62 
European Ferns. 
Beginning with our own country, we shall find that the Parsley Fern is frequent on the 
mountains in many parts of Scotland and the north of England, with a few outlying stations 
further south, some of which, however, certainly require verification. This is the case with the 
Devonshire locality, for example: Mr. N. B. Ward recorded the finding, in 1840, of a single 
plant of this fern, “at or within six miles of Lynton, North Devon,” and what appears to be 
the same locality has been recorded for it in somewhat different terms in various works. But 
from the way in which the Somersetshire locality for the plant is recorded by Mr. Newman, 
it seems most probable that the Devonshire locality should be altogether suppressed. Mr. Ward* 
says the fern was found “ in company with Polytrichum alpinicm ,” near Lynton, as already 
quoted ; Mr. Newmanf has no mention of any Devonshire locality, but under Somersetshire 
says, “ I am indebted to Mr. Ward for a specimen found in 1840. The plant grows very 
sparingly on a stone wall, about a mile from Simmonsbath, in company with Polytriclium 
alpinum The wording of these two records leaves little doubt that the same locality is 
intended in each case, and the occurrence of the Parsley Fern in Devonshire must be con- 
sidered as requiring confirmation. Worcestershire and Shropshire each have one locality for 
the Parsley Fern : in the former county it grows sparingly on the eastern side of the Here- 
fordshire Beacon, and in the latter on Titterstone Clee Hill. There is an old record for it in 
Derbyshire, and it is stated on more recent authority to occur in Cheshire. As we go further 
north the Parsley Fern becomes more abundant ; it has numerous localities in Lancashire, 
although in some of them it is extinct, or nearly so, and is also found more or less plentifully in 
all the northern counties. In many parts of the Lake district it is very abundant, so much so, 
indeed, as to attract the attention of even lion-botanical tourists, who cannot fail to be struck 
with the charming contrast afforded by its delicate fronds growing in masses around the dark 
slaty rocks. Plentiful in many parts of the district, it is nowhere more abundant or more 
beautiful than at the foot of Honister Crag, where it grows in company with the beautiful 
silvery Alpine Lady’s Mantle ( Alchemilla alpina) and other interesting plants. As might be 
expected, the Parsley Fern did not escape the notice of the Lake poets, although they do 
not seem to have enshrined it in verse. Southey, however, calls it “ the most beautiful of all 
our wild plants, resembling the richest point-lace in its fine filaments and exquisite indenta- 
tions while we read in Wordsworth’s Memoirs, how “ suddenly stopping before a little bunch 
of harebell which, along with the Parsley Fern, grew out of the wall near us, he exclaimed 
‘How perfectly beautiful that is!’ 
“‘Would that the little flowers that grow could live 
Conscious of half the pleasure that they give !’” 
The Parsley Fern is recorded as having been found in most of the Welsh counties, but 
we have no notice of its occurrence in Pembrokeshire, Anglesea, and Flint. In Caernarvon- 
shire it has a considerable range of elevation ; it is found on stone walls between Llanberis 
and Caernarvon, at a very slight altitude above the sea-level, while it ascends to the very 
summit of Snowdon, and is found also, though in small quantity, upon most of the mountains 
and hills of the county. In Scotland the Parsley Fern is widely distributed, extending to 
Caithness, although absent from some few counties, and not growing very plentifully in some 
others: it occurs in the Hebrides, but not in the Orkney or Shetland Isles. In Ireland it is 
quite local, occurring only in the east and north-east ; it grows in the counties of Louth, 
Down, Antrim, and Derry, ranging in altitude from one thousand feet in Derry, to two 
f “History of British Ferns” (1844), p. 105. 
* “ Phytologist ” (1842), p. 21. 
