maidenhair's Usage Examples:

The leaves resemble those of the maidenhair fern, hence its common name.

maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium trichomanes, with Hart's tongue, Asplenium scolopendrium, in the center.

From an evolutionary point of view, it is of interest to note the occurrence of filicinean and cycadean characters in the maidenhair tree.

Ginkgo biloba, the maidenhair tree, has usually been placed by botanists in the Taxeae in the neighbourhood of the yew (Taxes), but the proposal by Eichler in 1852 to institute a special family, the Salisburieae, indicated a recognition of the existence of special characteristics which distinguish the genus from other members of the Coniferae.

Among Palaeozoic genera there are some which bear a close resemblance to the recent type in Geological the form of the leaves; and petrified Palaeozoic seeds, almost identical with those of the maidenhair tree, have been described from French and English localities.

The maidenhair tree is one of the most interesting survivals from the past; it represents a type which, in the Palaeozoic era, may have been merged into the extinct class Cordaitales.

maidenhair fern, hence its common name.

It is also known as adder's foot, golden maidenhair and wood-fern, and is the oakfern of the old herbals.