Delta Maidenhair

Adiantum raddianum Presl

Adianthum raddianum Presl, Tent. Pterid. 158, 1836.—Tryon, Contr. Gray Herb. 144:169, 1964.—Hoshizaki, Baileya 17:134, 1970.

Adiantum cuneatum Langsdorff & Fischer, Ic. Fil. 23, t. 26, 1810.—Fosberg, Bull. Torr. Bot. Cl. 70:387, 1943; Occ. Pap. Bishop Mus. 24:11, 1969 [non A. cuneatum Forster, Prodr. 84, 1786].

According to Hoshizaki this is the plant commonly known in cultivation as A. cuneatum, and undoubtedly the plant widely escaped and naturalized in the Hawaiian Islands. Her illustration shows precisely the pinnule shape and the veins terminating in the sinuses between the lobes on sterile portions of the distal margins of the pinnules shown by the plant introduced in Hawaii. There are numerous horticultural varieties of this species, some of which are illustrated by Mrs. Hoshizaki.

Tryon was apparently the first to indicate that A. raddianum Presl is the earliest available name for this species, since A. cuneatum is antedated by A. cuneatum Forster. We may further point out that A. cuneatum Langsdorff & Fischer and A. raddianum Presl are nomenclaturally equivalent, as the latter is based on a supposed A. cuneatum Raddi (1825: [59, 100] pl. 78, 2a, b). Raddi was merely using Langsdorff’s and Fischer’s name, though ascribing it to Willdenow (1810:450). Willdenow merely included A. cuneatum Langsdorff & Fischer in his account of the genus. Raddi’s illustration, though not showing venation, seems clearly to apply to the plant described by Langsdorff and Fischer.

Carex L.