Ferns with much divided leaves and short, marginal sori borne at the ends
of free-forking veins, on the under side of the reflexed and altered
portion of the pinnules, which serves as an indusium. Stipes and branches
of the leaves very slender and polished.
(Greek, unwetted, because drops of water roll off without wetting the
leaves.)
(1) COMMON MAIDENHAIR. _Adiantum pedatum_
A graceful fern of shady glen and rocky woodland, nine to eighteen inches
high, the black, shining stalks forked at the top into two equal,
recurved branches, the pinnæ all springing from the upper side. Pinnules
triangular-oblong, bearing short sori on their inwardly reflexed margins
which form the indusium.
[Illustration: A Spray of Maidenhair]
[Illustration: Fruiting Pinnæ of Maidenhair]
The maidenhair has a superficial resemblance to the meadow rue, which also
sheds water, but it may be known at once by its black, shining stalks with
their divisions all borne on one side. It is indeed a most delicate fern,
known and admired by every one. The term maidenhair may have been suggested
by the black, wiry roots growing from the slender rootstock, or by the
dark, polished stems, or, as Clute explains it, "because the black roots,
like hair, were supposed, according to the 'doctrine of signatures' to be
good for falling hair, and the plant was actually used in the 'syrup of
capillaire'[A] (_Am. Botanist_, November, 1921). While the maidenhair is
not very common, it is widely distributed, being found throughout our
section, westward to California, and northward to the British Provinces.
"Though the maidenhair has a wide range, and grows abundantly in many
localities, it possesses a quality of aloofness which adds to its charm.
Its chosen haunts are dim, moist hollows in the woods, or shaded hillsides
sloping to the river. In such retreats you find the feathery fronds
tremulous on their glistening stalks, and in their neighborhood you find,
also, the very spirit of the woods."