Maidenhair fern

Nothing else indoors looks like it: tiny fan shaped leaflets on stems as fine and black as wire, moving in any draught. It is also the hardest fern in common cultivation to keep, and the reason is simple and unforgiving. It must never dry out, not once, not for an afternoon. A maidenhair that has gone crisp in a warm room on a Saturday is usually beyond saving as it stands, though it is worth cutting the whole thing to the compost and keeping it damp, because a healthy root will often push out a completely new set of fronds. A bathroom, a north facing kitchen windowsill or a closed glass jar are where these succeed. A living room shelf is where they die.