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Adiantum capillus-veneris:                                                                                            BACK

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Adiantum capillus-veneris L.                                                                                     Maidenhair Fern

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Light 4. Wetness 7. pH 6-9. Fertility 3.  Height <40cm                                                                                                              Casual.

Native. This delicate frost intolerant fern is more at home around the Meditteranean, being confined as a native in this country to wet, sheltered, limestone rocks around, or seldom far, from the coasts of the south-west and west of England, and Ireland, but it is a favourite fern of greenhouses and sheltered gardens and often escapes temporarily to calcareous sheltered walls. In this habitat the drooping fronds seldom exceed 15-20cm. The fronds consist of very fine, dark, wiry branches that arise from a long stipe, and divide with an irregular, intricate mixture of pinnate and dichotomous branching, each finally terminating in a small 0.5 to 3.0cm fan to kidney-shaped bright green segment with a wavy outer margin.

TQ(51)59 5212,9235  18 Bedford's Park, walled nursery centre on the site of the old Hall.10 March 2007. Mary Smith.
  58,91  18 Brentwood C.P., Warley Place, Great Warley. Small plant wall of old hothouses. 24 May 2014. Enid Barrie
TQ(51)58 52,83  18 Albyns farm, well established in an alleyway. 9 May 2007. Mary Smith.
TL(52)53 5220,3834  19 Saffron Walden C.P., Audley End gardens and estate, growing in crevice in ruins of old boiler house  with Cretan Brake. 16 February 2018. Ken Adams et Cam.Bryol.Group.
TL(52)70 702,067  19 Chelmsford, Central Park, high under an arch of the railway viaduct. date 1999 & 2000. Mark Hanson.
  70980,0473  19 Chelmsford C.P., Moulsham Lodge Methodist Church, damp wall with A. trichomanes & P.setiferum. June 2015. Mark Hanson.