Adiantum capillus-veneris Linnaeus. Common name: Venus'-hair Fern, Southern Maidenhair, Culantrillo. Phenology: Jun-Oct. Habitat: Moist calcareous substrates, in the Coastal Plain on ‘marl’ (coquina limestone) (NC and SC), on calcareous clay bluffs (GA), and adventive on lime mortar of old buildings and walls (as in Wilmington and Fayetteville, NC); in the Mountains and Interior Low Plateau on limestone or other calcareous sedimentary rocks. Distribution: Widespread on several continents, in e. North America largely southern in distribution, from e. NC, w. VA, MO, CO, UT, and CO south; also disjunct in SD and BC, and in Mexico, the West Indies, tropical and warm temperate portions of Central and South America, Eurasia, and Africa. A rather implausible record for the NC Mountains (Buncombe County, Montreat, mountain ravines, rare, 1923, J.H. Davis, Herbarium UNCC) is mapped as questionable.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: There is some question whether North American plants are conspecific with those in the Old World (Paris in FNA 1993b). This "species" is probably a complex of at least several cryptic or semi-cryptic species.

Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, Bah, C, Can, ETx1, F, Fl1, FNA2, G, GrPl, K4, Meso1, Mo1, NS, NY, POWO, RAB, S13, Sf, Tn, TxFerns, Va, W, WH3, Lin et al (2013). Basionym: Adiantum capillus-veneris L. 1753

Links to other floras: = Adiantum capillus-veneris - FNA2

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU
• Great Plains: FACW
• Midwest: FACU

Heliophily ⓘ: 4