Links to genera Ferns and Horsetails (Monilophytes) Clubmosses and Quillworts (Lycophytes)
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| Adiantum | Maidenhair Ferns
Rhizome creeping or erect, with narrow, dark scales; stipe black to reddish brown, fine, shiny, rounded; frond 1-4 pinnate (more so in a few species), pinnules variously shaped, from round to oblong to fan-shaped; sori at margins of leaf segments; indusium formed from folded over end of leaf segment - the sori are actually born on the underside of this false indusium.
Most species lack midribs on the leaflets, and the veins are evenly forked.
Aroung 200 species worldwide, with the majority found in tropical America. One species occurs as a native in Britain and Ireland, although many others are cultivated. A. raddianum and A. aleuticum have both been recorded as aliens in sheltered urban sites, and other frequently cultivated species could become established; for example A. tenerum and A. venustum.
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