English Maidenhair.
Also see: True Maidenhair - English Maidenhair - White Maidenhair - Black Maidenhair - Golden Maidenhair
Trichomanes.
A very pretty little plant, of kin to the true maidenhair, and frequently used in its place; but this is very wrong, for its virtues are no greater, and it is unpleasant. It grows eight inches, and each leaf, as in the rest of the fern kind, is an entire plant. This leaf consists of a vast number of small ones, set on each side a middle rib, and they are very short and obtuse, of a roundish, but some what oblong figure. The stalk is slender, black, and shining, and the little leaves are of a bright and strong green colour. The seeds are lodged as in the rest, in form of a brown dust, on the under part of these leaves.
The plant grows frequently on the sides of old wells and on damp walls, and it is used entire. A syrup, made from an infusion of it, is the best shift we could make for the true French capellaire; but that is so easy to be had, that no such shift is necessary; an infusion of the dry plant may also be used.
