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Side by side
What tells them apart
The names get mixed up and both have a black axis. True maidenhair has fan leaflets attached at one corner and lives only on wet rock; maidenhair spleenwort has round paired leaflets and lives on dry walls.
Harmless confusion
How to tell it
Thin, black, glossy stalks like hair wire, which is where the name comes from. Fan-shaped, pale green leaflets with a cut margin, attached at one corner only. Water runs over it without wetting the leaf, which repels water completely.
How to tell it
The frond's axis is black or dark brown, hard and glossy, and persists after the leaflets fall. Small round or oval leaflets, paired along the axis. Fronds in a tuft, spreading or curved, ten to twenty centimetres.