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 | Maidenhair Other Names:
Botanical Name: Asplenium trichomanes
Family: N.O. Filices |
Description: |
A tea derived from our Common Maidenhair, a simple little fern, common on old walls, with long, simply pinnate fronds, their sori arranged on the back in oblique lines, has also demulcent effect. The fronds are sweet, mucilaginous, and expectorant, causing the tea to have been considered useful in pulmonary disorders. In Arran, the fronds have been dried and used as a substitute for tea; it acts as a laxative.
---Other Species---
The 'Golden Maidenhair,' which Culpepper also mentions is not a Fern, but a Moss. He describes it as 'rarely used, but very good to prevent the falling off of the hair and to make it grow thick, being boiled in water or lye and the head washed with it.'
The above three species are the doradilles of France, sometimes used as rather unsatisfactory substitutes for the Maidenhair of Montpellier and Canada and Mexico. |
Ancient Lore: |
MAIDENHAIR (Common)
ADIANTUM CAPILLUS VENERIS
Maidenhair should be used green, and in conjunction with other ingredients, because their virtues are weak.
This is a perennial evergreen fern, with small rounded green leaves and with spores spotted on the backs of them.
Where to find it: Stone walls, rocks and in moist caves.
Flowering time: There is no flower. The seed appears in late summer. Astrology: This and all other Maidenhairs are under Mercury.
Medicinal virtues: A good remedy for coughs, asthma and pleurisy. It is also a gentle diuretic and useful in jaundice, gravel and other impurities of the kidneys.
Modern uses: An infusion of the leaves is used for catarrh. One ounce (28 g) of the leaves is infused in 1 pt (568 ml) of boiling water. For coughs, honey is added to make a syrup. The plant is also known as Maidenhair Fern or True Maidenhair. Another fern, Asplenium trichomanes, is also referred to as Common Maidenhair. Golden Maidenhair (Adiantum aureum) is recommended as a scalp treatment. It is boiled in water and used to wash the hair to prevent thinning. The White Maidenhair (Asplenium rulamuraria) has similar properties, the leaves being used for coughs, shortness of breath, and scalp problems, such as excess scurf. |
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