1. Adiantum capillus-veneris L. (southern maidenhair fern, Venus hair fern) Pl. 12a,b,c; Map 56

Rhizome scales brown, shiny, linear, the margins mostly entire. Leaves drooping to pendulous, 12–75 cm long, the petioles unbranched apically, dark brown, the single rachis straight or flexuous. Leaf blades 1–2 times pinnately compound, lanceolate to deltoid in outline. Pinnules 6–20 mm long, stalked, obliquely wedge-shaped to oval or nearly rectangular, variously lobed at the apex or along 1 side, the sterile pinnule margins sharply toothed, the fertile pinnule margins mostly entire. Sori linear to oblong or kidney-shaped. 2n=120. June–August.

Scattered in the Ozarks and Ozark Border Divisions (southern U.S. locally north to southwestern Canada, south to South America, Europe, Asia, Africa). Moist ledges and crevices of dolomite bluffs and boulders along streams, rivers, and spring branches.

Dense colonies of this species, with their lacy, pendulous leaves, are a common sight on bluffs along many of the spring-fed streams and rivers in the Ozarks.