Scientific Name:
Adiantum
spp.
Pronunciation:
ad-ee-AN-tum
Common Name:
maidenhair fern
Family Name:
Pteridaceae
Plant Type:
Fern, Indoor foliage plant
Key ID Features:
For common local species, stipes are wiry and reddish-brown to black; frond blades 1-5(-9) pinnate, pinnules mostly trianglular, fan-shaped, lobes on lt least one margin, pale green; sori marginal and usually protected by a false indusium formed from the reflexed leaf margin.
Habit:
Horizontal, Spreading
Form:
Mounded
Texture:
Medium - fine
Mature Height:
0.2 - 0.4m
Mature Spread:
0.3 - 0.6m
Growth Rate:
Slow
Origin:
South America, U.S. - southwest (Depends on species)
Hardiness Rating:
Zone 8a: (-12 to -9.5 °C)
Exposure:
Filtered shade, Deep shade
Soil/Growing Medium:
Humus rich
Water Use:
Low
Landscape Uses:
Indoor plant, Waterside planting
Additional Info:
Google. Species shown include
A. raddianum (delta maidenhair, Zone 10),
A. capillus-veneris (southern maidenhair, Zone 8), and
A. venustum (Himalayan or evergreen maidenhair, Zone 8).
Leaf Morphology:
Form:
Compound, Fern-like
Arrangement:
Basal
Texture/Venation:
Soft flexible
Surfaces:
Glabrous
Compound Leaf:
Odd-pinnate, Bipinnate, Tripinnate
Colour in Summer:
Dark-green
Colour in Fall:
Dark-green
Shapes:
Deltoid, Oblong, Rhomboidal
Apices:
Obtuse
Bases:
Cuneate, Truncate
Margins:
Sinuate
Additional Info:
Depending on species, fronds can be once-pinnate to tripinnate.
Inflorescence Type:
Flower Morphology:
Colour (petals):
No flowers
Flower Time at Peak:
Fruit Type:
Sporangium (spores)
Fruit Colour:
Brown
Fruiting Time:
Additional Info:
Not showy
Bark or Stem Colour:
Additional Info:
no above ground stem
Organ Modifications:
Rhizomes
Propagation:
Spore, Division - below ground parts
Optimal Temp.:
Medium
Light Level:
Low
Maintenance:
High
Pest Susceptibility:
Root rot, Scale insects
