Juno  25,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
555 
Our  Native  Ferns. 
Amongst  the  innumerable  objects  of  interest  with  which  we 
meet  in  our  country  rambles,  the  Ferns  undoubtedly  stand 
pre-eminent  in  many  resijects,  representing,  as  they  do,  a  sur¬ 
vival  from  inconceivably  distant  ages,  long  before  their  present 
brightly  flowering  associates  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  had 
even  begun  to  assert  themselves.  Scrolling  through  the  shady 
glens  or  woodlands  of  our  ferniest  counties,  scanning  the 
hedgebanks  and  stone  dykes  by  the  roadsides,  or  ascending  our 
loftiest  hills  to  their  veiy  .summits,  we  shall  find  every  hero 
and  there  colonies,  more  or  less  large,  of  numerous  species 
native  to  our  islands. 
The  most  sheltered  glens  will  give  us  the  best  idea  of  ferny 
beauty,  for  in  them  we  have  the  beau  ideal  of  Fern  conditions, 
viz.,  shade  and  shelter  from  the  blnstering  breeze,  a  humid 
condition  of  air  and  soil,  and  a  rugged,  open  condition  of  the 
soil  itself,  consisting,  as  it  does,  of  rocky  and  leafy  debris,  in 
■wdiich  Ferns  delight.  Here,  then,  we  shall  find  the  .stately 
Lady  Fern,  shoulder  high,  and  with  her  delicate  plumage  at  its 
utmost  development;  while  Shield  Ferns  and  Lastreas  compete 
with  her  on  tougher  but  still  beautiful  lines  by  way  of 
contrast. 
Beneath  these  sturdy  members  of  the  tribe  we  shall  find  the 
slopes  draped  here  and  there  with  charming  masses  of  the  Oak 
Fern,  with  its  moonlight  tinted  fronds,  and  its  sister,  the  Beech 
Fern.  C'olonies,  too,  of  the  Hard  Fern,  or  Blechnum,  with  its 
dark  green  lucent  rosettes  of  barren  fronds,  and  tall  stiff  spikes 
of  the  fertile  ones,  afford  a  type  of  quite  another  kind.  If  we 
are  fortunate,  and  far  enough  from  the  track  of  the  Fern 
v'audal,  we  may  find  grand  specimens  of  the  Ro.yal  Fern,  where 
boggv  conditions  ijrevail ;  and  if  the  ravine  be  of  true  mountain 
type,  with  rugged  rocky  bed  and  plashing  cascades,  the  delicate 
translucent  Filmy  Fern  (Hymenophyllum)  may  even  reward  a 
search  in  the  wettest  situations.  Round  the  old  tree  trunks 
and  away  up  in  the  cosy  nook  afforded  by  their  forking  branches, 
the  common  Polypody  will  display  its  stiff  or  i^endulous  once- 
divided  fronds,  backed  in  all  probability  with  the  golden  hemi- 
Standard  H.P.  Rose,  Mrs.  John  Laing.  (See  page  557.) 
spheres  of  its  sporeheaps;  and  dee^p  in  the  drier  rocks  climb.s 
the  Maidenhead  Spleeuwort  (Asplenium  trichomanes),  and  the 
Bladder  Fern  (Cystopteris  fragilis)  will  find  congenial  har¬ 
bourage. 
The  Hai't’s-tongue,  too,  unique  in  its  simple,  strap-like  form 
of  frond,  may  present  itself  occadoiiall.v,  and  if  we  come  to 
some  more  open  .spot,  an  old  wall  on  its  sunny  side  may  provide 
us  with  a  glimpse  of  the  scaly  Spleeuwort  (Ceterach  officinarum), 
with  its  rosettes  of  olive  green  leathery  fronds,  backed  by  a 
dense  coating  of  da.rk  brown  scales.  Under  the  somewhat  drier 
and  more  exposed  conditions  of  a  country  lane,  such  as  we  find 
in  Devon  and  Cornwall  and  elsewhere  in  our  western  counties, 
where  a  sloping  bank  on  either  side  is  topped  by  tall  hedges 
all  but  meeting  overhead,  we  find  many  of  the  same  species; 
but  here  the  Hart’s-tongues  and  Shield  Ferns  (Polystichum) 
assert  themselves  more  prominently,  and  often  line  the  hedges’ 
densely  with  their  intermingled  fronds.  The  Black  Maidenhair 
Spleenwcrts  crop  up  here  on  the  slopes,  especially  if  these  be 
built  up  of  rough  stones  with  soil  as  their  cement,  and  every 
now  and  again  we  .shall  find  the  hedges  invaded  by  the 
ubiquitous  Bracken  (Pteris  aquilina),  an  intimder  fi'oin  the  open 
heath  behind.  Such  a  lane,  esjrecially  if  the  hedgerows  be 
occasionally  interrupted  by  old  walls  or  loosely  built  stone  dykes, 
constitutes  an  ideal  hunting  ground,  and  fully  half  of  our  forty 
odd  native  species  may  in  many  places  be  reckone<d  upon  in  such 
localities. 
Even  on  the  highroads  the  Ferns  assert  themselves;  old 
walls  are  dotted  thickly  with  diminutive  Hart’s-tongues  and 
various  Spleenworts,  and  capped  by  clumps  of  the  common 
Polj’pody ;  while  numerous  species  of  the  larger  tribes  peep  out 
from  the  hedge  bottoms,  and  hold  their  own,  though  often 
in  a  ragged  and  dusty  condition,  which  makes  the  intrinsic 
beauty  evidenced  in  their  more  fortunate  brethren  of  the 
secluded  glen. 
Climbing  our  mountains,  we  reach  the  habitats  of  other 
species,  such  as  the  Holly  Fern  (Polystichum  louchitis)  and  the 
so-called  Mountain  Polypody  (P.  aliie.stre),  which  is,  however,  an 
alpine  form  of  Lady  Fern.  The  green  stemmed  Spleenworts 
(Asp.  viride)  will  here  dot  the  grass  under  the  lee  of  the 
\v0-atlier0d  rocks.  The  Leuioii-scentecI  Lastrea  (L.  uiontaua)  will 
accompany  us  for  a  long  way  in  the  ascents,  lining  the 
ravines  cut  by  the  mountain  streams,  and  the  Hard  Fern 
will  meet  us  in  a  tiny  form  at  the  very  summits. 
•  On  the  coast,  again,  we  meet  with  special  types. 
The  Sea  Spleenwort  (Asp.  marinum)  dots  our  rocky  cliftk 
and  lines  cur  sea  caves ;  A.  lanceolatum  bears  it  company 
on  the  walls  and  dykes  of  the  immediate  coast  line,  and 
in  rarer  stations  the  charming  ^Maidenhair  (Adiantum 
capillus-Yenerls)  may  still  be  found  on  the  sea  front, 
though  usually  only' by  the  eye,  since  wherever  within 
hand  reach  the  vandal  grips  it  in  his  deadly  grasp. 
So  much  for  our  Fern  wealth  in  general  in  the  merest 
outline.  Every  observant  Fern  lover  could  say  as  much, 
but  it  is  not  everyone  who  is  aware  that  while  the  whole 
of  these  species  are  common,  not  merely  to  Great  Britain, 
but  to  large  areas  outside.  Nature  has  .seemingly  endowed 
them  in  out  islands  with  such  a  marvellous  capacity  for 
variation  that  the  Fern  connoisseur  regards  the  ordinary 
forms  as  simplv  and  solely  the  raw  material,  the  weedsj 
as  it  wore,  from  which  Nature’s  Ferny  masterpieces  have 
been  elaborated. 
The  Fern  hunter  proper,  therefore,  differs  utterly 
from  the  crowds  of  people  we  may  see  with  bags  and 
baskets  of  these  common  Ferns  returning  from  their 
country  visits  in  the  summer  and  autumn;  ancl  still  more 
so  from  those  who  contribute  to  the  depletion  of  our 
Fern  lanes  and  roadsides  by  paying  the  vandals  for  their 
despatch  by  post.  A  week’s  hunting  with  him  or  her  (for 
some  of  our  more  beautiful  varieties  have  been  found  by 
ladies)  is  richly  rewarded  by  half  a  do.zen  plants. 
How  it  happens  we  know  not;  but  it  is  a  fimt  that 
here  and  there  among  the  millions  of  common  herns  a 
form  of  altogether  different  make  occasionally  appears, 
and  is  capable  not  only  of  maintaining  its  new  type  wlien 
removed,  but  of  reproducing  its  form  from  its  spores, 
perhaps  even  in  an  improved  fashion.  Nothing  seems  to 
lead  up  to  this ;  all  we  know  is  that  in  the  middle  of  a 
clump  of  any  species  the  keen  eye  of  the  hunter  may 
detect  a  tassel,  or  an  extra  feathep'  tip  of  a  frond,  or 
Lme  other  eccentricity,  and  that  when  he  opens  out  the 
clump  he  finds  an  entire  plant  so  characterised  through¬ 
out  ^  Such  ‘‘finds”  are  frequently  far  inore  beautiful 
than  the  normal,  and  the  fact  of  their  existmice  having 
once  been  established,  the  comparativel.y  few  Fern  lover.s 
who  have  grasped  it  and  pursued  their  hunting  perse- 
J-eringlv  have  enriched  our  Fern  collections  with  aliout 
9  nnn^  distinct  ferms.  Furthermore,  these  wild  finds, 
uncler  cidture,  have  been  improved  by  careful  se  ection 
to  an  enormous  extent,  so  that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to 
2v ThaTa  colleotiou  of  British  Fernn  utterly  oeI.l>se,  any 
collection.-C'HAS.  T.  Diu'eey,  \  .M.H.,  F.L.h. 
