A HISTORY OF SURREY 



FILICES 



Owing to the absence of any important outcrop of rock, the ferns 

 of Surrey are naturally restricted to such species as love either woodland 

 shade or the open heath. A very limited extent of bare rock may be 

 seen by that part of the Eden stream which flows from Hedge Pool to 

 Woodcock Pool, in the extreme south-eastern corner of the county, and 

 it may be noted that the formation here is the Hastings Sands, the same 

 as at Tunbridge jn Kent. Towards the extreme south-western corner 

 also, between Grayswood and Killinghurst, the streams have somewhat 

 rocky banks, but so far these have not proved productive. 



The most common of all, the bracken (Pteris aquilina) occurs abun- 

 dantly in all the districts, and to it our woods and heaths owe much of 

 their autumnal beauty. The other commoner species are the lady fern 

 (Atbyrium Fi/ix-famina) , male fern (Nephrodium Filix-mas) , polypody (Poly- 

 podium vu/gare),znd hard fern (Loma ria Sp icant) , while on the open heaths 

 and moorland Nephrodium spinulosum is most general. Excepting the 

 bracken, all of these have all but disappeared from the neighbourhood of 

 London, and little is to be seen of the less common species within twenty 

 miles of the metropolis. Among the latter may be mentioned the 

 prickly shield ferns (Aspidium aculeatum and A. angu/are), marsh fern 

 (Nephrodium Tbelypteris), abundant on several parts of Bisley Common but 

 rare elsewhere, the spleenwort (Asplenium Tricbomanes), still plentiful on 

 some parts of the Lower Greensand, wall rue (A. Ruta-muraria) and scale 

 fern (A. Ceterach). The adder's tongue (Ophioglossum vu/gatum) is not 

 rare, but the moonwort (Botrychium Lunaria), although not a species 

 greatly sought by the fern-hunter, seems to be diminishing in frequency. 

 When residing at Godalming Dr. A. R. Wallace informed me that the 

 beech fern (Polypodium Phegopteris) formerly grew within the Surrey bor- 

 der near Haslemere. No station is known for it at the present day 

 although it occurs a short distance beyond the county boundary in 

 Sussex. It remains only to notice the royal fern (Osmunda rega/is), 

 once so plentiful in some parts of the county. It has occurred in at 

 least nine of the ten districts, but is now on the verge of extinction. 

 Some plants were met with by the Rev. E. S. Marshall in 1883 in the 

 region of Hind Head, but a few years later they had gone. But from 

 information gleaned in a still more remote part of the county, I believe 

 I may safely say that the giant fern, as it is there called, is not quite 

 extinct in Surrey. The following is a list of the species : 



Pteris, L. Scolopendrium, Sm. 



aquilina, L. vulgare, Sm. 

 Lomaria, Willd. Aspidium, Sw. 



Spicant, Desv. aculeatum, Sw. 

 Asplenium, L. angulare, Willd. 



Ruta-muraria, L. Nephrodium, Rich. 



Trichomanes, L. Filix-mas, Rich. 



Adiantum-nigrum, L. spinulosum, Desv. 



Filix-foemina, Bernh. dilatatum, Desv. 



Ceterach, L. _ Thelypteris, Desv. 



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