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Adiantum.—Maidenhair.The whole plant of the Adiantum pedatum, Linné,
and Adiantum capillus Veneris, Linné.
The European species is about 1 foot high, with a brownish or brownish-black stipe, pinnate above, and doubly or thrice pinnate below. The leaflets are irregular, wedge-shaped, obtusely incised, with the fruit dots in a marginal line. It is inodorous, with a sweetish taste, afterward slightly bitter, and feebly astringent. History and Chemical Composition.—The maidenhair ferns contain a volatile oil, sugar, tannin, mucilage, and a bitter principle. The A. pedatum is a common fern in the moist, rich soil of the American woods, and is found also in Eastern Asia. The A. capillus Veneris is a native of Europe, but, according to Englemann, is naturalized in Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, and westward to California. The European species is used in preparing a syrup called Sirop de capillaire, which is popular in France and Germany as a mucilaginous pectoral. The plants yield their virtues to boiling water, and are used in decoction, infusion, or syrup. Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Maidenhair is
refrigerant, expectorant, tonic, and subastringent. In decoction it forms
an elegant refrigerant drink in febrile diseases and in
erysipelas, and is also beneficial in coughs, chronic catarrh,
hoarseness, influenza, asthma, etc. It is likewise reputed efficacious
in pleurisy, and in jaundice. The decoction or syrup
may be used freely. These plants are highly valued by some practitioners,
and deserve investigation. Doses: Decoction ( Related Species.—Asplenium Adiantum nigrum, Linné. Black maidenhair. Habitat, Europe. Mucilaginous. Substituted for the true maidenhairs. Asplenium Trichomanes Spleenwort. Europe. Also used to adulterate the true species. Neither of the foregoing have, however, the aromatic flavor of the genuine article. Asplenium ruta muraria, Linné White maidenhair. Indigenous to both Europe and the United States. Used for the same purposes as the medicinal fern. |
Botanical
Source.—The American species of Adiantum is a delicately beautiful and
graceful fern, growing from 6 to 15 inches high, with a handsome,
polished, dark-purple or black stipe, forking at the summit; each branch
so created supporting simple branches densely clothed with alternate,
triangular, oblong pinnae. These are entire and veined on their lower
margin, incised on their upper border, and fruit-bearing. The fruit dots
are short, slightly crescent-shaped, and marginal, and covered by an
indusium derived from the reflected margin of the lobe. The fronds are
erect and present a beautiful appearance. The leaves are slightly bitter,
together with a faintly sweetish, aromatic, feebly astringent taste. The
odor is delicately aromatic.
j
to aqua Oj), dose, 1 to 4 fluid ounces. Infusion (