Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

4. Polypodiaceae, the Polypody Family

1. Adiantum L. -- Maidenhair fern

1. Adaintum capillus-veneris -- Venus'-hair fern


Rhizomes short to long-creeping, heavily clothed with fine, tan to brown, subulate scales. Fronds alike, scattered along the rhizome, spreading to drooping, 1-5 dm long, the blades bipinnate to tripinnate, oblong-lanceolate in outline; pinnae alternate on the rachis, reduced upward, the ultimate divisions mostly flabellate or obliquely so, round-lobed and toothed toward the tips; veins dichotomous and free; petioles dark brown, smooth or scaly near the base, 3-20 cm long. Sori marginal, borne beneath reflexed margins of the lobes on the leaf segments, lacking indusia. Jun--Sep. Wet, calcareous stream banks, rock ledges and springy areas; locally common along Cascade Creek, Fall River Co., SD; (Widespread in tropical and temperate regions of the World, in N.Amer. s from VA to MO, CO and B.C., and with the disjunct population in sw SD.).
GIF-Adiantum capillus-veneris
Adiantum capillus-veneris
GIF- Distribution Map

Map key


Return to Family -- Polypodiaceae - The Polypody Family
Next Species -- Athyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth -- Lady fern
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Page Last Modified: August 3, 2006