THE BRITISH FERNS. 
THE COMMON MAIDENHAIR FERN. 
ADIANTUM CAPILLUS-VENERIS. 

A. fronds bi-tri-pinnate; pinnules smooth, membranaceous, 
obliquely roundish wedge-shaped, or with a truncate base, attached 
by capillary stalks, lobed on the anterior margin, the sterile lobes 
dentate; sori transversely oblong, often occupying the whole of the 
lobes; stipes and rachis black, glossy. [Plate C.] 
ADIANTUM CAPILLUS-VENERIS, Zinneus, Sp. Plant. 1558. . Bolton, Fil. Brit. 
24, t. 29. Smith, Eng. Bot. xxii. t. 1564; Id., Eng. Fl. 2 ed. iv. 307. 
Hooker & Arnott, Brit. Fl. 7 ed. 591. Babington, Man. Brit. Bot. 4 ed. 498. 
Mackay, Fl. Hib. 344. Deakin, Florigr. Brit. iv. 49, fig. 1586. Newman, 
Hist. Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 1. Moore, Handb. Brit. Ferns, 3 ed. 999 ; Id., 
Ferns of Gt. Brit. Nature Printed, t. 45; Id., Ind. Fil. 21. Sowerby, Perns 
of Gt. Brit. 70, t. 40. Bentham, Handb. Brit. Fl. 636. Jacquin. Misc. 
Aust. ii. 77, t. 7. Willdenow, Sp. Plant. v. 449. Presl, Tent. Pterid. 158. 
Hooker, Gen. Fil. t. 66 B; Id., Sp. Fil. ii. 36. Fee, Gen. Fil. 114; Id., 
Jconogr. Nowv. t. 12, fig. 2. Nyman, Syll. Fl. Eur. 433. Koch, Syn. 2 ed. 
985. Ledebour, Fl. Ross. iv. 527. Mettenius, Fil. Hort. Lips. 48. 
ADIANTUM AFRICANUM, Brown, App. Tuckey’s Voy. 462 (name only). : 
ADIANTUM CAPILLUS, Swartz, Schrad. Journ. Bot. 1800, ii. 88. Sprengel, Syst. 
Veg. iv. 118. Link, Fil. Sp. 70. 
ADIANTUM CORIANDRIFOLIUM, Lamarck, Fl. Franç. i. 29 ; Id., Enc. Bot. i. 43 ;ə 
Id., Illustrationes, t. 870, fig. 1. 
ADIANTUM CUNEIFOLIUM, Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. iv. 612. 
ADIANTUM DEPENDENS, Chapman MS. in Hb. Hooker. 
ADIANTUM FONTANUM, Salisbury, Prod. 404. Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Plants, 
Bla 1% : 
ADIANTUM MORITZIANUM, Link, Fil. Sp. 71. Fée, Gen. Fil. 114. Kunze, Lin. 
xxiii. 216. j 
ADIANTUM REPANDUM, Tausch ; ** Sieb. Exsic. 176 ;” according to Klotzsch. 
ADIANTUM TENERUM, Roxburgh, Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. iv. 513. 
ADIANTUM TRIFIDUM, Willdenow, Herb. 20108. Bolle, Bonpl. iii. 121. 



Caudex slowly creeping, about as thick as a small goose quill, 
densely scaly. Scales dark brown, narrow lanceolate acuminate, 
striately venose. Fibres wiry, branched, shaggy. 
Vernation circinate. 








Stipes about as long as the fronds, having a few scattered scales 
near the base, lateral, and adherent to the caudex ; and as well as 
the rachis, slender, blackish-purple (ebeneous), smooth, shining. 


