''Adiantum pedatum'', the northern maidenhair fern, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of fern in the family Pteridaceae, native to moist

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s in eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Like other ferns in the genus, the name maidenhair refers to the slender, shining black stipes.

Description

''A. pedatum'' grows tall, and is

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

Taxonomy

''Adiantum pedatum'' was described by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

'' in 1753 (the official starting point of modern botanical nomenclature). He referred to earlier descriptions, all based on material from eastern North America. Linnaeus' own herbarium contains one specimen, collected by Pehr Kalm. Specimens collected in Unalaska and Kodiak Island by Chamisso and Langsdorf were referred to as ''Adiantum boreale'' by Presl in 1836, although he did not provide a species description to accompany the name. Ruprecht, in 1845, called the Alaskan material ''A. pedatum'' var. ''aleuticum'', and created var. ''kamtschaticum'' for material collected in Kamchatka by Carl Merck and Pallas. In 1857, E. J. Lowe noted that Wallich and Cantor had collected the species in northern India, and that material from the western United States ranged as far south as California. It was one of the many species cited by Asa Gray as disjunct between Japan and both the eastern and western United States. By 1874, Hooker & Baker reported it as present in both Japan and Manchuria. Several species have been segregated from the former ''A. pedatum'', '' sensu lato''. These include '' A. aleuticum'', '' A. viridimontanum'', '' A. myriosorum'', and '' A. subpedatum''. These all have fronds distinctively bifurcated and with pinnae on only one side.

Habitat

It grows in a variety of habitats, but generally favors soils that are both humus-rich, moist, and well-drained. It grows both in soils and on rock faces and ledges when adequate moisture is present.

References

Bibliography

External links

''Adiantum pedatum'' in the Linnean herbarium
pedatum Ferns of the United States Ferns of Canada Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Least concern flora of the United States {{pteridaceae-stub