General: Perennial from a slender, black-tinged rhizome.
Leaves: Oval, 5-30 cm long, oval in outline, borne on smooth dark stipes, pinnately 2- to 3-times divided, the segments fan-shaped, 0.5-3 cm long, 0.5-3 cm wide, obtusely lobed.
Wet rock walls in the montane zone; rare in E BC (Fairmont Hot Springs); cosmopolitan, disjunct, S to ME, NH, PA, NC, FL, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ and CA; Europe, S Asia, Africa, S America, Australia.
Adiantum capillus-veneris can be distinguished from Adiantum aleuticum, the only other Adiantum species in B.C., by its lax drooping habit, unbranched stem, arrangement of pinnae on both sides of the stem, and pinnules that are oval to fan-shaped (Brunton 1984). A. aleuticum is a taller, upright fern, which has a palmately-branched (equally two-forked) stem with oblong, almost rectangular (2-4 times longer than wide) pinnules. The two Adiantum species are not likely to be confused because they occupy different habitats: A. aleuticum occupies shaded acidic woods and rocky slopes while A. capillus-veneris is a calciphile, growing in seepy sites on calcareous rocks, including tufa (Brunton 1984).
Ecological Framework for Adiantum capillus-veneris
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
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