dying in winter and reappearing in 
May. Stipe, or stem, of the frond, slender, and dark 
purple, the lower half of its length without leaflets. 
The branches of the stem are very slender, and alter¬ 
nately on opposite sides of it, and the leaflets are 
similarly placed on the branches. Leaflets irregularly 
fan-shaped; the fertile leaflets deeply cut on their edges, 
and the barren leaflets sharply-toothed. They are all of 
