pronounced: ADD-ee-an-tum rad-deee-AH-num FRAG-ranz
See Adaiantum spp. for a description of the genus.
Raddianum is named for Giuseppe Raddi (1770 – 1829) an Italian botanist who collected plants in Brazil and Egypt. Adiantum raddianum is from tropical America and the West Indies, is one of the most popular amongst gardeners everywhere, and its cultivar ‘Fragrans’ is probably the most grown maidenhair fern in Australia.
Triangular 3- or 4-pinnate fronds with dark stalks emerge from a dense rootstock of short branching rhizomes. Fan-shaped pinnae emerge light green, but darken with age. The fronds typically grow to about 30 cm wide and 45 cm long.
It thrives in high humidity, difficult to provide within a house (some growers use the bathroom!), and so it is more often grown in a frequently misted environment in a fernery.
