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adiante du Canada, five-fingered fern, northern maidenhair, northern maidenhair fern

Stems

short-creeping;

scales bronzy deep yellow, concolored, margins entire.

Leaves

lax-arching (rarely pendent), closely spaced, 40–75 cm.

Petiole

1–2 mm diam., glabrous, occasionally glaucous.

Blade

fan-shaped, pseudopedate, 1-pinnate distally, 15–30 × 15–35 cm, glabrous;

proximal pinnae 3–9-pinnate;

rachis straight, glabrous, occasionally glaucous.

Ultimate segments

oblong, ca. 3 times as long as broad;

basiscopic margin straight;

acroscopic margin lobed, lobes separated by narrow incisions 0–0.9(–1.1) mm wide;

apex obtuse, divided into shallow, rounded lobes separated by shallow sinuses 0.1–2(–3.7) mm deep, margins of lobes crenulate or crenate-denticulate.

Indusia

transversely oblong, 1–3 mm, glabrous.

Spores

mostly 34–40 µm diam. 2n = 58.

Segment

stalks 0.5–1.5(–1.7) mm, dark color entering into segment base.

Adiantum pedatum

Phenology Sporulating summer–fall.
Habitat Rich, deciduous woodlands, often on humus-covered talus slopes and moist lime soils
Elevation 0–700 m (0–2300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NS; ON; QC
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Discussion

Once considered a single species across its range in North America and eastern Asia, Adiantum pedatum is considered to be a complex of at least three vicariant species (A. pedatum and A. aleuticum occur in North America) and a derivative allopolyploid species (C. A. Paris 1991). Adiantum pedatum in the strict sense is restricted to deciduous woodlands in eastern North America.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pteridaceae > Adiantum
Sibling taxa
A. aleuticum, A. capillus-veneris, A. hispidulum, A. jordanii, A. melanoleucum, A. tenerum, A. tricholepis, A. viridimontanum
Synonyms A. pedatum, A. pedatum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1095. (1753)
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