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MISSOURI BOTANICAL

rs APR 1
BULLETIN 4 2003
OF THE ARDEN LIBRARY

BRITISH PTERIDOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Vol. 6 2002 No. 1

NATIONAL FIELD MEETINGS 2002

CHILE — 2-23 February Sylvia Martinelli

I first proposed a trip to Chile to look at ferns during the highly successful trip in 2000
organised by Jennifer Ide to that other southern hemisphere country, New Zealand. Chile
seemed to be the obvious country with which to compare New Zealand across the Pacific
Ocean. It has spectacular scenery, a mild climate, good food and wine, delightful people
and wonderful flowers. All that, and a similar number of fern species to New Zealand.

This trip, of three weeks duration, was confined to the region of central Chile from Santiago
south to Puerto Montt, a distance of 1,024km. It was designed to cover the greatest number
of fern species for the least distance travelled. Chile is such a long country that it was not
possible to include either the northern deserts or the southern fjordland or steppe. We
started in the ‘mediterranean’ area near Santiago, visiting the low coastal ranges behind
Valparaiso and the high alpine flora of the Andes very close to Santiago. For the rest of the
time we journeyed down the central valley on the paved Pan America highway, turning off
here and there to go up Andean valleys, with one major diversion back to the coastal
Araucaria reserve near Angol. After Temuco we followed a more meandering route around
lakes, volcanoes and thermal spas in the aptly named Lake District, ending our trip in a new
private reserve high in the hills near the port of Puerto Montt.

Physical geography

Chile is an unmistakable shape, a long thin ribbon on the south-west coast of South
America, on average 138km wide and 4,329km long. Along with this enormous span of
latitude comes a vast range of climate, causing hot desert in the north to tundra in the south.
However, the whole country is influenced by the sea and particularly by the cold Humboldt
current, which cools Chile and gives coastal mists. In the north there is desert which at one
place holds the record for the lowest rainfall in the world — none. By contrast, near Puerto
Montt annual rainfall is 4,000mm. Just south of the northern desert, Norte Chico is an area
with sparse rainfall that is irrigated by a never-ending supply of melt-water in the many
rivers that flow west from the Andes. Around La Serena, the coastal mists support a
disjunct flora typical of the more southern forests. The central section, which includes
Santiago and Valparaiso, has a climate of ‘mediterranean’ type. This gives way to an area
of temperate rain-forest that used to be forested with Nothofagus and Araucaria, but now
there are only relict areas. Then comes the Lake District, which is wet and finally there is
wind-blasted tundra that ends in the ice and snow of Tierra del Fuego. Amazingly, there are
ferns all the way down. We found out on day one that despite the maritime influence, Chile
had had 12 months of exceptional dryness. Not what a fern hunter wants to hear.

The relatively young Andes form a continuous chain all down Chile and constitute the
border with Argentina and Bolivia. Since there is an older, lower coastal range in central
Chile, this area has a strong resemblance to California with its fertile central valley of

l

agricultural fame. Further down, the Andes form the coastal range with their glaciers
running directly into the sea, but that comes south of the lovely fjordland region that we just
touched upon near Puerto Montt. The area between the coastal range and Andes in the north
is rich in salt deposits, especially nitrates and copper.

Human geography

Three quarters of the population live in and around Santiago, the capital. Very few live in
the extremes of Patagonia and Chico. Chilean culture is very European in feel — food, wine,
music, housing, gardens and buildings, despite the fact that most Chileans are of mixed
blood between Hispanic ‘conquistadores’ and indigenous Indians. Important export
industries include fishing, timber, wine that is comparable in quality to that from the best
growers elsewhere, fruit and vegetables, copper and other minerals. Sadly, there is a huge
traffic in exporting timber to Japan and in Puerto Montt we saw mountains of chipped wood
waiting for export.

Flora

Chile can be regarded as a huge island cut off from the world by the deserts in the north,
mountains in the east, ice in the south and the Pacific Ocean in the west. Consequently,
there are many endemic plants, particularly on the offshore islands of Juan Fernandez and
Easter Island. Sadly, we saw many European plants that have become a nuisance, such as
brambles, but the otherwise ubiquitous bracken has not got to Chile so far.

Pteridophyte flora

Chile has about the same number of species as New Zealand (200) but scattered over
a larger area and a greater range of climate and habitat. Northern regions have relatively
few species, the richest provinces being further south: Bio-Bio (59 species), Araucania (64),
Los Lagos (84) and Aisen (61 species).

There

descending order. One couldn’t fail to see
some of each of these, but we failed to see
some of the smaller genera such as
polypodiums and Thelypteris.

Day 1 — Arrive

Saturday 2nd February witnessed the first
gathering of fern enthusiasts in the
pleasant central hotel Fundador in
Santiago. We were met at the airport by
our bilingual Chilean driver and guide, the
charming and urbane Pablo Carcamo and
ferried to our hotel in our travelling home,
a ten-seater minibus. We took our first
communal meal in a rather upmarket
Italian restaurant that evening and
discussed our plans for the following day.
The first day set the pattern for those that
followed: early breakfast, leave around
8a.m. for our day’s drive, taking box
lunches prepared by our hotel and a large
quantity of bottled water. Gleichenia squamulosa, Chile

photo: S.D. Martinelli

SANTIAGO PROVINCE

Day 2 — Maipo Valley (drive)

We drove east along the lush wine-growing Maipo valley through the village of El Volcan to
Banos Morales on the dark grey dirt road along the narrow ascending valley of the Rio
Morales. Our ascent was stopped by force majeure — quarrying, which had closed the road
completely. However, we were about 70km from Santiago, between 1,500 and 2,000m and not
far from the border with Argentina. Either side of this road were precipitous scree slopes and
mountain peaks up to 4,000m with their promise of many fabulous alpines such as Mutisia,
alstroemerias, Tropaeolum and rhodophialas. Disappointed at first, with many cushion plants
over their main flowering period and/or munched by a flock of free-ranging goats, the only
things of note a minute magenta Calandrinia (cousin of Lewisia) and the gigantic concrete
cushions of Azorella, we nevertheless stopped to botanise but a little further down the river
where I had spotted the orange-red climbing ‘daisy’, Mutisia subulata. | was keen to share my
love of these with the group. Concomitantly, I let out my first fern-spotting yell as I scrambled
over a colony of Adiantum scabrum. | was quite prepared for these dry-living, harsh-looking
adiantums, but the rest of the group were sceptical until they saw them with their own eyes.
This was the first of many semi-xerophytic Adiantum species that we saw and it was rather
suitably accompanied by our first cactus, a squashed barrel shape about 2cm high, probably a
Maihuena, and the ubiquitous Ephedra. Despite missing the best cushion alpines, there were
plenty of glorious alstroemerias and Rhodophiala rhodolirion.

We stopped for tea on the way down at Casa Bosque, which looked like an escape from
Disneyland, and were entertained by a local singer. Back in Santiago we met over drinks for
a fern colloquium and dined together. By the end of that day, we were a well integrated
group determined to have as much fun as possible and to enjoy the scenery and plants.

Day 3 — Ski Centre of Farellones (walk) / Olmue (drive)

Pablo staunchly drove us up the steep zigzag road to Farellones while we notched up the 40
bends spread over 20km of road, and we stared at the tree-sized cacti (Trichocereus
chilensis), desperately searching for the perfect one to photograph. An occasional white
flower was spotted but more frequently they were festooned with clusters of flowers of the
bright red parasite Tristerix aphyllum. We climbed to the highest of the three ski centres at
Valle Nevado, over 3,000m, hoping to get away from the pistes to see the alpine flora,
including Polystichum andinum and Cystopteris fragilis. However, it was too far to walk at
that elevation in the time available, so we had to content ourselves with the A/stroemeria
spathulata, A. pallida, rhodophialas, Mimulus luteus, Calceolaria biflora, Tropaeolum
polyphyllum and Schizanthus hookeri on the road down from the acres of concrete at the
top. There was a long drive ahead of us to the coast north of Valparaiso to reach the small
town of Olmue near the National park of La Campana. Our attempt to make a quick
reconnaissance of La Parva, another ski area, was frustrated by a broken down lorry
carrying steel girders, which blocked the entire road. A no-fern day in the wild.

Pablo and I decided to risk a newly made road across the coast range to Olmue rather than
drive the planned 100 or more kilometres around on the older paved road. The road was so
new that it hadn’t been finished, so folk got their first experience of a Chilean dirt road. A
few faces turned white once or twice. It also introduced people to the daily hair-washing
ritual, so necessary after a day on the road.

Our arrival at Olmue was welcome in many ways; there was a lovely pool, Pteris chilensis
(seen only this once), newly finished well-appointed hotel rooms, an evening meal in the
courtyard and a very friendly host family. The hotel Hosteria El Copihue is named after the
national flower — Lapageria rosea, a climbing ‘lily’ with beautiful long tubular bell flowers
and mostly found in the region of Araucania near Temuco.

V PROVINCE

Day 4 — Reserva La Campana (drive/walk)

Our target for the day was the north side of La Campana, famous for its stand of the
endangered Chilean palm Jubea chilensis preserved in Palmas de Ocoa. Mark, a palm
grower, was especially keen to see these. First we explored the slopes of the mountain El
Robles with its matorral (like maqui), which includes the blue pujas, alstroemerias, the rare
Adiantum gertrudis and others. Our first stop, near Las Palmas, provided several ferns in a
wild glade by a stream sandwiched between market gardens and villas, a glut of adiantums
with and without gold backs and hairs and blechnums such as B. hastatum. Janet slipped on
a wet rock giving herself a bad ankle sprain, which was bandaged by Alan and hastily re-
bandaged by Lee. The adiantums and Cheilanthes further up the mountain were quite dried-
up but the flowering shrubs and views were worth the journey in this reserve.

On the north side of La Campana we arrived at the Palm grove shortly before closing time,
but we found adiantums growing under the trees by an irrigation channel and Blechnum
hastatum by a small brook. Despite each paying the full entrance fee, the clerk would only
give us one map. Since we all went in different directions to make the most use of that half
hour, it was not very helpful. Maps, where they exist at all, are a major problem in the
National Parks and reserves, being primitive, and wildly inaccurate to the point of being
downright misleading. Tim Burford’s hiking book was much more useful in this regard.

Day 5 — Reserva La Campana (walk) / Cauquenes (drive)

This morning in Reserva La Campana was our chance to walk in Darwin’s footsteps (made
in 1834) up the Sendero El Andinista for 4km to the top of Cerro La Campana, which at
1,800m dominates this park. Half the party started this trail and found B. hastatum, while
others went on the gentler Sendero Los Peumo through beech woodland. We were rewarded
by carpets of adiantums and sighted a grey fox. Unusually, this park sold good flower and
bird posters and several books and cards.

In the afternoon we drove to Rancagua south of Santiago then 25km eastwards to Termas de
Cauquenes, famous not only for its 19th-century spa baths but also its French cuisine. Although
Pablo negotiated dinner earlier than the standard 9p.m., we didn’t in fact start until nearly 10p.m.
For most of the trip, we were able to dine at 8.30p.m., a big concession in South America!

BERNARDO O’ HIGGINS PROVINCE

Day 6 — Riserva Nacional Rio De Los Cipreses (walk)

We drove up the valley to the park entrance where a tour of the museum was obligatory. I
again expected to find a goodly quantity of xerophytic ferns — Adiantum and
Cheilanthes/Notholaena species, although only those of us who walked for the full time
allowed got that far along the river. Furthermore, one had to be good at noticing tiny grey
crisps on stalks to find the Notholaena and tiny gold crisps to see the Adiantum sulphureum,
both ferns being in their aestivation (very nearly dead) mode. This valley walk was worth
doing just for the views of mountains and the river with its gorges.

Driving east from Talca, we reached the red-painted converted monastery called Casas El
Coronado at San Clemente in the late afternoon and settled down to a fern colloquium in the
cloister. Sooner of later, one’s sins of omission catch up with one. Hence a long session
trying to identify our fern cache, mount some fronds and packet some spores. Janet had the
most experience at mounting from her trips with Barbara-Joe Hoshizaki, Lee is a
taxonomist handy at describing scales and hairs in minute detail, I translated the Spanish
floras, assisted by Alan, while Mark wrapped up fronds for storage and sifted spores. Tom
(Janet’s brother-in-law) chivalrously kept me supplied with pisco sour to encourage my
identifications. Adiantums all look the same, both before and after one of these local
cocktails of pisco (a white spirit), fresh lemon Juice, ice, sugar and white of egg.

4

On La Campana, I wanted to find again the rare Adiantum gertrudis, which grows only in
this region of Chile. We had dried fronds of each apparently separate species that we had
seen, and tried to sort them into species. Each specimen seemed to have every pinnule shape
common to the whole genus, all on one frond. Every apparent species had gold and non-
gold versions, small and large-pinnuled versions. I badly wanted one of them to fit the
description of the rare fern but I couldn’t do it in all honesty. In each location, there seemed
to be two or more species. It was so muddling. In the end, we decided upon A. scabrum
(glanduliferum), A. chilense var. hirsutum for the hairy one, A. sul/phureum for the gold-
backed one and A. chilense subsp. chilense for anything that didn’t fit into the other
categories. Anyone inclined to check the identifications is welcome to see the folder of
pressed specimens.

MAULE PROVINCE
Day 7 — Alto Vilches (walk)
Following a dusty drive up a poor dirt road to Alto Vilches, 6km inside the Reserva Nacional
Altos de Lircay, we walked up El Enladrillado hoping to find Polystichum andinum on the
high basalt plateau. Seven out of ten Chilean Nothofagus species grow here and it’s the
northern limit of N. pumilio, so a rich flora. | remembered that the woods at the bottom were
particularly rich in spectacular bulbs (Rhodophiala andicola, Alstroemeria that were flowering
and orchids that were not), although we found the sloping beech woods relatively poor except
the clearings around streams. Here were Fuschia magellanicum, Baccaris, Fabiana,
Blechnum chilense, spiny orange-flowered Berberis and the vivid Mutisia decurrens
scrambling over other bushes. An interpretative trail led to good views of the bare mountain
and to labelled specimens of two of the beech species, N. pumilio and N. obliqua.

Above the tree level Mark found Cheilanthes glauca in its crisp form but he didn’t reach the
real alpine area to see the others. This fern was also found growing on a large boulder at the
start of one of the circular walks.

At Basso Vilches we stopped to see Janet’s pet fern, spotted in the morning. Even six
meters from the road it was covered in dust. It was a very large and luxuriant Blechnum.
But was it the much-desired B. magellanicum? That evening, I puzzled over the B. chilense
and B. magellanicum descriptions until I thought I had cracked the problem and made a
table of similarities and differences. I labelled Janet’s fern *B. magellanicum (query)’ and
the rest we had found as B. chilense.

BIo-BIO PROVINCE

Day 8 — Drive to Chillan

After lunch on a park bench in the main square of Pinto in the company of a starving dog in
the shade of Podocarpus salignus, our next fern stop was the wooded slopes on Volcan
Chillan. The deciduous woods near the Termas at Las Trancas were full of orchids and
orange alstroemerias, the vivid orange Mutisia decurrens, the rare conifer Saxegothaea
conspicua (named after Prince Albert) and mistletoe. We planned to botanise slowly on the
route up to the Termas. I hadn’t bargained for the extensive use of herbicide right along the
road until we reached the dirt road 8km before the top. It looked like being a no-fern day,
but in the new Termas de Chillan hotel car park there were carpets of Blechnum gayanum
(now B. microphyllum) and nearby the frustratingly similar B. penna-marina. Further down,
where streams crossed the road, we photographed Gunnera chilena (edible and used!) and
stumbled across Asplenium dareoides growing in a stream with yellow Mimulus.

On the lava-grit road to Shangrila, we sank up to our axle in bull-dust and would still be
there but for the loan of a shovel from a nearby house. Carpets of the miniature cactus
Maihuena poeppigii and sickly looking cypresses were of note in the predominantly beech
woods.

Day 9 — Drive to Angol

We passed a pleasant lunch hour at the extremely popular waterfall Salta El Laja on our
way to Angol and stopped on the bridge to photograph the enormous River Biobio. In
Angol, we hit our low point for accommodation. A hotel for commercial travellers with
small minimalist bedrooms and one communal kitchen/dining/lounging room shared with
the manager’s family and burbling television. The best the town had to offer, but round the
comer was a church with a wonderful fern grotto containing Nephrolepis and Woodwardia
radicans. Nearby was a park with a magnificent Magnolia and beds of Blechnum chilense.

Day 10 — Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta (walk) / Temuco (drive)

A walk in Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta in the coastal ranges more than made up for Angol.
This park was set up to protect the araucarias but it was the rich undergrowth of ferns
underneath the trees, including hymenophyllums in the wetter parts, that we hoped to find
as well as three species of A/stroemeria and 16 species of orchid. We walked up to Puedra
de Aguila with its views of the coast and across the central valley to the Andes.

Snaking through the beeches with their magical light effects, we noted more and more
araucarias the higher we climbed. Clusters of old, middle-aged and young ones at the top
promised a future for this park and its collection. After a particularly dry preceding year, the
filmy ferns promised by Barbara-Joe Hoshizaki were barely in evidence, nor were the trees
very mossy although there were enough lichens for a lichenologist’s dream. One specimen of
Grammitis magellanica was spotted and also Asplenium dareoides. These, like many Chilean
ferns, are also found in New Zealand. These woods were very reminiscent of the New Zealand
beech woods, with lichens dripping like Spanish moss, bracket-like lichens and fern understorey
but much richer, in my estimation, owing to the Drimys, desfontineas, young araucarias and
highly colourful mutisias, alstroemerias and rhodophialas. No orchids were in evidence (too
late in the season) but occasional Blechnum hastatum and B. penna-marina were seen.
ARAUCANIA PROVINCE

Day 11 — Parque Nacional Conguillio

It was a pleasant surprise for me to return to the Hotel Frontiera in Temuco and find that it
had been given a face-lift. Frustratingly, the next day’s plan hung in the balance. A fire was
raging on the east side of Volcan Llaima in Parque Nacional Conguillio. Pablo spoke
several times that evening and the next morning to the local police and park guards. Finally,
we were given permission to go to Meilipeuco and beyond. Another long dirt main road
which turned into a nightmarish lava dirt road once in the park. There had been several
recent lava flows in this area, even as recently as 1994. Despite that there were sturdy
specimens of ferns along the road in lava rocks. This fern became another nightmare of
identification and source of great shame to myself. Was it a handsome but rubbery version
of Polystichum plicatum or Rumohra adiantiformis? | had seen both in the wild before and
it didn’t look like either but keyed out as both in the Flora de Chile. It is unnamed to this
day. We passed by wonderful views of Llaima, which got better with time as the smoke
drifted away, also several small lakes. The cliffs to our right and east were of quite different
rock and thickly wooded. We took a short walk to a gorge on the river to see the Truful-
truful falls with Gunnera in profusion and bamboos. This enabled us to study the leathery
fern close up and the cypress that also grew in the desolate laval landscape, Austrocedrus
chilensis. Mark and | walked up part of the Sendero Sierra Nevada through beech woods
dotted with araucarias overlooking the lake of Conguillio. It was not very ferny. I fell over a
camouflaged tree root giving myself a sore knee for several days.

Driving north out of the park we stopped several times and found ferns in stream beds and
on steep roadside banks in the wooded areas: Asplenium dareoides, Cystopteris fragilis,
Adiantum sulphureum and another Adiantum species, two polystichums, Blechnum
hastatum, B. chilense, B. penna-marina and Cheilanthes glauca.

6

Day 12 — Temuco (sightseeing) / Pucon (drive)

Temuco is the main town of Araucania and hence possesses the Museum Regional de la
Araucania. It is also an important centre for the Mapuche Indians who are concentrated
here. An obligatory visit was made to the craft market to look at silver Indian jewellery,
musical instruments, woollen goods and pottery. It was also a chance for all of us to change
money (but not in banks, which don’t), buy stamps and hunt for that apparently non-existent
Chilean species, the postcard.

photo: courtesy S.D. Martinelli

Participants of Chile trip at Reloncavi Estuary, with Volcan Yate in the distance (Day 17)
Sylvia Martinelli, Lee Gregg, Alan Ogden, Mark Morgan, Janet Keyes, Tom & Agnes Howshar, Denia Mandt

Day 13 — Parque Nacional Huerquehue (walk)
Pucon is an important tourist centre for foreigners and Chileans alike, with shops, restaurants
and hotels, fishing, boating, riding, thermal baths and water sports. No mention is made of fern
hunting, although there are two thickly wooded national parks within a short distance of
con: Parque Nacional Huerquehue (good for Araucaria) and Parque Nacional (Volcan)
Villarrica. Based on guesswork I chose to go to Huerquehue where Mark and I did an all-day
walk up to a plateau covered in small lakes. Other members of the party followed more slowly
up to the Vista points of Lake Tinquilco and Volcan Villarica. Our major problem was that of
maps, or lack of, once again. I made a quick sketch of the one etched on wood near the ranger
station but both the original and my copy proved hopelessly inadequate when faced with a
plethora of side branches, forks and unadvertised dead ends. By a miracle we managed to find
all the named lakes after many false starts and one painful walk down an unmanaged path
through Chusquea, Acaena, Pernettya and Berberis. Not good for wearers of shorts but it was
a good day for ferns — a nine fern day.

Denia found the microscopic Grammitis poeppigiana and Lee found G. magellanica (both
shared with New Zealand). We all saw Pteris semiadnata with its unmistakable triangular
fronds, a soft-looking, pale green Polystichum, hordes of Blechnum chilense plants,
Hypolepis poeppigii and two red gesneriad climbers: Sarmienta scandens and Asterantha

ovale. While not exactly dripping, quite a few trees bore filmy ferns — various
hymenophyllums and at least one Trichomanes. This forest had certainly suffered less in the
drought year than Nahuelbuta. I spent some time staring at the trunks of blechnums, trying
to decide if they were serious enough to belong to B. magellanicum or were those of
B. chilense trying to fool us. A week later when I saw the giant specimens, I was convinced
that they did belong to the real thing.

When it came to identifying the hymenophyllums, the others cowardly left it to me. After
hours of headache-provoking work, I came up with a few hesitant names: Hymenophyllum
tortuosum, H. dentatum and H. pectinatum. | knew that we had found H. ferrugineum with
its characteristic red hairs but, oh dear, where was Alison Paul at my moment of need.

On the way down we stopped for coffee at the refugio where the owner shouted “remove
zapatas” when we entered. We did see Lophosoria quadripinnata — and we got served when
we took off our boots.

Los LAGOS PROVINCE

Day 14 — Drive to Puyehue

We saw a really good portion of the Los Lagos area, views of Volcan Villarrica from four
sides, a drive right around Lake Calafquen surrounded by magnificent giant fuschias, across
country again to Lake Panguipulli and the town of Panguipulli, the home of Gabriella
Mistral, with its massive rose plantings. At the far end of Lago Calafquen we made a detour
to another small lake, only to be stopped by a missing bridge, but we were delighted to find
fully ripe blackberries (non-native), Podocarpus salignus and flowering Lumus appiculata
(formerly Myrtus luma). The cliffs of the southern side of the lake were dripping with
adiantums, blechnums and Lophosoria, sadly unphotographed because this narrow dirt road
was too well used by lorries for us to stop

Our late afternoon arrival at Hotel Termas de Puyehue, one of the accommodation high
points, was marred by the excessively bureaucratic signing-in process. There were several
miles to walk between bedrooms and dining room, although bedrooms were conveniently
placed for the lovely spa swimming pool. This hotel had unique mineral water bottles
embossed with ferns.

Day 15 — Parque Nacional Puyehue (walk)

We spent a day behind the Hotel on Volcan Antillanco, making a very slow ascent fern
spotting and a slow descent waterfall visiting. At long last I was able to show people
Gleichenia squamulosa on the roadside in these rich woods and G. quadripartita. But first
we visited a Salta near the entrance lodge. A rich spot with three different Hymenophyllum
species, Trichomanes, two blechnums (including the one that looks like B. chambersii from
New Zealand), Pteris semiadnata, which was not much seen on this trip, and hundreds of
Lophosoria quadripinnata towering above us at the top of the roadcuts. Red-flowered and
dramatic, the Asteranthera ovata plants contributed to the excitement, as did the Mitraria
coccinea (both gesneriads). The ulmo trees (Eucryphia cordifolia) filled the woods with
scent and were so prolific that the whole wood appeared white. Bees are reared near ulmo
to produce a non-sweet honey much prized in Santiago, jolly nice it was too.

At the top, a few of us braved the high winds to walk (bent double) to the summit and take
in the view of Tronador, Panguipulli, Osorno and others. On the way down, we found a
sheltered crater for lunch. I was just apologising for not showing them Polystichum
andinum when, while munching away, I noticed a dwarf fern between Lee’s feet. Yes, that
was it. The laval rocks bore them in every nook and cranny along with Lycopodium,
Pernettya and Euphrasia. The Polystichum andinum had plenty of fertile fronds, mostly
past their best, but with down-turned pinnules it was difficult to see at a glance if they bore
ripe spores. The fronds were twisted and markedly three-dimensional, not at all the flat fern

8

frond of one’s expectations, but very keenly appreciated by our company. There were many
small lizards, which scampered over the hot rocks.

Further down there was a boardwalk over a bog where we found the dwarf B. penna-marina
in quantity, along with the pink bells of false copihue called coicopihue i.e. Philesia
magellanica. A wonderful day ended with a swim in the spa pool with its island of ferns
and palms, a fern meeting over cocktails and a late dinner.

Day 16 — Drive to Lago Llanquihue

We had thunder and our first rain in the morning. The drive from Puyehue to Ensenada took
us east of Lago Llanquihue by a short cut along a dirt road that crossed a private estate the
size of an average English county. After checking into our purpose-built 19th-century
wooden hotel, El Ensenada, we took off for the most famous falls in Chile at Petrohue. Here
the river Petrohue is channelled through gorges cut into the lava flows. Even in late
summer, when snow-melt should not be a problem, the viciousness of the racing water was
apparent. A body wouldn’t last one minute in those gorges. Tearing oneself away from
beckoning nemesis, there were views of Volcan Petrohue and Osorno and B. chilense with
sizeable trunks and the plastic-looking Polystichum/Rumohra. More tantalising were the
cliffs across the quiet side stream, which bore the only Elaphoglossum we saw in Chile.
Without a tightrope or waders, it was not possible to get close enough to identify it.
Binoculars came in handy for spotting the coffee-coloured scales, short petioles and slightly
dentate fronds. It was obviously a much wetter place than many we had visited, since even
the rocks were covered in filmy ferns and Grammitis. Equisetum grew under the trees and
also one frond of Botrychium australe subsp. negeri. A short detour was made to the
stunningly beautiful Lake Todos Los Santos, where we could only see the Argentinian
mountain Tronador with difficulty, owing to the grey skies and incipient rain.

We finished our day with a sunset walk on top of Volcan Osorno, with amazing views
overlooking Lake Llanquihue; surprisingly there were numerous swallows flying even at
this height. We repaired to our quaint hotel with its small nursery-like bedrooms under the
rafters and its lounge crammed with Victoriana, old medals, crockery, paintings, musical
instruments, rocking-horses and gramophones.

Day 17 — Drive to Alerce Andino

The drive to Lenca the long way round via Ralon, Puelo and the ferry crossing at Puelche
was planned deliberately to introduce our group to the landscape and flora typical of Aisen
province (although strictly speaking we were still in Los Lagos), if only for a day. It was
difficult to balance the desires of the photographers, tempted by the sea loch and its
mountainous backdrop, and that of our driver to catch a ferry at a specific time many
kilometres down a dirt road that never, never seemed to end. The central stretch of this road
was, in fact, a new and welcome development blasted out by the Chilean Army, linking
villages that hitherto had only been connected by sea.

Cliffs dripped adiantums, blechnums, Lophosoria, Gleichenia and Gunnera between
waterfalls. A 40-minute ferry crossing took us to Caleta then on to Lenca where we left
Pablo’s care and transferred to the lodge’s 4-WD vehicles for a horrendous bouncing, head-
hitting, 12km ascent up a rocky track to the Alerce Mountain Lodge near Alerce Andino.
Alerce is the name for Fitzroya cupressoides, the second longest living conifer after bristle
cone pines. It was named for Captain Fitzroy, the commander of The Beagle. The lodge was
built close to a lake at 2,000m and is surrounded by lofty alerces and grey granitic-looking
cliffs and peaks. Breathtaking! The back-wrenching journey was, after all, worthwhile
especially in the light of the fern flora and other vegetation. Even between cabins in the
hotel grounds there were specimens of Blechnum magellanicum with trunks as tall as
people. The differences between B. chilense and B. magellanicum, which seemed so
difficult in the books, were now perfectly obvious. Nobody could mistake one for the other.

:

You could tell them apart in the dark! Exposed tree roots sheltered Philesia magellanica
(the coicopihue) and B. penna-marina; fuschias dripped scarlet flowers, although desfontineas
clashed horribly with the latter. Here the climate was very mild although high up (1,500m). On
the ascent we passed through quite noticeably different zones of vegetation and presumably
climate. There were Nothofagus from 800m to 1,200m. Agnes had a disastrous fall on the
boardwalk in the dark and sustained some agonising damage to her leg.

photo: A.H. Ogden

Pablo Carcamo between Lophosoria and Gleichenia beside new road to the Puelche ferry crossing

Day 18 — Parque Nacional Alerce Andino (walk)
Tom and Agnes, with her leg well strapped, were ferried slowly and agonisingly back to
Puerto Montt by bumpy 4-WD. In the wake of a ship’s tour party, the rest of us set out far
into the hills for Fuente Esperanza. At first the going was easy along boardwalks raised over
the boggy terrain but eventually we walked or scrambled across country where a machete
would have been handy since there were no footpaths at all for long stretches, or we had to
use stream-beds as paths. We were forced to take part in the ultimate fern crime — we used
two foot tall Blechnum magellanicum plants as stepping stones (a desecration I shudder at)
— and force our way through sharp bamboo (Chusquea) and spiny shrubs. We were
rewarded with Gleichenia, Hymenophyllum pectinatum, Lycopodium and the ubiquitous
Drymis winteri. The Fuente was just worth the trouble but not in the light of the very long,
very hot climb back up to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon we managed a tame
boardwalk around the lake with good opportunities for photography.
Day 19 — Drive to Puerto Montt (shopping & sightseeing)
I arranged for us to spend most of the day at the lodge, rather than in Puerto Montt. This
gave Janet, Mark and me time to sort out and mount specimens and packet spores. At
-30a.m. Mauricio took Mark on the whole day walk to the summit of the ridge; they
waved from the top at 2p.m., tiny figures, hardly visible and staggeringly returned at 3.30 in
time for our departure. On our way down the mountain we had our only flat tyre of the trip;

10

on previous trips I had good reason to learn the Spanish word — enllanto. The wheel was
changed by the handsome Mauricio, our talented driver, guide and pop singer. To our
delight he gave a spirited rendition of ‘Love me Tender’, as well as local folk music and
excerpts from opera. A compulsory stop was made to visit El Tata, the huge alerce reputed
to be the oldest tree in South America.

The Puerto Montt area is renowned for its fish restaurants. We dined at the Balzac opposite
our hotel, so that Agnes could accompany us in her wheelchair, kindly lent by the Rotary
Club of Chile. Here we met for the first time our Chilean travel agent, ex-pat Adrian Turner
and had arguably the best meal of the trip.

Day 20 — Go home

Pablo, our driver/guide was so loth to leave us that he carted as around Puerto Montt all
morning, although this was not strictly part of the package. We visited the fish market, the
craft shops and the Traveller’s office, where we were given coffee and where we found a
superb collection of postcards. Too late for most of us!

To our relief, Agnes was accepted on the flight from the local airport so that she could
return home for treatment. And so ended a delightful trip.

REFERENCE BOOKS

Burford, T. Chile and Argentina: The Bradt Trekking Guide. 2001. Bradt Travel Guides. 320pp.

Hoffmann, A. Flora Silvestre de Chile. Ediciones Fundacién Claudio Gay, Santiago, Chile.
[Series of plant books published in the 1970s-1990s. In Spanish, but fabulous
illustrations and good descriptions. |

McCarthy, J. & Keenan, B. Between Extremes: A Journey Beyond. 2000. Black Swan. [For the
flavour of Chile and a good read.)

Moore, D.M. 1983. Flora of Tierra del Fuego. Anthony Nelson, Oswestry, Salop. 396pp. [Jn
English with good illustrations.]

The following are in Spanish, with illustrations of variable quality and far too few in number:

Liier, H.G. Helechos de Chile. 1984. Santiago: Universidad de Chile. 245pp.

Marticorena, C. & Rodriguez, R. (eds). 1995. Flora de Chile vol. 1 Pteridophyta-
Gymnospermae. Universidad de Concepcion, Chile. 3 :

Correa, M.N. (ed.) 1998. Flora Patagonica. Part I. Introduccién. Instituto Nacional de
Tecnologia Agropecuaria, Buenos Aires. 391 pp. [This volume includes pteridophytes. |

SOUTHERN LAKE DISTRICT, CUMBRIA -— 13-15 July

Saturday 13th Graham Ackers
Having arranged car sharing at our Grasmere hotel venue, we headed to Kettlewell car park
on the east side of Derwent Water (35/267195). There we met other members to form a
good-sized party of 25 or so. After considerable rain, both in the Lakes and elsewhere
during the preceding weeks, the onset of high pressure based weather systems for a few
days proved very welcome.

Our target species occurred submerged at about five metres depth and so, not having
brought my scuba gear, we had to be content with strand-line scrutiny. Initially the strands
of vegetation were a little difficult for the untrained eye to differentiate, and could have
been any of three or so species. Under the expert tuition of our leader, Mike Porter, we
learnt of the differences in stem cross-section between Lobelia dortmanna, Littorella
uniflora and our target Isoetes lacustris, which was eventually found after several minutes
of diligent searching.

The party then walked through woodland en route to the Lodore Falls. The ferns seen were
Polypodium vulgare (on walls), Pteridium aquilinum, Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris

11

filix-mas, D. dilatata, and (reminding me that | was back in the Lake District)
Gymnocarpium dryopteris. For the benefit of the less experienced members of the party,
Mike provided guidance on the characteristics of the different species. There were also various
Dryopteris affinis, the identity of which were speculated upon in the absence of an ‘affinis
expert’ in the party. The main population consisted of a decidedly non-robust type, possibly
subsp. borreri, with a scattering of a very robust form, almost certainly subsp. a/ffinis.

The Lodore Falls (35/265186) are a popular tourist attraction, despite the somewhat hazardous
terrain and slippery rocks. Queuing up one at a time, our initial activity was to crouch within a
small cave to see, with the aid of a torch, a patch of Trichomanes speciosum gametophytes.
Other ferns within the immediate vicinity of the falls were Hymenophyllum wilsonii,
Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens and Polystichum aculeatum.

es : ag
photo: B. Colville

Near Castle Crag, Borrowdale
Back row: Mark Kitchen, Graham Ackers, Mike Porter
Next group: Robert Crawford, Joy Neal, Robert Sykes, Joan Hindle, Diane Copson,
Bryan & Gill Smith (both in front), Michael Hayward
Next group: Jonathan Crowe, Frances Haigh, Alastair Wardlaw, Clare Kitchen, Ann Colville,
Elise Knox-Thomas, Sam & Nan Hicks, Harriet Hunt, Roy Copson
Seated in front: Christine Mullins, Jackie Wardlaw, Marti & Andy Martin

For the afternoon excursion, we drove a short distance south up Borrowdale to the Bowder
Stone car park (35/253169). From there we walked north into the village of Grange
(35/253175). Ferns recorded on the bridge and house walls in the village were Asplenium
trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens, A. ceterach, A. ruta-muraria, Athyrium filix-femina and
Polypodium vulgare. Fans of fern varieties were intrigued by the forked frond tips of some
specimens of the latter species.

Moving up the wooded valley in the direction of Castle Crag, we passed Dryopteris affinis

Pays a Polystichum aculeatum (few) and Pteridium aquilinum (too many). Heading past
ollows Farm sign, beside the River Derwent we investigated stands of Cryptogramma

12

crispa, Oreopteris limbosperma, Gymnocarpium dryopteris, Blechnum spicant and Phegopteris
connectilis, all ‘classic’ Lakeland species within lovely mossy woodland. The other ferns
present were Athyrium filix-femina and Dryopteris affinis subsp. affinis.

Retracing our steps a little, we headed up the Allerdale Ramble track beside Broadslack
Gill, eventually emerging into open fell country (around 35/246155). We climbed the fell a
little to explore some crags to the east of the track, where we counted about a dozen plants of
Asplenium septentrionale, quite a rarity in the Lakes. Even more unusual and exciting was the
discovery arriet Hunt of a potential candidate for Asplenium x murbeckii, the hybrid
between A. septentrionale and A. ruta-muraria. [Disappointingly, experts have deemed it
probably to be a young plant of A. septentrionale, but suggested that the plant be monitored. ]
According to A Flora of Cumbria, this hybrid was last seen in Borrowdale in 1961 and is
currently known from only one other site in the British Isles.

On returning to the main track, a few specimens of Cystopteris fragilis were spotted,
together with some very cryptic specimens of Lycopodium clavatum, nestling prostrate in
the grass sward by the path. Clare and Mark Kitchen climbed the grassy scree to the west of
the track and discovered many more specimens of Asplenium septentrionale, thought to
have disappeared from that area. The party speculated that their re-appearance had been
enabled by the lack of sheep grazing the previous year (2001) as a result of the foot and
mouth disease outbreak. A total of 25 specimens were counted, but it was highly likely that
there were many more in the area.

On returning to Grange, we were treated to a splendid tea in the garden of BPS member
Nan Hicks. Waistlines surely suffered from the intake of the delicious home-made cakes
and scones, washed down with numerous cups of tea. Having resided in the house for 43
years, Nan has built up an impressive collection of plants, now fully mature, creating a
veritable botanical paradise (including many interesting ferns). On her arrival, the garden
had been mostly grass, but now there is hardly a blade to be seen! The garden, victuals and
the lively assembled company constituted a very pleasant end to a fruitful day’s ferning!

Sunday 14th Jonathan Crowe
A party of 26 set out from our base in bright weather and drove the 30 odd miles to Whitbeck.
After parking at 34/119839 we took the farm track leading up the hillside. Asplenium ruta-
muraria and A. trichomanes were seen on the bridge parapet and along the track we saw
Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris dilatata, D. affinis subsp. affinis and the ubiquitous
Pteridium aquilinum. A very large clump of Osmunda regalis was seen in the garden of a
farmhouse. Some 400 yards up the track we found what we had come to see: Asplenium
obovatum subsp. lanceolatum. This site, recently discovered by Jack Garstang, is only the third
known in Cumbria. Several large clumps were found growing on the dry-stone retaining wall
bordering the track. The plants were partially concealed by ivy and bramble.

Our next visit was to Milkingstead Wood, which had very recently been acquired by the
National Trust. We left the cars at Forge Bridge (34/148995) and moved into the wood. The
River Esk flows near the wood, creating very damp mossy conditions under a thin canopy of
trees. In this fern-rich habitat we saw Dryopteris affinis, D. dilatata, Athyrium filix-femina,
Blechnum spicant, Oreopteris limbosperma, a small patch of Phegopteris connectilis and
Pteridium aquilinum. Away from the valley bottom on the higher north-facing granite outcrops
we found large quantities of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense. A little further on the
H. tunbrigense was joined by H. wilsonii, thus providing the party with a good opportunity to
compare the species. The only plants of Dryopteris filix-mas and Polypodium vulgare that we
saw in the wood were growing on the ruined walls of what had once been a cottage. High up
the escarpment in a rock-crevice we admired a few isolated plants of Dryopteris aemula,
which had been re-discovered by the intrepid Pat Acock on a BPS visit in 1998.

13

After lunch at the nearby King George IV Inn we headed north-west to Cinderdale
Bridge (35/128037), on which were growing colonies of Asplenium trichomanes, A. ruta-
muraria and a few A. adiantum-nigrum. A short walk across rough meadow took us to
Flass Tarn where, in the muddy shallows of the upper pool, we examined the bright
green tangled mass of Pilularia globulifera. Since last visited in 1998 the pool has
become so much more colonised by the sedge Carex rostrata that it looks as though the
Pilularia may become threatened. However, investigation of a nearby pool where a small
quantity of Pilularia had been noted in the past, revealed that this had spread
dramatically to line the margins of the pool with a dense green carpet with many ‘pills’,
somewhat unusual in Cumbrian plants.

ext on our itinerary was Greendale Mires (35/151054), where we saw Lycopodiella
inundata thinly scattered over a large area of the banks of a small beck. The clubmoss was
growing in association with bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), sundew (Drosera
intermedia) and the uncommon white beak-sedge (Rhynchospora alba).

We then drove to Porterthwaite Woods in Miterdale (35/142008). Within this very wet,
open deciduous woodland we discovered some fine stands of Osmunda regalis and many
flourishing Blechnum spicant on the fringes of the bog. Also seen were Athyrium filix-
femina, Dryopteris affinis, D. carthusiana, D. dilatata, Oreopteris limbosperma,
Phegopteris connectilis, Polypodium interjectum and the ubiquitous Preridium aquilinum.

A fine day’s ferning in glorious weather was rounded off by a return to Grasmere over the
dramatic Hardnott and Wrynose passes.

Monday 15th Mike Porter
After the sunshine of previous days the weather was rather dull, but it remained dry and
warm throughout the day. The party made the journey east across the M6 to the limestone
pavements of east Cumbria with the particular goal being Fell End Clouds. We parked on
the roadside below the limekilns at 34/730998 and were glad to be joined by Nan and Sam
Hicks and also Alan Gendle, the manager of Waitby Greenriggs Nature Reserve.

uncommon here. Other fern species seen in the grykes were Athyrium _filix-femina,
Dryopteris affinis and D. filix-mas, while the attractive spring sandwort (Minuartia verna)
was noted near the entrance to an old mine working and colonies of narrow-leaved
bittercress (Cardamine impatiens) were spotted on the pavement itself.

Lunch was taken at the Black Bull, Brough Sowerby, after which the party, now much
reduced by people setting off for home, moved on to the last site of the weekend, the
Cumbria Wildlife Trust reserve of Waitby Greenriggs (35/757085). This is an area of
Species-rich calcareous grassland, which has developed on the cuttings and embankments of

14

a former railway line and contains more than 200 species of vascular plant. Our guide, Alan

ndle, demonstrated many of the species to us including a fine patch of very large
Ophioglossum vulgatum. Sadly, the Botrychium lunaria that had been seen here a few
weeks earlier had disappeared but we had the compensation of seeing a magnificent colony
of marsh helleborines (Epipactis palustris) in full flower. After thanks to Alan for showing
us around his reserve, members of the group said their farewells and headed for home, some
pausing en route for a quick visit to the temptingly near Summerfield Books.

In all, 40 different taxa of ferns or fern allies were seen during the weekend.

TEESDALE & WEARDALE, DURHAM -— 13-15 September Barry Wright
(Leaders: Barry Wright & John Durkin)

There are always times in your life when you sit back and wonder what on earth you have
let yourself in for. This was one of those occasions. I had been unable to do the recce for
this meeting during 2001 and was determined to sort out the visits early in 2002. | was still
trying to sort out some of the venues as late as August. But, with a lot of hard work and loss
of sleep I was able to make all the arrangements and provide what I hoped would be an
interesting selection of field visits for a discerning group of fern lovers.

On the Friday evening, many of those staying locally assembled for a meal at the High
Force Hotel (35/885285), our base for the weekend, north-west of Middleton-in-Teesdale.
Saturday morning began with a gentle stroll down below the Hotel to look at Asplenium
trichomanes subsp. trichomanes growing on the acidic rocks of the Whin Sill. There was
also a small colony of A. adiantum-nigrum growing on the same rock. My intention had
been to attempt to walk downstream, cross the bridge and walk back upstream to have a
good view of the High Force waterfall. I had not bargained on the interest and enthusiasm
of the group. Having reached the bridge, they spent a considerable time studying the
polypodiums and aspleniums on the bridge itself before I could wrench them away and off
up the Yorkshire side of the river (well, it used to be Yorkshire and is in vice-county 65,

orks...). But even here, progress was slow. Having seen a small colony of
Selaginella selaginoides we straggled our way along the shoreline of the river, taking in the
wonders of the rich fern flora on the banking above us. There were extensive stands of
Athyrium filix-femina, Oreopteris limbosperma, Dryopteris dilatata, D. filix-mas and
D. affinis subspp. affinis and borreri. Underneath all of these there were carpets of both
Gymnocarpium dryopteris and Phegopteris connectilis, with occasional Blechnum spicant
and some Pteridium aquilinum. At one point there was an extensive colony of very robust-
looking Equisetum sylvaticum. On some of the rocks there were small plants of Cystopteris
fragilis, Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens, A. scolopendrium and Polystichum
aculeatum. Back at the bridge was a marshy area supporting Equisetum arvense.

Having fallen well short of my target, we made our way back to the High Force Hotel for
lunch. This needed to be a hearty lunch as the assembled party had no idea of how far I was
expecting them to walk in the afternoon. Unfortunately, to see what we wanted to see, there
was no alternative other than a long walk, as most of the good ferns were on the ‘far side’ of
Widdybank fell, with no vehicular access.

We re-convened at Langdon Beck (35/847309) and followed the road to the English Nature
offices at Widdybank Farm. From here we continued round the footpath towards Cauldron
Snout. Along the way, the footpath became difficult as it crossed several boulder fields.
These supported good colonies of Dryopteris oreades with occasional specimens of
Polystichum aculeatum, Cryptogramma crispa, Polypodium vulgare and Huperzia selago.
Continuing round, we passed some Equisetum palustre and then came across a cliff that
supported Asplenium viride and A. ruta-muraria. On other cliffs, further away from the river,

15

were specimens of Polystichum lonchitis. Further on still, we passed a wet area with some
stems of Equisetum fluviatile before we came across ‘Ken’s Rock’ (so-named by the Leeds
Group after Ken Trewren). Behind this was a good colony of Dryopteris expansa and some
nice examples of Huperzia selago. Other rocky areas also supported Polypodium interjectum.

From here it was a relatively short walk round to the waterfall at Cauldron Snout. This is a
magnificent waterfall and is, in my opinion, better than High Force. Having said that, it is a
daunting waterfall to climb up. All credit to the members on the day, they were all keen to go
upwards and onwards rather than backwards and downwards. Having scaled the side of the
waterfall the rest of the return journey was on metalled roads. At first we were walking past
the controversial Cow Green reservoir. The grass verges bordering the access road that follows
the shoreline were occasionally carpeted with extensive colonies of Selaginella selaginoides
intermixed with the typical arctic-alpine flora that Upper Teesdale is internationally renowned
for. Some old mine workings at 35/824312 comprised a series of settlement ponds with
extensive stands of Equisetum fluviatile in the central wet parts and Equisetum palustre around
the margins; the latter also grew extensively along the side of the road.

During the day we were very pleased and privileged to have been allowed to visit a site
where Woodsia ilvensis had been re-introduced. This is part of a programme run by English
Nature in association with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Grateful thanks to the
warden, Chris McCarty for allowing us to study these plants that are now re-established in
their natural surroundings.

As I am not one to allow any slack time in my programme, I bullied members into watching
a slide-show after their evening meal on the Saturday. They also had the opportunity to
bring back and study specimens under the microscopes that I had provided. But it was the
after-dinner entertainment that was a bit of a panic for me, as organiser. Members were
supposed to bring a maximum of ten slides of ferny interest to show the others. However, I
did threaten that if nobody brought slides then I would bore them with endless pictures of
fern spores. Fortunately, enough members came prepared and we had sufficient slides to
make the event worthwhile.

The following day we set off into Weardale to look at a colony of Equisetum x mildeanum
(E. pratense x E. sylvaticum). Having stopped to look at a good plant of Asplenium ceterach
growing on a garden wall, we found the colony, surviving on a small island in the river
upstream from Eastgate (35/952389). John Durkin discovered this population and has been
monitoring it for several years; he was disappointed that the specimens this year were
exhibiting less branching than they had done previously. From here we went further upstream
to look at some stands of Eguisetum pratense. At this point we were once again running late
and had to drop one of the alternative venues of the weekend.

There was also the potential for Asplenium trichomanes subsp. trichomanes in some of the
acidic rocks (though many of the plants looked like good subsp. guadrivalens). John has not
ad any confirmation of this as yet, but hopes to find out in the future. Another curious

area of boulder-scree. Other D. affinis (inconclusive debate on subspecies), D. oreades,
D. filix-mas, D. dilatata and Athyrium filix-femina were also recorded.

With time continuing to press, we returned to the High Force Hotel for lunch.

From here we went to our final venue of the weekend, which was the woodland on the

upstream and northern side of the River Tees at Barnard Castle (35/046168 to

16

35/031 — Polystichum aculeatum was frequent, as were Dryopteris filix-mas,
D. dilatata, D. affinis subsp. borreri and Athyrium filix-femina. Less common were
ptt ig spicant, Dryopteris affinis subsp. affinis and Asplenium scolopendrium.

uring my recce of this site | came across some curious ferns at one particular point
_— this stretch of river. In my ignorance I had hoped that they might be Polystichum x
bicknellii (P. aculeatum x P. setiferum) and Polypodium cambricum. My optimism was
soon to be dashed with the realisation that the Polystichum was in fact P. setiferum.
However, this was not as disappointing as | at first thought — John Durkin reported that
this has not been found in this area since 1860. The other curious plant I wanted
identified was a Polypodium that, owing to its broad fronds and pointed pinnae, | felt
sure could be a candidate for P. cambricum. But, sure enough, when the experts got hold
of it they determined that it was just a broad-fronded P. interjectum. Still, there is no
harm in trying, is there?

photo: A.M. Paul

Matt Stribley, John Durkin & Barry Wright near Barnard Castle, Teesdale

Here, we all said our farewells and made our own way back downstream to our cars to
disperse to our respective homes.

Would I lead another National meeting? Possibly, but certainly not in 2003. They may be
very enjoyable, but they are a lot of hard work. But keep watching as I haven’t shown my
slides of fern spores yet! Thanks to all who came.

TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS — 30 November - 5 December

Saturday 30th November — Teno Patrick Acock

e were based in Puerto Cruz, where we were made aware of ferns straight away as the
hotel staff decorated the steps with hibiscus flowers and fern fronds each morning. We also
bumped into the alien Cyrtomium falcatum regularly on walls where any dampness broke
through and also occupying the niches near the sea that Asplenium marinum often occupies
in Britain and elsewhere.

i

As we drove out to Erjos in the north-east of the island we soon saw plenty of Davallia
canariensis and Polypodium macaronesicum. After parking the cars we wandered along a
track observing both species on the dry-stone walls and soon added Asplenium onopteris to
our list. These proved to be the commonest ferns and we were to see them at most of our
sites. After a mile or so we entered the laurisilva forests and we soon saw a steep bank
down which was the really beautiful and majestic Dryopteris oligodonta. Further along,
where the trail divided, we came across Selaginella denticulata.

After proceeding a little further our leader had us looking for a fern that he had found earlier,
which turned out to be Polystichum setiferum. We then discovered Asplenium hemionitis, a
real little gem. After a photograph with the laurisilva as our backdrop we returned the same
way and settled down for what became a regular dish at lunchtime — goat.

Santiago del Teide Tim Pyner
Following our lunch at the restaurant we drove a short distance to an old lava field just
outside Santiago del Teide. Andrew had explained during lunch that he had stumbled on the
area on an earlier visit and had found that several species of cheilanthoid ferns grew
amongst the loose volcanic rocks.

As we parked it could be seen that the area was very different from that seen on the
morning’s walk. The loose rocks, consisting of a light cinder, formed what at first glance
seemed to be a hill gently sloping away from the road. However, once we started
clambering over the rocks there were depressions and mounds that seemed to be randomly
arranged across the site. Interspersed were outcrops of volcanic rock. It was on these
outcrops that the ferns were most frequent, although they also occurred among the loose
rocks. Almost immediately after leaving the cars large clumps of Notholaena marantae
were found. Many fronds were over 30cm in length and were glabrous and dark green on
the upper surface. The under surface was covered with pale brown scales, which were
whitish on the unfurling fronds, making a very attractive contrast.

We were fortunate to be visiting after a rather wet period and Andrew commented several
times through the week that the ferns were all looking more lush than normal. This was
particularly useful when searching for xerophytic ferns, as they were all unfurled and easy
to see and examine.

With the help of a crib sheet we started looking at other ferns. The next species to gain our
attention was much smaller and had pale green fronds that were densely scaly on both
surfaces giving them a greyish appearance. This was Cosentinia vellea, which proved to be
fairly frequent over the whole area and formed small clumps or tufts of attractive woolly
leaves. Further searching revealed the next species, Cheilanthes pulchella. This small fern is
not very scaly and has dark green, leathery fronds with elongated pinnules. One diagnostic
feature is the entire indusium along the pinnule margin. This species also proved to be
frequent in the area. The group gradually separated whilst searching for more species. Once
we met up again much discussion and head scratching ensued while looking at the crib sheet.
The result was that we were satisfied that a fourth species was also growing on the site. This
appeared to be C. maderensis. This had short indusia on the pinnule lobes and the fronds were
quite small, hardly scaly and a rather bright green. It seemed to be quite scarce.

One other fern grew on the site; occasional fronds of Davallia canariensis could be seen
aia from the loose cinders. Michael investigated how deep a rhizome grew but found
no sign of it even after removing 30cm of loose cinders. The fronds were rather small and
yellowish but seemed otherwise healthy.

- 9 not solely interested in ferns the cinder field proved very interesting. The two
muinant plants were both succulents endemic to the Canaries. Senecio kleinia is a shrubby

18

ragwort that loses its leaves in the dry season leaving a rounded bush with fleshy stems.
Aeonium urbicum is like a massive house-leek perched on a solitary woody stem. Both
these species grew commonly on this site, giving a very weird effect. Another succulent,
Monanthes pallens, grew in damp crevices, often with Cheilanthes pulchella and formed
tiny house-leek-like rosettes about two centimetres across.

After returning to the cars we drove to a nearby café for a welcome drink, as the afternoon
had turned out quite hot and dry as befitted the site. The afternoon had proved very
rewarding, and the whole day provided a good start to the rest of the wee

Sunday Ist December — Teno Mountains Alison Evans
On our way to the car park in Puerto de la Cruz we saw Cyrtomium falcatum growing high
on a wall near the seafront. On the journey to Erjos we stopped to take photos from a seafront
viewpoint, the mirador San Pedro and then again at the Camel Centre in El Tanque.

At Erjos, after aie a small valley with agave, prickly pears and a eucalyptus wood, the
walk was on ood track through laurel forest. Species along the track were Davallia
canariensis, Aspleniumn coer tht aquilinum, Dryopteris oligodonta, Polypodium
macaronesicum and S: la denticulata.

Almost at the furthest point of the walk there was a steep bank with loose soil pockets where
there were large colonies of Notholaena marantae interspersed with Asplenium (Ceterach)
aureum. Some of us discovered why Andrew had made us sign the disclaimer. On the way
back we found a few more A. aureum, and Tim and Michael found one plant of A. hemionitis.

We spent the afternoon in the Botanic Gardens, where there were too many ferns for me to
remember.

Monday 2nd December — Orotava Valley Paul Ripley
Setting out through Orotava, we soon entered the cool cloud and mist, stopping first at a
fish farm at Aguamansa. Where does all this water come from? Apart from fish, we saw
Pteridium aquilinum, Adiantum capillus-veneris and Cystopteris fragilis, the latter growing
in walls, and also a nice rainbow through the clouds. Nearby we explored a dry river-bed
(barranco) where, in the rocks, we saw Polypodium macaronesicum, Davallia canariensis,
Asplenium onopteris, A. trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens and Notholaena marantae, as
well as Pteridium aquilinum.

Further up the road at La Caldera (1,050m a.s.l.) we visited a number of barrancos. This
area of pine forest was botanically rather uninteresting but in the largely dry stream-beds we
again saw Polypodium macaronesicum, Davallia canariensis, Asplenium onopteris,
A. trichomanes and Pteridium aquilinum. Unfortunately most of us lost the advance party and
missed seeing Asplenium aureum at what Patrick described as the best site of the week...

Past a fantastic rose-shaped rock formation we left the clouds and entered clear warm
sunshine. We lunched in Las Canadas del Teide. Reluctantly leaving our sunbathing, we left
the cars a little further up the road at the Visitor Centre (2,050m a.s.1.).

Behind the Visitor Centre, in the clear dry air, we explored a moonscape where survival of
anything but a few scrubby shrubs seemed miraculous. However, in cracks in crags
resulting from solidified lava we found Cheilanthes tinaei (very small, and recognisable by
small, bright red glandular hairs on the frond under-surface) and C. guanchica. While
pontificating vacuously on the differences between C. guanchica and C. maderensis (fronds
of the latter appear to shrivel more quickly than others), particularly meaningless since
C. maderensis probably did not occur at this site, I lost the main party. They walked over
the moonscape-like lava flow to El Cabecon. The views were stunning but only a few
C. guanchica were reported.

We stopped briefly in the cloud belt on the way down to visit a shallow barranco where
Cystopteris fragilis was found, and returned, tired, to Puerto de la Cruz, too late for our
daily ‘fix’ at the Botanic Gardens.

Tuesday 3rd December — Anaga Mountains Michael Hayward
Driving along the ridge of the Anaga mountains we entered the cloud base and light rain,
which largely obscured the view of the Atlantic to either side, but stopping at a Mirador
we found Polypodium macaronesicum, Davallia canariensis and Dryopteris oligodonta,
all epiphytic on the same Phoenix canariensis palm.

The cars were parked by the Casa Forestal. Pteridium aquilinum, Asplenium onopteris and
Davallia canariensis were all growing by the roadside. Then eight hardy souls launched
themselves, like lemmings, over the ridge into the laurel forest towards the village of
Taganana 620m below.

Dryopteris oligodonta was soon replaced by contrasting D. guanchica with its dark
stipes. Both terrestrial and rupestral plants of Davallia canariensis were common at this
level. As the canopy increased in density, epiphytic D. canariensis was noted on high
branches amongst the profuse growth of mosses and lichens. Asp/enium onopteris was
common where the canopy was less dense and occasional large specimens of
Polystichum setiferum were found. Terrestrial and epiphytic Polypodium macaronesicum
One large colony of
Blechnum spicant was found
spread along a bank by the path.

Descending the mountain-side,
feathery Diplazium caudatum

surrounded by magnificent arching
fronds of Woodwardia radicans,
many measuring over 2.5m wit
stipes of one metre. Leaving the
extensive banks of Woodwardia,

lowest levels of the laurel forest
the even smaller Adiantum
reniforme was present in large
numbers, chiefly growing on 4
precipitous bank that several of the
company were drawn to explore.
Two thirds of the way down the
mountain-side the path emerged
rom the forest, passing largely
abandoned vine terraces. The dry-
stone walls of the terraces were

Andrew Leonard, Jurgie S ¥ jensi
gie Schedler & Pat Acock awash with Davallia canariensis,

in Anaga Region, Tenerife .
here growing in full sunlight.
- Finally reaching the village of
- ceo there was a temporary setback when it was found that the local bar no longer
= = ood; however, foragers soon returned with supplies of rolls, cheese, salami,
as and a local sweet pastry (species yet to be determined).

20

After lunch we retraced our path back up the mountain-side, the rain having stopped and the
sun at last shining, back to the cars parked at the summit of the ridge, thus getting a second
look at the plethora of ferns in the forest.

Wednesday 4th December — Anaga Mountains Jurgie Schedler
The Hotel Monopol again did not disappoint us, as our wake up call was at 6.30 a.m. sharp.
Weary, with tired legs and aching bodies we assembled for our, now usual, 7 a.m. breakfast
and the daily protocol of our day ahead. With the strenuous Tuesday still on our minds,
Andrew promised us an ‘easier’ day with the possibility of seeing the tree-fern indigenous
to the Canary Islands, Cu/cita macrocarpa.

We left a sunny Puerto de la Cruz behind and were soon driving up the hair-raising,
serpentine-like mountain roads to Monte de las Mercedes in the Anaga region. There was
no need to stop to marvel at Tenerife from the many viewpoints, as we were again
enshrouded in thick clouds and mist; wet weather gear was definitely the order of the

photo: A. Leonard

Above Las Mercedes, Anaga, Tenerife
nda & Mick Craddock, Alison Evans, Ann Robbins, Jurgie Schedler,
Marti Martin, Tim Pyner, Andy Martin, Pat Acock, Paul Ripley, Michael Hayward

We walked along a mountain path with a sheer drop to our side. The whole mountain-side
flora was dominantly tree heather, thickly covered with lichen and mosses and the ground
was covered with ferns. The continual sea mist and low-level clouds made this a constantly
wet environment. Large Woodwardia radicans, Dryopteris guanchica and D. oligodonta
covered the mountain slopes in abundance. Along the path we spotted Asplenium hemionitis
and A. onopteris and it was no surprise that we also found, so typical of this region,
Davallia canariensis and Blechnum spicant. Three further fern species were not misse
along the way: Notholaena marantae, Polypodium macaronesicum and a few patches of
Selaginella denticulata. Isolated specimens of Diplazium caudatum and Polystichum
setiferum were recorded. To the delight of us all, in a really wet spot so necessary for filmy
ferns, we found Trichomanes speciosum. And one should not forget the Preridium
aquilinum that mingled amongst all the ferns, so common but quite beautiful in its own
right. We recorded 14 different species of fern in the morning as we settled down to a well-
earned lunch in the only, but so typical, Spanish restaurant in El Bailadero. White cheese,
spicy goat, local rabbit and a mysterious beef stew on Paul’s plate, were washed down with
home-brewed wine.

The weather did not improve for the afternoon session, with persistent heavy clouds and sea
mist. We returned to the region of the morning, but this time we followed a more forested path
leading to a more precarious ridge walk with a sharp and steep drop to one side.

The flora was the same as in the morning, with ferns abundant on the way and we recorded
all the morning’s ferns in a short space of time. On the ridge, engulfed in clouds and mist,
Andrew pointed out another filmy fern, Hymenophyllum tunbrigense. One patch was
nestling beautifully at the base of a large tree heather, while another larger patch was
growing on the ridge face and only accessible for the daring and sure-footed pteridologist.
We turned back on ourselves, and a short walk along the path we turned inland down a very
slippery ravine to find a forestry road below. Here we had to find a nearly non-existent path
leading down another ravine. The sights of the ferns present in this damp and wet ravine
were breath-taking. Diplazium caudatum was absolutely stunning and abundant and was
admired by all. All the ferns had this deep green colour and looked so perfectly in harmony
with their environment as we walked waist-high amongst them. Large colonies of
Trichomanes speciosum, with their deep green see-through fronds, were found along small
streams in deep shade. For the first time on our trip we spotted beautiful specimens of Preris
incompleta. What a magical place it was; so much to see and not enough time. Later in the
afternoon, as our return dawned, Ann spotted up on one slope a fern we had not seen until
then, Culcita macrocarpa, so different and so beautiful — what a rewarding sight it was
indeed. Time was running out and we had to find our way out of this ravine and back to our
cars. On the way we spotted the now usual array of ferns with the total tally for the
afternoon being 17 different species.

Thursday 5th December — Anaga Mountains Ann Robbins
We revisited the steep-sided gully that we had found late on the previous day, a ravine
running south off a track signposted Hoya Ujuana at Chinobre, Anaga. Laurel, holly and
heather forest made the gully dark and rather dank; the forest floor was loose and slippy.
Our path followed and repeatedly crossed a small stream. A few Dryopteris guanchica and
Polystichum setiferum were seen at the start of the day, but Dryopteris oligodonta was
always present and many specimens were large and handsome. Asplenium hemionitis and
A. onopteris were also found but not as abundantly as on previous days.

The star ferns of the day were the beautiful Diplazium caudatum, which clothed the valley
floor with its perfect, emerald green fronds and dark stipe, and the statuesque Culcita
macrocarpa, which grew high up on the right on the most inaccessible ledges of the
steepest slopes. Woodwardia radicans was also present in some numbers. There were a few
epiphytic Davallia canariensis and some Blechnum spicant. Large colonies of Trichomanes
speciosum grew low down on the stream-banks where nothing else competed; some
colonies covered up to one square metre. We were unable to find any fertile fronds among
them. A few examples of Pteris incompleta were found among the Diplazium caudatum and
some Polypodium macaronesicum was seen. After a scramble down by an industrial
building of some sort, where Pteridium aquilinum was seen, we walked back up to the road
by way of steep steps cut into the rock.

Lunch was goat stew again at the blue transport café at El Bailadero, with the best view on
the island and we lazed away the final afternoon on the beach at San Andres where some
hardy souls swam in the sea.
Postscript Andrew Leonard
— the meeting had finished I stayed on for a well earned holiday. I revisited some of the
ites and at Santiago del Teide found small plants of Anogramma leptophylla. \n Y

d : oe : :
ian leading to the casino in Puerto de la Cruz, in addition to other ferns there was Pteris

LECTURE MEETINGS AND DAY VISITS 2002

ebook er oe NESS BOTANIC GARDENS, WIRRAL, en Re _
15-17 M Acock

A number of members arrived from distant parts of the UK for an evening meal and
pleasantries at the Ship Hotel, Parkgate, South Wirral.

The following morning we were joined at Ness Botanic Gardens (33/305756) by further
travellers, many of whom had set off before dawn to make a full day of it. We had a tour of
the gardens, ostensibly led by our host for the weekend, Paul Ripley. However, the
membership is prone to stray even when gathered in small numbers, and keeping the 30-40
people together was, of course, impossible.

The gardens were splendid, and despite the meeting being early in the season there was
plenty to see. The ferns were somewhat hard to spot but trained eyes soon made out the
interesting evergreen ones and it did not take people long to discover the tidied remnants of
deciduous plants. The ferns were many and varied and should be visited by us again at a
more fitting time of year to do them justice. Several glasshouses also contained a few
interesting ferns. While walking around the gardens some of us heard tales about the
Society’s trip to Chile, and over lunch in the Visitor Centre the leader and an American
visitor, Janet Keyes, recounted more of their adventures.

We next met up in the anteroom to the lecture theatre and Hugh McAllister (of the University
of Liverpool’s School of Biological Sciences) brought in some interesting ferns for us to look
at, with the delightful news that we
could share them out and take them
home with us. Hugh gave us a brief
history of the Gardens, which were
founded in 1898 by A.K. Bulley
and were given to the University of
Liverpool by his daughter in 1948.

to mark Clive Jermy’s seventieth
year. A special cake had been
commissioned, which Clive cut and
distributed to the gathered party.

We were then given an account
of the Society’s 2001 symposium
at University of Surrey, Guildford
by the Co-ordinator of the
scientific programme, Clive Jermy.

e also spoke briefly of the future

16(6-8). In press). Sylvia Martinelli
and Alan Ogden next treated us to
excellent slides to illustrate their
report on the February excursion pioio: AC, Wallan
to Chile. From the ferns shown
and the scenery in which they

Clive Jermy cuts his 70th birthday cake at Ness Gardens, Wirral

were set, | know that there were many people present who wished that they could have
joined the trip.

Later, after a glass of sherry, we had dinner, arranged in honour of our friend and mentor
Clive and celebrating his service to the Society for nearly half a century. After a pleasant
meal our President, Alastair Wardlaw, gave a speech in Clive’s honour and kept us in
stitches with his gentle humour and endless wit. Clive responded in like manner. After the
rare treat of listening to some tunes by James Merryweather on his renaissance English and
Flemish bagpipes (including Allez a la fougére, see Pteridologist 2(6): 256. 1995), we returned
to the Ship Hotel to reminisce on times past and plot the way forward in the world of ferns.

The following morning, a somewhat smaller group assembled near Red Rocks, West Kirby,
to examine the large stand of Equisetum x trachyodon (E. hyemale x E. variegatum) on the
coastal dune slacks (33/208878). Time did not permit us to investigate the full extent of
the colony, but in 1979 Marian Barker reported that it stretched for 1.3km. We did not find
either parent, although both have been recorded in the Wirral in the past (Fern Gazette
12(1): 59-60. 1979). Alongside the road where we had parked there was an interesting wall
supporting Polypodium interjectum, Asplenium ruta-muraria, A. trichomanes and
A. adiantum-nigrum.

ee

photo: J.M. Ide

Matt Busby, Molly, Paul Ripley, Barbara Porter, Pat Acock, Elise Knox-Thomas, Rose Murphy &
teve Munyard looking at Equisetum x trachyodon near Red Rocks, Wirral

poe - does pay one to research field trips well, but who would have picked up on the fact
at the local motorbike club would be on its hospital Easter egg run! We watched
serie pass at the rate of around one and a half per second for the next hour and a half.

€d to go in the opposite direction, but after fifty yards we were thwarted and just had

to wait for the stream of bikes to pass. (Afterwards we heard that an estimated 4,000-4,500

bikes, trikes, mopeds etc. had participated in the 2002 New Brighton Easter Egg Run!) Our

group was consequently dispersed in all directions, so few of us saw the ferns at the Wirral

cg Park on the old platform of Thurstaston Station (33/238835), the most notable
g Adiantum capillus-veneris, which has been known at this site for many years.

Lunch was taken at The Cottage Loaf, where we were reduced to around 12 members. From
here we went our separate ways.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed in any way to the smooth running of
the weekend. I would like to say a special thank you to Mrs Pat Reynolds, who produced
the superbly decorated cake for Clive’s birthday from the scantiest of drawings. We must
also thank Paul Ripley, whose idea it was to hold the AGM at Ness and whose planning
over the preceding year and a quarter brought the whole venture through to a perfect
conclusion.

SISSINGHURST & SCOTNEY CASTLE GARDENS, KENT — 18 May Pat Acock

of us met outside the delightful National Trust Gardens at Sissinghurst Castle
fe 1/808383) on a morning that proved far better than the forecasts all week had been
predicting. It was nice to have Pauline Alexander and her daughter Felicity and Rosemary
Powis with us for the first time. We were fortunate to have Jack Hubert with us, who,
having visited the gardens regularly, was able to direct us to all the best places for ferns as
well as other interesting places.

The ferns are really quite numerous and also varied, with interesting species as well as
cultivars. Some are planted singly, whilst others are in swathes or, in the case of Matteuccia
struthiopteris and Onoclea sensibilis, so numerous as to be in excess. There were also a few
naturally-occurring ferns on the walls as well as a few naturalised cultivated polypods.

After refreshment at The Brown Trout, we moved on to Scotney Castle Gardens
(51/688353), also National Trust. Here the ferns were fewer and less diverse but were set in
the pleasing setting of an old quarry and around the old castle and lake. The lakeside
osmundas were over seven feet tall and were accompanied by Onoclea sensibilis.

Other ferns common to both sites were Blechnum chilense, B. penna-marina, B. spicant,
Dryopteris filix-mas, D. dilatata, D. affinis subsp. borreri, Gymnocarpium dryopteris,
Phegopteris connectilis, Athyrium filix-femina, Polypodium interjectum, Asplenium ruta-
muraria and A. scolopendrium.

EDINBURGH — 20-23 June

Thursday 20th Pat Acock
There was an air of expectancy at the start of the day, as our triumvirate of Adrian Dyer,
Mary Gibby and Heather McHaffie had been planning this very different long weekend,
based at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for us for at least 18 months.

Mary, who was in some discomfiture having cracked a rib at the start of the week during
her trip to Turkey, gave us a warm welcome.

Heather immediately started us off with the interesting story of Athyrium distentifolium and
A. flexile. She began with the history of their discovery and their distribution, going on to
describe her research. This had shown that although A. flexile comes true from spores,
A. distentifolium often produces some plants of A. flexile, thus proving that A. flexile is a
variety of A. distentifolium with a recessive gene that gives it an advantage in the wild,
especially in places of lower nutrient levels.

Adrian next gave us a lecture on the status of Woodsia ilvensis. This beautiful plant is now
Britain’s rarest fern. No new plants seem to generate in the wild in Britain, despite good
fertility of the spores when grown in cultivation. A number of reasons have been postulated
or this, including the possibility that low genetic variation and changes in climatic
conditions may be preventing the gametophyte stage from developing. A programme of
reintroduction into the wild has been instigated. The first year’s observations showed that
the plants were surviving, but because of the foot and mouth disease epidemic no checks
were possible last year.

After coffee, Antonia Eastwood gave an interesting talk on the decision-making process in
the conservation of endemics on the mid Atlantic Islands. One endemic species on St
Helena, Microstaphyla furcata, had been reduced to monotypic status by Gomez (1975).
However, it was shown by Mickel (1980) to be closely related to the two endemic species
of Elaphoglossum on St Helena. Antonia has found recently that one of these is derived
from M. furcata and the other endemic Elaphoglossum. Since M. furcata occurs in
reasonable quantity and is not really monotypic, this should be considered when decisions
are made as to where to allocate conservation resources.

Mary then gave us a brief talk on the status of Asplenium hemionitis in one area of Portugal
and showed us that it has a lot of genetic diversity despite its confinement.

Librarian Jean Hutchins had put on a magnificent display of books in the library, which we
were allowed to browse! So enamoured was one of the participants with Eaton’s North
American Ferns that he ordered a copy as soon as he arrived home!

photo Debbie White, RBGE

Participants on first day of meeting at RBGE
odfi peti Robert Sykes, Les Kingstone, Frank McGavi igan, Adrian Janet Dyer,
rey, Alan Mellor, Alastair Wardlaw, Pat / jibby
" a F at Acock, Barry Colville, Mary
itting: Ann Colvinie Graham Ackers, Heather McHaffie, Ken Trew ren, Grant Fortune, C ae Mullins

Standing: Jonathan W

>

After lunch we were taken on a tour of the RBGE ferns, especially those in the Fern House.
Words fail one in trying to describe such a wonderful place in such limited space. We
visited it a couple more times over the weekend. It is to be regretted that there is nowhere
like it in the South of England now that RBG Kew’s fern holdings are diminished.

The evening was spent at Heather’s magnificent garden, where you were frightened to say
how much you liked a plant in case she dug it up for you and left a space where there should
not be one. Even so, I came away with a carrier bag full, determined to study Dryopteris
dilatata and D. expansa growing side by side so that I should know the difference.

Friday 21st Robert Sykes
Some day this, combining the best of expert instruction, practical study, looking at ferns
under cultivation and in the field, and a gratifying, totally un-pteridological walk.

We started with a talk by Adrian Dyer about the fern life-cycle, which (for this participant)
contained some that was familiar, one or two illuminating glimpses of the obvious, and
some exciting new material. I grow spores and am familiar with the observed life-cycle. 1
suppose I would have known, if I had thought about it, the extraordinary proposition that
the minute fern spore contains all the genetic information for both the gametophyte and
sporophyte generations. Since the sporophyte cannot walk away, the site where the
gametophyte germinates must satisfy the requirements of both generations, if the plant is to
survive. As the gametophyte is a poor competitor, this may explain why some ferns are rare
in the wild, notwithstanding that they grow easily enough in cultivation (e.g. Woodsia
ilvensis and Dryopteris submontana), and why ferns produce a prodigious number of spores
(ten billion a year apparently for a large Dryopteris), in order for the odd few here and there
to hit the reproductive button. New insights (for me) included the propositions that if spores
are sown too closely, then the overcrowded gametophytes may produce only males; that
moisture, coupled with darkness, can increase spore longevity; and that the moment of
meiosis takes place in the maturing sporangia — the spore is the product of it.

Mary Gibby then produced some pots of spores sown three months earlier, and some agar
plates with very young ones sown two weeks previously. The various gametophytes were
examined under the microscope, to find and identify for ourselves the cells dividing, the
thizoids growing down from the developing cells, the archegonia and the antheridia (the
female and male structures on the gametophyte). All of these we found and saw under our own
microscope or somebody else’s. Fascinating, as well as very beautiful. I don’t think anyone
successfully stimulated the sperms to swim through the moisture film — a game to play at home.

Coffee, and another talk by Adrian, this time about other forms of reproduction. He made
the point that while sexual reproduction allows for a mix of inherited characteristics and
greater versatility to adjust to new conditions, asexual reproduction allows the ‘non-
dismantled’ genotype to take maximum advantage of a constant habitat. He took us through
the various forms of vegetative reproduction, such as new individuals on the tip of the frond
e.g. Woodwardia radicans), bulbils along the rachis, horizontal stolons (e.g. Matteuccia
struthiopteris) or branching rhizomes without horizontal stolons, yielding the familiar huge
clumps of, for example, Dryopteris filix-mas. He also, rather more challengingly, explored
apomixis, where meiosis is modified, the chromosome number is unchanged, and the spore
therefore yields an effective clone of the parent. The phenomenon occurs in plants that are
hybrids, uneven polyploids (e.g. Phegopteris connectilis), or both.

Using a microscope linked to a television screen, Mary set up a demonstration of Irene
Manton’s famous technique for counting chromosomes. She worked with the immature
sporangia of a Dryopteris species. The trick is to hit the precise moment of meiosis: too early
and no division has taken place, too late and the spores are already formed. She lifted a sorus
onto a slide with a pair of tweezers, put a drop of stain on and cleaned off the indusitum leaving

27

the sporangia on the slide. She then warmed it over a spirit lamp and pressed the preparation
under a cover slip. What we then saw under the microscope was fascinating; what we never
did see was any chromosomes, illustrating the need for great patience as well as great skill.

photo: A.C, Wardlaw

Heather McHaffie, Mary Gibby & Adrian Dyer
in the teaching laboratory at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

After lunch we were offered a choice of three sessions: | opted for Heather McHaffie on
equisetums. She illustrated her analysis of the eight native species (only eight! — what's the
problem?) with overheads and living material. I annotated my copy of The Illustrated Field
Guide (Jermy & Camus) and Heather (wearing as ever a themed tee-shirt) gave us copies of
her overheads. She made it all seem quite straightforward, and I will in future conduct the
snap test and twiddle the branches between thumb and forefinger like an expert, but I fear |
will need to look back at the notes to make a definitive diagnosis — and then there are all
those hybrids. I don’t say ‘sheath teeth’ a lot, but when I do I will always think of Heather.

She had collected some Equisetum spores, which differ from fern spores in having four
elators, which contract and expand with moisture. We enjoyed looking at them under the
microscope and watching them open and shut as we breathed on them. No wonder
somebody wanted to take some home for his children.

Elsewhere in the laboratory, Adrian’s group were looking at fern identification, using the
key to Scottish ferns that he and Heather are developing, and Mary had a session on
identification problems and challenges, with an array of Dryopteris species.

It goes on: we had a visit to the shade tunnel to look at the research collection of equisetums
(which are unsportingly, but characteristically, escaping and merging to increase the
challenge), as well as rows and rows of Woodsia ilvensis, showing how well they grow one
of the wild, and other hardy ferns. The fern pots were set on sand, which would be

28

moistened by rainfall through the shade cover, and were growing notably well. There was a
particularly handsome Polystichum vestitum.

After refreshment at The Sheep’s Heid, we went up to Hunter’s Bog (36/273733) under
Arthur’s Seat. This whole area of hilly parkland is a wonderful facility on the fringe of the city.
Park Ranger Jenny Hargreaves took us to the population of Ophioglossum vulgatum growing
in longish grass in moist ground down-stream from a small loch. She had arranged a count
with volunteers in metre squares, which yielded over the whole area an astounding total of
over 30,000 fronds. One could still easily have walked by and missed them. There was also an
extensive population of Equisetum palustre, flanked by E. arvense for comparative purposes.

We then moved round the hill and were shown a remarkable collection of spleenworts

growing in the cracks on a cliff. They included the old familiars, Asplenium ruta-muraria,

A. adiantum-nigrum and A. trichomanes, but there were also some handsome clumps of

A. septentrionale, far more lush than I have ever seen it before in the UK, and, the thrill of

the evening, Asplenium x murbeckii, the very rare A. ruta-muraria x A. septentrionale
rid. A vigorous plant, it looked rather like A. ruta-muraria, but with finer pinnae.

And finally a walk up Arthur’s seat in the dusk to yield fine views of the city, the distant
hills and the far away hump of the Bass Rock. A great day. Our grateful and well-earned
thanks to all concerned, particularly this day to Adrian, who planned it, gave two talks and
led the field excursion, and to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, which generously
allowed us the use of the laboratory and equipment free of charge.

Saturday 22nd Graham Ackers
Following the classroom-based fern identification tutorials the previous day, today’s
activities provided us with the opportunity to put our identification skills into practice. With
the delegates suitably deployed in cars, we headed for Roslin Glen (36/274632), several
miles due south of Edinburgh. On arrival, the earlier drizzle having abated, Adrian
announced confidently during the car park briefing that he had ‘switched off the rain’. Hmm.

Passing some clumps of Asplenium ruta-muraria on the graveyard wall, we headed for the
ruined castle, a fascinating and rather beautiful structure with colourful sandstone brick walls
harbouring A. trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens, A. scolopendrium and Dryopteris filix-mas.

We then explored the north side of the steep but wide valley of the River North Esk. The site
consisted of highly scenic, relatively undisturbed, ancient mixed woodland, with a good
collection of ferns. At the first sighting of Dryopteris dilatata, Heather gave an enthusiastic
account of the characteristics of the species, and continued in similar vein for several of the
other species seen. These included Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris filix-mas, D. affinis
subspp. affinis and borreri and other forms of D. affinis that were more difficult to place,
Blechnum spicant and Pteridium aquilinum, all reasonably common. Less common were
Polypodium interjectum?, Polystichum aculeatum and Oreopteris limbosperma, the latter
represented by a single specimen, which had (only just) survived a recent riverbank collapse.
The sessions during the previous day had included horsetails, so lessons learnt were put into
practice by seeing and identifying Equiserum arvense, E. telmateia (an impressive stand in a
wet flush), and a very small number of E. hyemale, the location of which was aided by the
‘fallen ash clue’. Finally, to tie in with other classroom sessions, we inspected banks bearing
gametophytes, observing their structure and attempting their identification, difficult
manoeuvres to perform without some loss of dignity!

Adrian’s divine powers had deserted him, because considerable quantities of rain had
descended upon us for much of the morning! Lunch was taken in a private room at a Roslin
pub, and provided Ken Trewren with the opportunity to help us differentiate between the
different D. affinis types, aided by a few fronds collected during the morning.

29

Consistent with the diligent preparation that the organisers had made for the meeting, one of
our briefing sheets was an account of the history and architecture of Rosslyn Chapel, our first
afternoon ‘site’. This is a beautiful building, but on our visit was shrouded by a canopy to
assist in the drying out of the chapel walls. Ferny interest was provided by the Apprentice
Pillar, at the top of which was a highly stylised stone carving of a ‘scollie’. | must confess to a
degree of scepticism, but became more convinced on pondering what else it might have been
(and nothing else came to mind). Perhaps another of the many carvings, at the base of an arch,
might have been a Polypodium, but maybe that would be stretching imagination too far...

For the second part of the afternoon, we returned to the Dean Village area of Edinburgh,
and visited the Dean Cemetery (36/237739). The grandiose gravestones suggested that this
was the resting-place for the Edinburgh elite. Even the ferns seemed to want to show off a
little, with several examples of crested varieties of Asplenium scolopendrium and Athyrium
filix-femina (fine if you like that sort of thing). We also saw Dryopteris filix-mas, D. dilatata,
and the probably planted cultivars of Polystichum setiferum and fine stands of Osmunda
regalis. A little wander around picturesque Dean Village yielded Asplenium trichomanes,
A. adiantum-nigrum and A. scolopendrium in walls around the Water of Leith (it’s a river!).

In the evening we met at the historic Ye Olde Peacock Inn in Newhaven Village, where
again we had our own room. After the meal, Adrian gave a charming and light-hearted talk
on the ‘Myth Propagation of Ferns’. I do hope Adrian can be persuaded to reproduce his
talk in article form, because any summary here could not possibly do it justice. Finally,
Alastair Wardlaw gave a vote of thanks to the three organisers of the meeting, who had
prepared and presented the programme so well.

Sunday 23rd Ann Robbins
On Sunday, led by Heather McHaffie, we visited a raised bog: Red Moss Wildlife Reserve
at Balerno (36/164638). The bog was made accessible by a boardwalk that allowed us to
look down on the area without damaging it — or ourselves. The area was fringed by birch and
goat willow where many small birds sang while remaining elusive in the branches. Ragged
robin, meadowsweet and pale common spotted orchids accompanied us along our way.

Dryopteris dilatata and D. carthusiana grew in abundance and provided an opportunity to
learn the characteristics of each. A possible hybrid D. x deweveri was spotted but not
confirmed. Three horsetails, Eguisetum fluviatile, E. arvense and E. palustre, were
identified with Heather’s help. A single specimen of Blechnum spicant and some Athyrium
filix-femina completed the list of pteridophytes.

As we walked out over the centre of the bog the trees gave way to an open expanse of
cotton grass and heathers. Here lay the sinister traps of sundews, wide open and glistening
in the sun, awaiting their next catch amongst a variety of mosses and lichens.

Adrian and Janet Dyer kindly opened their house and garden to the group for lunch. The
garden descended steeply from the house, giving eye-level views of a range of ferns
expertly cultivated by Adrian. Only when we reached the bottom of the slope could we
appreciate the extent of the site. Many native species and some foreign ferns looked
perfectly at home in an area cleared of dead elm trees 20 years previously. Adrian even
manages to grow horsetails without any obvious problems.

The visit marked the end of a most enjoyable and well organised meeting.
REFERENCES

Gomez, L.D. (1975) Contribuciones a la pteridologia costarricense. VI. El género Peltapteris
ges en Costa Rica. Brenesia 6: 25-31.
ickel, J.T. (1980) Relationships of the dissected elaphoglossoid ferns. Brittonia 32: 109-1 17.

30

REGIONAL MEETINGS 2002

LEEDS & DISTRICT

Moonwort and Adder’s tongue Survey, North York Moors — 25 May

Barry Wright
Following the significant disruption to ferning activities during 2001 caused by foot and
mouth disease restrictions, it was refreshing to be allowed once more into the countryside in
search of ferns. For this field meeting we set about continuing our success at locating
roadside verge colonies of moonwort (Botrychium lunaria) and adder’s tongue
(Ophioglossum vulgatum) on the North York Moors. When we did the survey in 2001 we
were fortunate in being allowed access despite the foot and mouth restrictions. However, we
did not have the advantage of additional GPS navigation devices. During the current survey,
we were able to use four of these and were also fortunate enough to have sufficient people
to use one device per team. We attracted the attention of our president, Alastair Wardlaw,
who is very interested in moonwort and was keen to join us on the promise of being
guaranteed to see good colonies.

In 2001 we surveyed a road that seemed to be one of the main strongholds of moonwort
in the moors, and also investigated two adjoining roads that unfortunately both proved
unfruitful, being totally devoid of moonwort and adder’s tongue. The ‘fruitful’ section
we surveyed was roughly between 45/732022 and 45/747057 on the road between
Rosedale Abbey and Lealholm and revealed a large number of moonwort colonies on
both sides of the road as well as a single, small colony of adder’s tongue.

he intention this year was to continue southwards from 45/732022 as far as the junction at
45/746000. In addition, I had previously made records for moonwort on the road from
Hutton-le-Hole to Castleton; there was a colony at 45/683040.

On the day of the current survey I was early for the meeting and was driving to
45/683040 and happened to stop on the road at 44/697918. It was not long before I found
several colonies of moonwort and a single colony of adder’s tongue. I also stopped at
44/689963 and was again rewarded by further colonies of both species. On this basis,
when I met up with the rest of the group, we decided to study this road in greater detail.

We met at the Danby Lodge visitor centre just east of Danby village. We were fortunate
that Ken Trewren was available to come on this meeting as he took us on a short detour to
look at a very handsome specimen of Dryopteris x complexa nothosubsp. complexa. This
was growing on the side of the railway line at approximately 45/697083 along with both
parents: D. filix-mas and D. affinis subsp. affinis, the latter being particularly attractive with
its flush of new fronds.

Having admired these plants we then made our way on to Glaisdale Rigg where I was to
show everybody known colonies of moonwort and adder’s tongue so that they could ‘get
their eye in’ for these species. On the way to the parking area, I determined to relocate
the small colony of adder’s tongue using the GPS. As I drove slowly to the spot, I was
watching the numbers on the display slowly counting down towards what would
hopefully be the exact location for the fern. I approached and drove ever more slowly as
the numbers approached the exact figures from the previous year’s encounter (45/73806
03815). At the exact number on the display I got out of the car and was more than
amazed to find the colony less than 30 centimetres away from my front-wheel! This also
amazed the assembled group and reaffirmed the accuracy that GPS devices can now
achieve.

Having studied this solitary colony we continued down the road to park and marvel at colonies
of moonwort. These seemed to be slightly less abundant than in 2001 and the plants tended to
be relatively small, rarely exceeding five or six centimetres. It was at this point that the weather
threatened to deluge us with one of Yorkshire’s gentle spring showers. By the time we had
dodged the raindrops and got our eye in for the size of plant we would be looking for, it was
getting on for lunch-time so we repaired to a pub at Rosedale Abbey. After lunch, the rain
clouds seemed to have gone somewhere else and we were able to spend most of the afternoon
in relatively dry conditions, bordering on sunny. From here we all went our separate ways to
study sections of roads already identified. These data have yet to be analysed in any detail, but
it continues to be a source of puzzlement as to why colonies are restricted to one side of the
road. A gratifying result of the survey this year was that we recorded a great many more
adder’s tongue colonies than in previous years. Of particular note was a very significant and
extensive colony located by Alastair, which ran between 45/73936 00997 and 45/73946 00987
and was of hundreds of spikes (unless Alastair is an angler in his spare time!).

At the end of the day we were kindly invited back to Egton Bridge by Ken Trewren for a
cup of tea and a look round his garden. This was most welcome and interesting, particularly
as Ken was able to show us some of the differences between various members of the
Dryopteris affinis group. In particular he was able to show us specimens that he had
collected from the North York Moors that did not fit any of the recognised morphotypes of
Anthony Pigott’s Affinis Watch leaflet. Altogether a very interesting and rewarding day.
Thanks to Ken for his expertise and hospitality. We will continue this survey in subsequent
years and I hope that we can begin to revisit some of the colonies to monitor variation in the
number of above-ground parts of this fascinating pair of native British ferns.

Miller’s Dale, Derbyshire — 15 June Paul Ruston

photo: P.I. Ruston

Miller’s Dale, Derbyshire
Ken Trewren, Ann Robbins, Barry Wright, Neil Timm (standing), Richard Unett

, over the years, been extensively exploited for their
conten : } , i
t of lead and other minerals, and limestone has been extracted for building and road

32

construction. This extraction of limestone continues in the immediate locality at an ever
increasing and alarming rate, and is the cause for much concern. The disused quarries,
worked during the last and early part of the previous century, are small by comparison and
are now valuable habitats for wildlife. The Miller’s Dale Quarry Nature Reserve (English
Nature) was to be our first call, to relocate the colony of adder’s tongue that I found there
many years ago and perhaps also to find moonwort.

Six of us met at the disused Miller’s Dale Railway Station (43/137732) and set off to visit
the nearby reserve. On the way there we saw Asplenium ruta-muraria, A. trichomanes
subsp. quadrivalens, Dryopteris filix-mas, Cystopteris fragilis and a Polypodium on the
brick pillars of the old railway viaduct (43/139732) (the dismantled railway is now the
Monsal Trail). The ascent to the quarry begins at the disused limekilns — not at all ferny —
and terminates where the remains of a stone-built structure languish beneath the shade of
willow saplings. Here, Ken Trewren noticed a very robust Asplenium trichomanes with long
fronds and large, dark green, slightly lobed pinna segments. Was it A. trichomanes subsp.
pachyrachis or merely subsp. quadrivalens? Ken’s investigation, at a later date, determined
that it was the latter. Our search through the low herbage of the reserve revealed the adder’s
tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum) covering quite an extensive area (43/139731) and many
had fertile fronds, prompting the use of cameras; regrettably, moonwort was not found here.
The area is rich with orchid species, for which it is renowned and the spoil heaps were thick
with common twayblade (Listera ovata), yet to flower. etic = lix-mas filled the
spaces between the large limestone blocks at the foot of the old quarry fa

We returned to the Monsal Trail and set off in the direction of Priestcliffe Lees Nature
Reserve. A solitary Asplenium scolopendrium with crisped fronds was seen, occupying the
side of a deep ditch. The ledges and crevices of the cuttings supported Cystopteris ae
Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, A. ruta-muraria and extensive and probably aged tufts of
A. trichomanes subsp. Gud ha. A lone Gymnocarpium robertianum was spotted in a
crevice mid-way up the rock-face. By the edge of the trail, a wooded area of scree
overlooking the river was densely populated with A. trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens
(43/151731). There wasn’t time to visit the nature reserve, so we took the opportunity to
cross the river by the timber foot-bridge to return to Miller’s Dale and the Fisherman’s Rest
(43/143734) for lunch. Along the lane beside the river we saw Equisetum fluviatile, ve
tall and branched, and, in the shade of the willows, Polystichum aculeatum and Polypodium
interjectum on the roadside bank.

After lunch we entered Monk’s Dale Nature Reserve (English Nature) as a quick prelude to
following the River Wye to Chee Tor. This gave us many of the ferns previously seen,
along with Equisetum arvense at the edge of the stream. Taking a short cut up the dale side
to rejoin the trail, Barry Wright found a small colony of Botrychium lunaria (43/141734);
the fertile fronds were quite evident, brown and heavy with spores. A search of the
immediate area for more plants was, unfortunately, without gain.

Our walk to Chee Tor (43/123733) gave us, at the entrance to the railway tunnel (now

closed), our first Dryopteris dilatata of the day, D. filix-mas and Athyrium filix-femina.

There was Equisetum arvense along the banks of the river. This steep-sided and tree-shaded
area was well populated with Polystichum aculeatum, and Dryopteris affinis subspp. affinis

and borreri were also present. Beneath the Tor, the river is narrowly confined between high
cliffs. Here, Flag Dale joins the Wye and Wormhill spring rises and bubbles from the
ground, seemingly copious, cold and clear. There was Asplenium scolopendrium in
abundance here, in varying stages of development. It was agreed that a fern seen close by
the water’s edge on the opposite side of the river was a Polypodium, possibly P. interjectum
and not, as first thought, Polystichum aculeatum; the narrow fronds had an estimated length
of 50-60cm. After taking many photographs we returned to the car park.

33

‘Fascinating Ferns’ — Nidderdale, North Yorkshire — 29 June Robert Adams

This Leeds & District Fern Group meeting took place on Saturday 29th June in combination
with a Nidderdale Festival event. Under the title of ‘Fascinating Ferns’, the purpose of the
event was to introduce people to the subject of pteridology, in particular the identification
of native species, and also to give members of our Group the opportunity to explore Skrikes
Wood (44/153643), the privately owned site of the meeting. No member of Leeds & District
Fern Group, other than myself, actually attended, but twelve enthusiastic (and fee-paying)
members of the public spent a pleasant day looking at the ferns of this attractive site.

Altogether thirteen species of fern were found: Pteridium aquilinum, Athyrium filix-femina,
Dryopteris filix-mas, D. dilatata, D. affinis subsp. affinis, Blechnum spicant and Oreopteris
limbosperma in the woodland soil itself, with Asplenium scolopendrium, A. trichomanes
subsp. quadrivalens, A. ruta-muraria, Polypodium interjectum and Cystopteris fragilis
growing in the mortared walls. All these species were viewable from footpaths, as required
by the Health and Safety rules of the Nidderdale Festival. Permission was obtained from the
owner of the wood for anyone who wished to do so to explore away from the paths after the
event itself had finished. Only two of us did so. Scrambling over the large sandstone
boulders that lie in the stream that flows through this deep-sided woodland, we eventually
found two patches of Hymenophyllum wilsonii.

Several of the participants confessed to being captured by the fascination of ferns and asked
for further information including details of the BPS, so I feel justified in calling the meeting
a success despite the absence of BPS members,

Castlebeck and Scar Woods, North York Moors — 20 July Barry Wright

The prospect of deteriorating weather did not dissuade a hardy band of members from
exploring these woods in the North York Moors. Ken Trewren had originally intended to run
this visit, but he was unexpectedly called away on a foreign trip. As a contingency we had
arranged for me to go round the woods with him before he left, so that, on the day, I had more
than a fighting chance of locating some interesting ferns in such a large tract of woodland.

We met at 44/950980 and the day began with a fruitless excursion to attempt to locate some
Phegopteris connectilis along one of the tributaries of the river (44/949985). We also tried
again to locate a colony of Trichomanes speciosum gametophyte along another tributary
(44/946980) where Ken was sure he had seen it. This again proved fruitless so we began the
long walk down the valley towards some other tributaries feeding into the river. Along the
way we saw Athyrium filix-femina, Blechnum spicant, Dryopteris affinis subsp. borreri,
D. dilatata, D. filix-mas, Oreopteris limbosperma, Polypodium interjectum, Polystichum
aculeatum, the ubiquitous Pteridium aquilinum and Equisetum palustre. These tributaries
proved to be more rewarding, with good colonies of Dryopteris aemula being recorded; |
missed the D. x deweveri (D. carthusiana x D. dilatata). Further along the trail we visited a
rock that Ken and I had seen earlier and we were able to find a very small patch of the
gametophyte of Trichomanes speciosum.

As the weather continued to deteriorate we began the journey back to the cars along another
tributary valley at 44/950969. It was along here that we encountered some of the more
unusual morphotypes of Dryopteris affinis, including a very foliose form that Ken has
found in several locations throughout the North York Moors and also Dryopteris affinis
morphotype insolens’. It was also interesting to discover good colonies of Phegopteris
connectilis and the horsetails Eguisetum telmateia and E. sylvaticum growing side by side in
the saturated woodland soils. We were not sure whether it was raining heavily outside, oF
whether it was the residual moisture falling from the trees, but we seemed to be getting

ee .
eed and more saturated as time went by. All was to be revealed when we finally emerged
at the road and came out into sunshine.

34

As we finished a bit early we then went back to Forge Valley to admire the huge stands of
Equisetum telmateia at 44/982874. We also tried again to find the Polystichum x bicknellii
(P. aculeatum x P. setiferum), but could only find the two parent species, along with some
Asplenium scolopendrium. A good day nonetheless.

Brodsworth Hall, Melton Woods and Sprotborough, Doncaster, South
Yorkshire — 10 August Barry Wright (a.m.) & Ann Robbins (p.m.)

This visit was to be our main horticultural excursion and was to be something of a treat and
a surprise all at the same time. The horticultural element was to be our first visit to see the
Eric Baker fern collection. It is always a fitting memorial when someone has their cherished
collection of plants lovingly reinstated in new surroundings. In this case it is at the stately
home Brodsworth Hall (44/505071) under the guardianship of David Avery, the Hall’s head
gardener.

photo: B. Wright

Fernery at Brodsworth Hall
Pat Cole, David Avery (Head Gardener), Tim & Elsie Mott, Ron Cole, Anne Gill

We were met by David, who escorted us down to the fernery. I had little concept of what
was about to be revealed to the group. I have seen fern grottoes in the past, but this had not
prepared me for the magnificent splendour of this expertly restored Victorian fernery. The
sheer grandeur of the construction has to be seen to be believed. The effort that David and
his team have put into the construction has to be wholeheartedly applauded. The planting
has been skilfully and sympathetically done. Unfortunately, as with many translocations, a
number of the names seemed to have been lost or become mixed up. We had intended to
return later on in the year to attempt to correct some of the misnaming and to name others
that were lacking labels, but personal commitments on my part precluded this. However, we
do plan to revisit next year and carry on supporting this collection by helping with the

35

cataloguing and, where we can, helping to expand the collection to include species that Eric
did not possess.

After a light lunch in the café we headed off for the field part of the day, which was led by
Ann Robbins.

South Yorkshire is rather a fern desert, but there is a ridge of carboniferous limestone
running north/south between Sheffield and Doncaster that seemed as though it might be
worth investigating. We visited Melton Wood (34/518032), which 1s managed by
Doncaster Council and comprise 250 acres of mixed woodland with some areas of beech
and some of conifers. Disused lime pits in the wood could be interesting. There were few
ferns to see but Dryopteris filix-mas, Pteridium aquilinum, Athyrium filix-femina and
Dryopteris dilatata were present. We saw a large number of meadow brown (Maniola
jurtina) butterflies along the bramble-lined rides; someone thought there must have
been a recent hatching. I had seen a single specimen of Asplenium scolopendrium
on a previous visit, but did not refind it ‘on the day’. (Melton Wood website:
http://www.doncaster.gov k/lei id t asp? WSDOCID=722)

After a drink at The Boat, Sprotborough (44/537014) we set off for Scaba Wood
(44/539011), which runs alongside the River Don at Sprotborough. After almost an hour of
looking no ferns had been found and one member of the party had been stung by a wasp; it
seemed as if the day was going to end on a down beat. But, having turned for home and
moved back from the river through areas that must at one time have been quarried, we
found a splendid colony of Asplenium scolopendrium. There were many hundreds of plants,
but, interestingly, no other ferns at all.

[Ann’s description is more than a little restrained. I personally have never seen so many
Asplenium scolopendrium in one place at the same time. It was positively primeval. So
many luxuriant specimens clothing and dripping from every bank, rocky outcrop and
cliff. There were actually one or two other ferns about, but very inconspicuous — one
Dryopteris filix-mas and two D. affinis subsp. borreri. It is also the first time I haven't
had to write down bracken (Preridium aquilinum) on a group meeting. So that must be a
record as well!

Ann, in her modesty also omitted to report that she invited us all back to Scrooby for tea
and buns. Thanks to Ann, not only for that, but also for the unexpected treat at Scaba
Wood. Barry]

Bolton Abbey Woods, Bolton Abbey, Wharfedale, North Yorkshire —

7 September Barry Wright
Following a lecture that I gave to the Bradford Botany Group, I was asked if I could lead
a fern visit to show their members some of the characteristics of the more commonly
encountered British ferns. With this in mind, I decided that one of the best places to take
people where they could see a good range of species was the woodland bordering the
Wharfe at Bolton Abbey (44/078553 to 44/059568). It was here that we had earlier
recorded a wide range of species accessible from the carriage drive bordering the river.

These woodlands are characterised by having a mixture of soil conditions ranging from
acidic to alkaline. This offers a unique opportunity for a variety of ferns to grow. In
addition to the ferns growing in the soil we finally found out that there is a use for sycamore
trees; some of the larger specimens close to the river were acting as epiphytic host for
colonies of Polypodium interjectum.

an emataE - this Species we also found good quantities of Dryopteris filix-mas,
. di » Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris affinis subsp. borreri and, of course,

36

Pteridium aquilinum. Some of the less frequent species included Polystichum aculeatum,
echnum spicant, Asplenium a niet arvense, Oreopteris limbosperma,

Phegopteris connectilis and Gymnocarpium dryopteris. There was also a small colony of

Cystopteris fragilis on a small coun bridge cued the footpath at 44/079554.

In addition to studying the ferns within the woods at Bolton Abbey we went down to the
Abbey itself (44/073541) and recorded Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens and
A. ruta-muraria, along with one or two specimens of A. scolopendrium. At the front of the
Abbey there was a ha-ha that was colonised by an extensive covering of Polypodium
interjectum. According to one of the party we were with, there are records of the
gametophytes of Trichomanes speciosum close to the river.

Altogether a very successful meeting, particularly because of the large numbers we
entertained. I tried to make a headcount but lost count at 36. And, despite this being a return
visit for our local group, eight of our own members were part of this number. I hope that I
was able to inspire the botany group and show them that there is interest in plants without
showy flowers.

SOUTH-EAST
Highgate Cemetery, Stefan Czeladzinski’s Garden and Lea Valley Park,
London — 1 June Pat Acock

Six of us met Stefan outside Archway Tube Station on a beautiful spring morning. After the
introductions we proceeded up Highgate Hill, where we cut through Waterlow Park.
Having paid our dues we entered Highgate Cemetery (51/286870) and were immediately
greeted by large quantities of Equisetum telmateia. We were soon to discover that this plant
permeates large areas of the cemetery where water comes near the surface of the overlying
clay. There were interesting plants in this well overgrown and wooded graveyard but the
pteridophytes numbered only three species, namely Equisetum telmateia, E. arvense and
Dryopteris filix-mas. We did, however, discover a splendid cultivar of D. filix-mas from the
Cristatum Group. Passing back through Waterlow Park another way we saw a few more ferns
including a cultivar of Athyrium filix-femina and Dryopteris affinis *Cristata’ (The King).

Following lunch at Stefan’s favourite pub chain, we either walked or motored to his house
in Canonbury. We guessed that we were approaching his house, as basement gardens all
seemed to have an unusually high number of ferns of a more choice nature; it turned out
that earlier in his career Stefan used to attend to a few of these and always included a couple
of ferns, or more if he could get away with it.

We met Stefan’s friend, the delightful Amela, who produced teas and coffees in copious
quantities. In the house, Stefan had designated rooms as continents. He had put appropriate
selaginellas along with references and literature on the specimens into each ‘continent
room’. He has made a real study of the genus, collecting floras, correspondence and papers
from authorities in the field. More surprising is his unique way of growing the plants.
Stefan uses the clear bottles from office springwater dispensers. When the plant outgrows
its bottle he simply cuts a middle section from another bottle and inserts it into the centre of
the existing bottle. Many of the towers are three or four bottles high and the selaginellas
simply romp away, seemingly unaffected by touching any condensation on the sides of the

Stefan’s other plants included a sizeable selection of horsetails, British natives and other
ferns he has been interested in over the years. We could not see many of his adiantums as
they were still on their journey back from The Chelsea Flower Show but he still had half a
dozen interesting species.

Lt

We then made our way to the Lea Valley Park (51/357867) to see some interesting

0

mantegazzianum. Later we were to find a further three on the riverbanks. There were
marvellous plants in the area, but despite extensive searching we could only find two
horsetails, Equisetum palustre and E. arvense.

We duly thanked Stefan and Amela at the end of another very pleasant and unusual day not
far from the centre of London, and wonder what Stefan will come up with next year.

New Forest, Hampshire — 20 July Paul Ripley

Our numbers were augmented by members of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife
Trust’s Flora Group, and altogether about 25 of us assembled in the New Forest at the
Crockford Bottom car park between Beaulieu and Lymington (40/350990). The meeting
was planned and organised by Jo Basil, who found us some most interesting sites, quite
different from our usual habitats.

We headed north towards the old airfield (41/352001), and on very poor acid heathy soil
found the two ophioglossums that we had come principally to see: O. vulgatum and
QO. azoricum. In wet flushes/shallow ponds we saw the unmistakable fresh green of
Pilularia globulifera (with pills) and nearby was Lycopodiella inundata, not to mention
interesting Drosera species and other plants characteristic of this area. We also saw
Pilularia in old tank traps beside the B3054.

After lunch we explored for a short distance the stream on the other side of the road
(40/352989). Osmunda regalis was growing on the stream banks, and we also found
Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris filix-mas, D. dilatata (also common on drier heath areas),
Equisetum fluviatile, E. telmateia and E. arvense.

We gained enormously from the expertise of the Trust’s members — we were delighted to
have a grass snake shown to us for instance — and hopefully may have gained another
member or two for the BPS.

We then moved to Spinner’s Nursery, run by Kevin Hughes (another possible new member?)
in Boldre (40/318976). There is a beautiful garden here and the nursery benefits from
collecting forays abroad by Kevin and his friends. Of particular interest in the garden were
the woodwardias W. unigemmata and W. areolata looking particularly impressive. Preris
wallichiana made a very handsome plant, as did Blechnum nudum. All these plants appeared to
be quite hardy. We were also struck by a Polystichum (P. proliferum?) with a definite trunk.

We were splendidly entertained to tea by Jo and Ashley at Boldre. Amazingly, their
children are still alive after playing on the home-made assault course in the garden. In the
evidently child-free zone behind the house we were pleased to see the Basil’s interesting
and well grown fern collection.

Very many thanks, Jo, for a fascinating and varied day.

Frensham Common, Surrey, and Fred and Sue Rumsey’s Garden, Aldershot,
Hampshire — 21 September Pat Acoc

Thirteen members and one dog met at Frensham Great Pond (41/845406) at this northern
corner of the southern heathlands. People had travelled from as far afield as Peterborough
and Bournemouth, for which we were grateful. Frensham Common, owned by the National
Trust and managed by Waverley Borough Council, is better known for its reptiles and
amphibians (all British species occur here) than its pteridophytes, but we managed to
wheedle them out one at a time until we had quite a good list.

38

Failing to find the tea-shop at the ranger station open, we pooled our resources and
managed tea for all before setting off to circumnavigate the Great Pond. To start with
we thought we were going to find only bracken but we soon found a little stream
flowing out of the Great Pond and our tally of ferns rose to four — site
Dryopteris dilatata, D. filix-mas and — — seinttihai with a few mble-torn

flowing into the Great Pond and this aia even more ferny, with Dirventeris
carthusiana, D. affinis and Polypodium vulgare. A little further along the trail were two
very large clumps of Polypodium x mantoniae separated by a hundred yards. Nearly three
quarters of the way around the woody edges of the lake were many of the ferns
discovered earlier, plus Equisetum fluviatile with a surprisingly high and even numbers
of side branches.

As we approached the ranger station we met one of the rangers, who was very interested in
our finds and we promised him a full list of ferns.

~ ine 5
photo: P.J. Acock

South-East Group at Frensham Common
Tim Brock, Steve Munyard, Peter Clare, Paul Ripley, Karen Munyard, Grace Acock,
Andy Martin, Jill Clare, Jo Basil, Marti Martin, Robin & Jennifer Walls, Ashley Basil

After a packed lunch we set off for Frensham Little Pond. Jill Clare explained to some of us
various points on the management of the heathland between the two ponds; we were trying
to distinguish between the different species of gorse when we realised that we were a long
way behind the rest of the group. It is quite easy to lose one’s sense of direction in this
featureless terrain, and by the time we were back together we realised that we had actually
gone in four different groups in four different directions. With the aid of a compass we
found the best path to the Little Pond, where we added Equisetum arvense to the list and
saw many of the other ferns seen in the morning, including some fine specimens of
Dryopteris carthusiana in a marshy inflow to the pond. At the dam end of the pond we saw
Asplenium ruta-muraria and A. adiantum-nigrum and in the woods behind the dam a few of
us found a good candidate for Dryopteris x deweveri. Wearily we carefully followed th
waymarks back to the ranger station in time for more tea and ice-cream.

39

We now made our way to Fred and Sue Rumsey’s home in Aldershot. In Fred’s street
there is a large colony of Equisetum x litorale in a seep line. We were met by our hosts
for a guided tour of the garden. Needless to say it was packed with fascinating ferns.
Most were European or Macaronesian, with a few interesting ones from further away,
such as a magnificent plant of Polystichum vestitum from New Zealand. The other plants
were all unusual and selected by Fred for their uniqueness. I especially liked the
euphorbias and Bupleurum fruticosum. We were also treated to a browse through Fred’s
library.

We should like to thank Steve and Karen Munyard, who planned and led the day, for all
their hard work, and Fred and Sue for a splendid tea and garden visit that rounded off the
day perfectly.

St Leonard’s Forest, West Sussex, and Ewhurst, Surrey — 12 October
(Leaders: Graham Ackers & Lesley Williams) Peter Clare

Sheepwash Gill. This Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserve comprising a steep, narrow
Wealden stream valley in St Leonard’s Forest, near Horsham, West Sussex, was the first
venue of the day.

Ten members met in Roosthole Forestry Commission car park (51/209298) and,
undaunted by the wet weather, proceeded down the path into the Gill. We made our way
upstream, crossing and re-crossing the meandering stream as we went. Clambering over
numerous fallen trees we were rewarded for our efforts by the sight of some quite
magnificent stands of Blechnum spicant — very large specimens bearing tall fertile
fronds. We also noted several specimens of Oreopteris limbosperma, some of which
were also large. Other ferns we encountered were Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris
dilatata, D. filix-mas and Pteridium aquilinum. Jack Hubert spotted some lily-of-the-
valley, Convallaria majalis, growing in one small area; this species also occurs in other
places in St Leonard’s Forest.

We made our way back to the car park via a higher path flanked by some very large beech
trees.

Architectural Plants, Nuthurst, West Sussex (51/194261). I was particularly keen to visit
this nursery, as it has a reputation for supplying a wide range of plants, including specimen
plants and bamboos. I had also heard about its somewhat unusual wooden buildings. The
nursery is very well laid out and very clean and tidy. The stock is healthy, well labelled and
well cared for. There is a range of pot-grown ferns, mainly ‘evergreen’ because that is what
customers demand, including Asplenium scolopendrium, Blechnum chilense, B. spicant,

P. setiferum, Pteris cretica and Woodwardia radicans. Outside, behind the wonderful

wooden office building, we saw Blechnum chilense, Polystichum munitum and Woodwardia
unigemmata.

The owner, Mr Angus White, once a member of this Society, suggested that we might like
to see some Dicksonia antarctica sporelings, which had appeared on the banks of a deep
ditch under some larger D. antarctica. The youngsters were growing in situ and one was
already forming a trunk. Further investigation of this area revealed hundreds of sporelings
growing further upstream on the vertical sides of the streambank. We also noted Dryopteris
affinis subsp. borreri var, robusta and Athyrium filix-femina.

We managed (just!) to tear ourselves awa

; : y from this marvellous place to adjourn for junch
in the adjacent Black Horse pub (a master. ;

stroke of nursery siting, Angus!).
Our thanks to Angus White for letting us run amok in his stream.

40

Sayers Croft Field Centre, Ewhurst, Surrey (51/089399). We were met by Lesley
Williams, who works at the Centre and was to be our guide for this venue. Sayers Croft
used to house evacuees during the Second World War, and we saw photographs and war
memorabilia in one of the buildings. Lesley also showed us an American crayfish that was
found in one of the ponds on the site. The brute was now lurking in an aquarium, and was
not at all intimidated by us peering in at it.

We moved on to a field of unimproved grassland, recently acquired by the Sayers Croft
Environmental and Educational Trust, and were shown two plants of Oreopteris
limbosperma. We then headed on to explore another site, Coneyhurst Gill, in woodland
also recently acquired by the field centre. Ferns seen included Athyrium filix-femina,

splenium scolopendrium, Blechnum spicant, Dryopteris affinis subsp. borreri and
subsp. borreri var. robusta, D. carthusiana and D. dilatata, many of which were deer-
browsed. Tim Brock pointed out an undulate form of Asplenium scolopendrium and
Steve Munyard found a plumose Athyrium filix-femina. On the way back through the
field centre we saw a large specimen of Dryopteris affinis subsp. affinis growing by one
of the ponds.

Graham and Lesley’s garden, Walliswood, Surrey. We were treated to a wonderful
cream tea and shown around the garden to inspect the fern collection, the aquatics and the
conservatory plants. Later on, Paul Ripley, Howard Matthews and Andrew Leonard showed
slides.

Our thanks to Graham and Lesley for a truly great day.

EAST ANGLIA

Indoor Meeting, Little Thurlow, Suffolk — 27 January Rosemary Stevenson

It was with great pleasure that 13 members and friends once again converged on Little
Thurlow for what has become our traditional mid-winter raising of the spirits by reminders
of past fern hunting successes and whetting of appetites for our planned visits in the warmer
months to come. As always, Mary Hilton welcomed us into her beautiful home with the
blazing log-fire contributing to the festive feel of the occasion.

This year our speaker was a member of our own East Anglian Group. Most of us knew that
Anne Beaufoy had taught in Australia for the majority of her career and that she is, in
addition, an inveterate traveller to places of interest. So it was with keen anticipation that
we settled down to view the slides illustrating her talk entitled “Botanical Wanderings with
a Ferny Flavour’.

Anne’s attention was first drawn to ferns when, as a teenager, she was involved through her
local Natural History Society in Suffolk with a botanical survey of each parish in her area.
Visits to relatives in Devon then provided the ideal location for rapidly expanding her
interest in and knowledge of ferns. Her reference books were the cheap, second-hand
volumes of Victorian fern manuals, which were still readily available at that time. Armed
with these, her explorations led her first to the higher, inland area of Dartmoor where she
discovered the more common ferns as well as Hymenophyllum tunbrigense and H. wilsonii.
The Devon lanes provided another rich source of ferns, which mixed happily on the banks
and walls with wild flowers. On the coast she discovered Asplenium marinu

A. obovatum subsp. billotii as well as Cuscato epithyrium (lesser dodder) and Scilla
autumnalis (autumn squill).

East Anglia, perhaps the driest part of the country, is not a promising place for a fern addict
to live. As a group we know only too well the difficulties experienced in tracking down fern

4]

sites, so could appreciate Anne’s skill in finding and photographing examples. The Broads
were the source of her illustrations of Thelypteris palustris, Dryopteris carthusiana and
D. cristata, which were of particular interest. What East Anglia lacks in ferns it certainly
makes up for with its many interesting wild flowers. Anne possesses an extremely wide
knowledge of botany, and indeed of all natural history, so we benefited throughout her talk
when fern slides were interspersed with illustrations of other indigenous plants.

Anne showed us Osmunda regalis at Studland, Adiantum capillus-veneris at Salisbury and
Asplenium ceterach in the Forest of Dean. Her whistle-stop British tour continued through
Yorkshire, the wet Lake District, which naturally produced a feast of ferns and the Brecon
Beacons in Wales where Pilularia globulifera, with the ‘pills’ clearly illustrated, was of
particular interest. A few of the treasures found in Scotland were Polystichum lonchitis,
Asplenium septentrionale on Arthur’s Seat outside Edinburgh and, at Cove Bay on the east
coast, Cystopteris dickieana. As a warning that fern hunting is not always the gentle
occupation it might seem, Anne recalled the time when in the wilds of Scotland she was
awoken from a peaceful sleep in her camper-van by a strange rocking of the vehicle. Her
conviction that it must be a minor earthquake was dispelled when, upon looking outside,
she discovered that the van was being vigorously licked by a huge Aberdeen Angus bull
and his herd of ‘wives’!

During her years in Australia Anne travelled to many different areas of the country and also
visited New Zealand, so the final part of her talk illustrated some of her botanical finds in
these two countries. From Australia’s coastal and rain-forest areas we saw Dicksonia
antarctica and Lindsaea microphylla, as well as filmy ferns growing on Antarctic beech. In
Tasmania Anne found Azolla filiculoides and A. pinnata and she had captured their different
forms well on film. In the drier, mountainous areas of Australia are found many of the
plants that we have come to associate with that country: Callistemon, Eucalyptus, Acacia
and Banksia. Ferns found included Todea barbara and gleichenias. Anne’s photographic
tour took us to a range of Australian habitats, from the coastal marshes via inland deserts to
higher and alpine areas, each with its kaleidoscope of wonderful plants, some familiar but
many not.

The areas of New Zealand’s North Island that Anne visited presented quite a harsh
environment with volcanic influence affecting the vegetation. She did, however, find filmy
ferns on Mt Egmont. South Island was much more to her taste. Anne was very taken with
the beautiful Lakes Matheson and Pukaki in the Mt Cook area. We were shown examples of
many plants that attracted her notice, in particular the vegetable sheep, Raoulia eximia,
which certainly looked very life-like. Ferns found on her travels included Blechnum penna-
marina, Polystichum vestitum, Asplenium flaccidum and Blechnum discolor, and finally her
favourite fern of all time, Leptopteris superba. We gathered that anyone able to supply her
with a specimen or the means to grow one would end her forty-year quest to become the
proud owner of this beautiful fern.

Anne was warmly thanked and congratulated on her excellent talk, which had kept us all
enthralled and our afternoon finished in traditional East Anglian style with a splendid tea
provided by Mary, our hostess, and all the members.

Barton Broad, Norfolk, and Gill and Bryan Smith’s Garden, Oulton Broad,
Suffolk — 26 May Barrie Seweer™
Ona blustery day of sunshine and showers 13 members and friends gathered at Barton Turf
Staithe (63/356225), an inlet and landin
the Warden, Geor.
fenland boats. We embarked
white-topped waves.

42

We made several landings, the Warden often having to hack a path from the edge of the
water through the dense growths of reed. We trod gingerly; the raft of reeds vibrating
below our feet was treacherously shallow in places. (The warden demonstrated this by
taking a wand of willow, which he pushed vertically through the reed roots at our feet
until it disappeared; the willow wand was well over two metres in length.) We soon
found a profusion of ferns, The/ypteris palustris being so prevalent that it was difficult to
avoid treading on the fronds. We found good stands of Dryopteris cristata and Osmunda
regalis and, in slightly less wet areas, Dryopteris carthusiana, D. dilatata and
occasionally specimens of Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris filix-mas and Pteridium
aquilinum.

We returned to the Staithe and terra firma, removed waterlogged boots and enjoyed a sunny
picnic by the water’s edge

Our drive to Oulton Broad was rewarded by a visit to Gill and Bryan Smith’s delightful
garden, which was positively soggy in comparison with the desert-like conditions that
prevail in this area later in the season. As a result of a wet spring the ferns were looking at
their best and Bryan is experimenting with new plantings, in particular a mounded area
backed by woodland. The mound is bisected by a deep path, so that the fern fronds may be
viewed from below, particularly effective as a means of admiring the silhouettes of the
fronds of a fine specimen of Dicksonia antarctica. Many tender ferns are well established
on the sloping sections of the mound and, amazingly, Bryan erects a protective structure
over the whole area in winter.

Various ferns are well established around a small pool with a floating colony of Azolla
filiculoides and bordered with a spreading area of Blechnum penna-marina ‘Cristata’. In a
sheltered courtyard beside the house several well grown ferns flourish, in particular a fine
specimen of Polystichum setiferum ‘Plumosum Bevis’. Gill takes a very full part in
maintaining their large garden, which has vast areas of grass kept in splendid condition, and
a vegetable patch that is her particular delight.

We are much indebted to Gill and Bryan for their kind hospitality, and particularly to Gill
for again demonstrating her superb catering abilities.

Nymans Woods and Standen, West Sussex — 29 June Gill Smith

For our visit to the heart of Sussex we invited the South-East Regional Group to join us,
giving a total of 21 members in all, on what proved to be a hot, sunny day. Many of the
East Anglian Group had decided that an overnight stay was justified to enable them to be
at the meeting point in National Trust-owned Nymans Woods (51/264297) by 10.30a.m.
Our guide, James Masters, recently a gardener and woodsman for the Nymans Estate,
knew the whereabouts of many different ferns in the woods but said he would be
interested to know how many varieties we should find. (Subsequently the full list was
sent to him.

We parked our cars in a woodland clearing near a deserted cottage previously inhabited
by woodsmen and their families. We made our way into the woods passing Equisetum
arvense, heath, spotted and common orchids, and Polypodium interjectum growing on
tree-trunks. The mixed plantings of trees sheltered good specimens of Dryopteris filix-
mas, D. dilatata and Pteridium aquilinum. We continued along woodland paths and
found a wide selection of ferns including Polystichum setiferum, Drvopteris affinis
subsp. borreri, D. carthusiana and Athyrium filix-femina. We soon found also Blechnum
spicant, Oreopteris limbosperma, and to our great delight, Drvopteris aemula, specimens
of which grew on the banks of a dried-up stream and in a fairly exposed position beside
the main path.

We next found ourselves at a large pond fed by the River Ouse. This was a hammer pond,
which had been constructed to power the bellows and furnaces of the now defunct iron
works nearby. We walked along a conifer avenue lined with spruce and Californian
redwoods. Alongside the avenue was a Wellingtonia, which was the tallest tree in Sussex
until the mid-1990s when it lost its top to lightening. The scenery changed yet again with
the appearance of several massive grey sandstone outcrops, one of which is called Pook’s
Church or Pulpit Rock, which is sheltered by trees and supports a colony of
Hymenophyllum tunbrigense. (This site was listed in the Rev. F.H. Arnold’s Flora of
Sussex, 1907.) The next area contained pollarded sweet chestnuts, which were grown
specifically for furniture manufacture. The path then took us to a bridge over a small
waterway that was lined with very large specimens of Osmunda regalis, then up a steep
bank on which grew Asplenium scolopendrium. Back at the car park we ate our packed
lunches seated on sawn logs under the shelter of an old Sussex barn.

photo: B.R. Stevenson

Combined East Anglian and South-East Regional Groups’ visit to Nymans Woods

Geoffrey Winder, Marti Martin, Tim Pyner, Albert Carter, Peter Clare, James Masters,
Doreen C arter, Marie Winder, Paul Ripley, Andrew Leonard, Graham Ackers (back),
Jane Collins (middle), Jack Hubert (front), Bryan Smith, Patrick Acock, Gill Smith,
ndy Martin, Karen Munyard, Grace Acock, Rosemary Stevenson, Steve Munyard

After lunch we drove the small distance to Standen (51/389356), a house and garden owned
by the National Trust. The house is a fine example of the 19th-century Arts and Crafts
Movement and is set above a steep, sloping garden, commanding splendid views across the
Sussex Weald. James Masters, who last autumn became Gardener-in-Charge at Standen,

gave us a short history of the buildings and we then set off to discover the hidden delights
of the garden.

As we walked across a bordered lawn below the house, the first ferns spotted were two
Dicksonia antarctica growing either side of a summer-house. Fairly small but trunked
specimens, having been planted two or three years earlier, they had obviously survive
winters without any special attention. Also in these borders were Matteuccia struthiopteris
cast ul api onal rita ium filix-femina, thriving in the seepage of moisture from the
pyag 7 ps wilder area of the garden were found Dryopteris filix-mas and

ne, 1 damp ground, an enormous stand of Osmunda regalis that was releasing

44

clouds of fresh spores. After wandering across lawns and beside colourful borders we noted
such ferns as Onoclea sensibilis, Polystichum tsus-simense and P. setiferum, while
Asplenium trichomanes and A. adiantum-nigrum occurred in the stonework of the terrace
below the house.

We next made our way to higher ground behind the house and, crossing a wooden bridge,
looked down into a Victorian fern grotto. A cliff below our feet ran down to the grotto
floor, the constantly trickling water supporting a colony of Osmunda regalis that grew in
profusion, the mature plants surrounded by a green haze of sporelings. We descended by a
steep path to the floor of the grotto, where James explained that this area is known as the
Quarry Garden; stone was excavated from here and used in building the house. The steep,
rocky walls of the quarry have been colonised by ferns in profusion, with tree cover above
so that sunlight is minimal, and a waterfall and pool provide the humidity that ferns love.
We noted specimens of Asplenium scolopendrium, Blechnum spicant, Phegopteris
connectilis, Gymnocarpium dryopteris and masses of Athyrium filix-femina cultivars that
had obviously crossed and back-crossed for the past hundred years.

James called the Quarry Garden a magic place, as indeed it is, and as we left the ferny
coolness and emerged into the heat of the sunlit terrace in front of the house, we agreed that
this was a fitting end to a most enjoyable, fern-filled day.

Danbury Ridge and Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex — 8 September Anne Beaufoy

Nineteen members of the East Anglian Group had the pleasure of the leadership of Essex
Wildlife Trust’s Geoff Ford when we visited the undulating woodland ridge at Danbury
(52/1787057).

Early rain had laid the dust under the mixed canopy, which comprised mainly mature trees,
hornbeam being prominent. Other areas are managed as coppice (with the help of deer
protection fencing) and there are some open heathland patches. This variety of underlying
soil types and drainage (gravel, boulder clay and peat) allows a wide range of fauna and
flora to flourish and provides good conditions for several species of fern.

Very fine clumps of the broad buckler, Dryopteris dilatata, were seen in a boggy area, with
narrow buckler, D. carthusiana, nearby, and a vigorous probable hybrid, four feet high,
growing next to them. Another wet area gave us the less widespread marsh fern, Thelypteris
palustris, while the lady fern, Athyrium filix-femina, graced many a damp ditch-side,
although those in nearby drier areas had suffered in the recent dry spell. Dryopteris affinis
subsp. borreri coped better with the more freely drained areas. Our greatest delight,
perhaps, was a splendid patch of hard fern, Blechnum spicant, with some three hundred
specimens growing on a sloping area of damp clay. Their fertile fronds, though, were few in
number — they had proved too tempting for the deer and rabbits. Many other items of
interest included lichen patches, lily-of-the-valley leaves and dormouse boxes fixed to trees.

After a picnic lunch we drove to Tim Pyner’s house on the outskirts of Southend. His small
and very sheltered garden is chock-a-block with exotic plants of a hardy nature, and he has
listed 130 fern species in the raised peat beds and containers. Only a few of these are British
species, and of the foreigners a mere handful have yet to be checked for present-day winter
hardiness.

In addition to Tim’s hospitality, including welcome refreshments, we also enjoyed a talk by
John Woodhams, formerly Assistant Curator of Tropical Collections at Kew. His slide
presentation ‘For the Love of Ferns’ gave us a fascinating insight into the worldwide
collecting of fern species for the Botanic Gardens, taking us to a far-ranging selection of
sites and detailing the close study of the ferns’ local habitats and growth characteristics that
gave him and his colleagues clues to their requirements when confronted with the

45

difficulties of cultivating and propagating the plants. John concluded his talk with the story
of the restoration of a private late-Victorian fern-house near Kew.

We thank everyone involved in the day’s activities for their kind contributions to our
knowledge and enjoyment.

End of Season Meeting, Barrow, Suffolk — 3 November Barrie Stevenson

At the time of writing members have a further meeting to look forward to, our annual visit
to Marie and Geoffrey Winder where we shall reminisce after a most enjoyable season,
aiding our memories with a collection of photographs and slides. There will be an
exhibition of late-Victorian nature-printed and colour illustrated fern books, a bring-and-

uy fern sale and finally, a superb spread of refreshments for which this meeting is
particularly well known.

NORTH-WEST

Brantwood, Coniston, Cumbria — 8 June Peter Hindle

In somewhat inclement weather 22 members assembled for a return visit to the home of the
Linton collection and to explore other areas of the Brantwood estate (34/313958). Before
setting out we made a presentation to Marjorie Garstang in thanks for founding the North-
West Group and organising its meetings over the last seven years.

Eric Baker had provided us with an excellent description of Brantwood (BPS Bulletin 4(6):
270, 1995) and members were able to use this as a general guide. He had pointed out the need
for accurate naming and labelling of the ferns and it was good to see that that was being done,
albeit slowly, as agreement over identification is not always easy to obtain. Dryopteris
carthusiana is now well established in several spots, and on the high level path that runs
from the main ‘Linton Garden’ to the lake we were able to reach general agreement on the
presence of the following Dryopteris affinis taxa: subsp. borreri var. robusta, subsp. affinis
var. paleaceolobata and also a possible D. x complexa nothosubsp. complexa.

The whole collection has matured wonderfully during the years since our last group visit as
a result of the care lavished on it by Sally Beamish and her team. Many challenges remain,

particularly that voiced by Eric in his plea for more D. affinis specialists to lend a hand w ith
identification.

Our special thanks go to Sally Beamish for showing us around and to other workers at
Brantwood for maintaining such high standards.

One note for intending visitors: if it is both drizzling and muggy, take plenty of insect
repellent. Later in the day we saw workers in the garden wearing bee-keepers’ veils!

Arnside, Cumbria — 29 June Frances Haigh

From Arnside P romenade (34/454786) 19 members checked out the Adiantum capillus-
veneris on the limestone cliff a few minutes walk away. Other plants behind nearby bushes
were also inspected. All were flourishing.

Then we moved to private-land to conduct a survey that had been requested by the owner.
This is one of the few Cumbrian sites of Thelypteris palustris, comprising a dense and
thriving colony that was accessed with difficulty because of high water levels. Apart from a
€P peaty area with a pond, the site was limestone grassland, mostly grazed by cattle.
a the pond Wie Equisetum arvense and E. palustre, with Athyrium filix-femina undet
ees. Dryopteris filix-mas and D. dilatata were present but we didn’t find any

46

D. carthusiana despite the suitable habitat. Asplenium scolopendrium, A. ruta-muraria and
A. trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens grew, mostly around the boundaries, with a few fronds
of Polypodium interjectum on a fallen tree. There were also a few plants of Polystichum
aculeatum and one P. setiferum; much interest centred on two shuttlecocks that did not have
clear-cut identities. They seemed to be like a hard form of the soft shield fern.

After a picnic lunch we parked at 34/473804 to walk along a disused railway running
between steep banks, much of which is exposed limestone. In the damp, shady conditions
were prolific displays of Asplenium scolopendrium, some with forked fronds, and also
A. trichomanes_ subsp. quadrivalens, Polypodium interjectum, Dryopteris _filix-mas,
Polystichum aculeatum and Equisetum arvense. The only new find was Cystopteris fragilis.

After a short return walk along the estuary there was tea at the leader’s house; she was
grateful for advice on her fern growing.

Many thanks to the owner of the Thelypteris palustris site, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Whitbeck, Muncaster and Ravenglass, Cumbria — 17 August Jack Garstang

photo: F. Haigh

North-West Group at Muncaster
Brian Haskins, Cynthia Kelsall, Alec Tate, Joan Hindle, Geoff & Julia Wilkin
Roy & Denise Copson, Harvey Shepherd, Ann Ha skins, Peter Hindle, Melville a
Michael Hayward, Jack & Marjorie Garstang, Thelma Tate

Nineteen members met in the lay-by at Whitbeck church (34/118839). A rough track runs
north through the township along the western flank of Black Combe at about 200 feet above
sea level and about one mile inland. This is an area of high insolation with daily on-shore
anabatic salt-laden winds, making it a favourite place for ferns and parascenders alike. A
quarter of a mile along the track the retaining w all holds several colonies (discovered by the
writer in January 2001) of Asplenium obovatum subsp. lanceolatum. We also found
Dryopteris filix-mas, D. affinis subsp. cambrensis, Athyrium filix-femina, Polystichum

47

setiferum ‘Divisilobum’, Osmunda regalis, Asplenium scolopendrium and Pteridium
aquilinum. A further 200 yards found the party examining the over-shot water wheel at
Whitbeck Mill, and the new developments taking place provoked a great deal of interest.

A ten-mile drive took us to Muncaster Castle (34/104965), whose gardens are noted for
their rhododendrons, pines, the Himalayan Garden, the World Owl Centre and royal ferns.
We had permission for a private viewing of The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland nature-
printed by H. Bradbury, by Moore & Lindley 1855 (Imperial folio, 51 plates with
corresponding text), the first practical illustration of nature-printing, life-size and coloured.
Following a long study and discussion, Cynthia Kelsall moved a vote of thanks to the
owner, Mr Pennington, for granting access to this magnificent and rare tome. After lunch in
the café, the garden and woodland walks provided Polystichum aculeatum, P. setiferum,
Dryopteris affinis subsp. cambrensis, D. filix-mas, D. dilatata, Osmunda regalis, Blechnum
spicant, and B. penna-marina in abundance around the remains of the old raised garden. It
was rumoured that Muncaster once had a penna-marina lawn! The osmundas, we were told,
were planted about 1910. Finally, a trio of ferns that we first saw three years ago as single
immature fronds have developed and could be identified as Polystichum munitum. Now
where did they come from and in such a rough, overgrown location?

A short drive down the hill found us in Ravenglass (34/0896), once the Roman port and fort
of Glannaventa, which is situated at a unique meeting of the Rivers Esk, Mite and Irt. A
walk along the beach to the boundary of Glannaventa brought us to the largest display of
wild growing Polystichum setiferum to be seen in this area, some with fronds four feet long,
and sharing the site with numerous undulate Asplenium scolopendrium. The walk back to
the village via the Roman bathhouse (still standing), showed us the usual mixture of
woodland ferns with the stone walls holding Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, A. ruta-muraria
and A. ceterach.

The meeting was favoured with beautiful weather, good facilities, free parking and plenty
of cafés, not to mention magnificent scenery.

AGM, Holehird, Windermere, Cumbria — 12 October Peter Hindle

The Annual General Meeting was once again held in the Garden Room at Holehird
(35/410009). Nearly 40 members attended.

In the morning we had an illustrated talk on ‘Varieties of Polystichum’ by Robert Sykes and
in the afternoon Alastair Wardlaw spoke to us about ‘A Garden of British Ferns’, with
particular reference to those needing special protection in the Glasgow area.

During the lunch break we were able to walk in the garden and view the National Collection
of Polystichum held at Holehird and looked after by Cynthia Kelsall.

As usual, the fern and plant stall proved a great and remunerative attraction. Special thanks
here to Alec Tate, who has run the stall for so many years with good humour and some hard
bargaining.

Marjorie Garstang brought along her gift (see Brantwood report) for all to admire, and Jack
Garstang was made a suitable award for his assistance to her.
The AGM was brief and business-like, with many Suggestions made for next year’s programme.

The “Jacob’s Join’ tea that ended the proceedings was up to its usual high standard.

48

CORNWALL Ian Bennallick

Botanical Cornwall Group — Introduction

This informal group was formed following a meeting in February 2002 of 16 local
botanists, and is open to all those who enjoy the identification, recording and conservation
of Cornwall’s (and Isles of Scilly’s) flora, including ferns.

Eleven successful field meetings in various parts of the county have been held at the time of
writing, with five more planned for the remainder of 2002. Some meetings were organised
specifically to relocate and record particular species, and others as more habitat-based
meetings and for tetrad recording. They have proved an excellent way of adding to our
knowledge of the distribution of ferns in Cornwall. New locations were found for some
species and rarer ones relocated. One of the most rewarding aspects of the field meetings
has been that the group has welcomed botanists from other parts of the country.

The following is a brief account of each meeting held.

Indoor meeting, Cornwall Wildlife Trust — 20 February

This indoor meeting concentrated on the distinctive flora of the Lizard peninsula and was
intended as an introduction to four of the field meetings planned. Rose Murphy expertly
demonstrated, with the aid of many wonderful distribution maps and her knowledge and
experience, the reasons why the Lizard is so special for certain species.

Kynance Cove and Lower Predannack — 20 & 23 March
The aim of the early meetings in March was to look for, amongst other species, /soetes
histrix. On the 20th March in high winds and sea drizzle, the group visited the area around
Lower Predannack Wollas (10/6715), as well as the area around Kynance (10/6813), to
ascertain the chances of seeing the rarities that
Rose had spoken of in her talk in February. In
more clement weather the sites were visited
again on the 23rd March and on this occasion
populations of /. histrix were found in very
short coastal turf around the serpentine rocky
outcrops at Holestrow (10/6912) and Rill
Ledges (10/6713). Plants seen growing around
the base of a rocky outcrop at Holestrow were
initially very difficult to see, as similar looking
rosettes of Scilla verna (spring squill) and
Armeria maritima (thrift) added to the
confusion. Lady Rosemary FitzGerald, so
f. familiar with the Lizard rarities, had remarked
a in the past of the ‘Catherine-wheel’ look of the
perio cca plants and with this particularly handy field
Isoetes histrix at Holestrow, Lizard, hint plants were easier to distinguish,
Cornwall, 23 March 2002 especially where they were starting to turn

yellow in the drying wind.

A visit to Lawarnick Pit (10/681134), a natural pit formed after the collapse of a sea cave,
saw the group admiring some very distinct, rather elongated forms of Asplenium adiantum-
nigrum growing in the spaces between the Serpentine boulders. A small plant of
A. marinum in a crevice in the cliff-face was also seen, as well as Polypodium interjectum,
Asplenium scolopendrium and the ubiquitous Preridium aquilinum.

49

Cotehele and Greystone Wood — 18 April

In April the group met at the eastern end of the county, beside the river Tamar at Cotehele
(20/4268) and Greystone Wood (20/3679). The aim of the meeting was to see Viola
reichenbachiana (early dog-violet), a species widespread in the rest of the British Isles but
very rare in Cornwall where it is restricted to the extreme east of the county. Several ferns
were seen. The small wooded valleys at Cotehele, an area owned by the National Trust,
were luxuriant with Dryopteris dilatata, Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris filix-mas and
D. affinis agg., and D. aemula was seen along a woodland track. Asp/enium ruta-muraria,
A. trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens and A. adiantum-nigrum were found on a stone bridge
and Asplenium ceterach, a fern of restricted occurrence in Cornwall, along a particularly
interesting old wall near Cotehele Quay. However, the most interesting species seen was
Adiantum capillus-veneris, growing on the inside walls of a limekiln, also at Cotehele
Quay, a locality long known to Cornish botanists.

Greystone Wood delighted members from the west of Cornwall. This woodland, typical of
the larger valleys in the Tamar catchment in East Cornwall and West Devon, had a mixture
of species not usually seen in West Cornwall, including Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp.
montanum (yellow archangel) and Ranunculus auricomus (goldilocks buttercup). Although
no ferns of note were seen, Polystichum aculeatum, which had been seen in a hedge nearby,
was sought on the steep, shaded banks in the woodland, but unfortunately was not found.
P. aculeatum is very rare in Cormmwall and seems to be restricted to the Tamar catchment,
where it can be found in cooler northerly aspects of wooded areas, especially at the base of
river cliffs. It is possibly more widespread, but access to areas beside the river is
problematical so co-operation will be needed for future surveying.

Helman Tor and Breney Common — 28 April

This meeting was held following a request for a field trip to look at bryophytes. Mark Pool, the
British Bryological Society recorder for Devon led the day. The area chosen was Helman Tor
(20/0661), an elevated granite tor on the edge of the St Austell granite near Bodmin, and
Breney Common (20/0561), a Cornwall Wildlife Trust-owned reserve of heath, bog, pools and
scrub in the small valley below. This area was historically used for tin streaming and gravel
extraction, and the semi-natural habitats formed since the cessation of extraction have become
rich in bryophytes, several of which were pointed out. The area is also rich in ferns and species
of note included small patches of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense in crevices of the granite tor,
with Dryopteris dilatata and a few plants of D. aemula around the base of the boulders.

In the wetter areas of Breney Common Osmunda regalis was especially abundant with
some plants several feet tall and wide. Pilularia globulifera was found in a small pond and
along a small stream, and Dryopteris carthusiana was seen in the more open areas. One of
the ponds on the reserve had Equisetum fluviatile, E. palustre and E. x litorale, with
E. arvense on drier parts of the bank. Asplenium obovatum subsp. lanceolatum is foun in
some of the old granite Cornish hedges in the Helman Tor area and although IJ. Bennallick
saw the species in a hedge nearby in 2001, no plants could be seen in 2002.

Kynance, Carn Caerthillian and near Lizard Point — 22 & 25 May

The two meetings held at Kynance (10/6813), Carn Caerthillian (10/6912) and near Lizard
Point (10/7011) were the final two of the four meetings planned during the indoor meeting
in February. These meetings were timed so as to catch in flower some of the rare Trifolium
Fs (clovers) that occur on the Lizard. Ferns seen included Asplenium marinwm and
ata histrix, the latter still looking very fresh at Holestrow. It had been remarked by
ce hee botanists that spring had been late by about two weeks and that the desiccating
rr fretieacer a. the low, flat Lizard peninsula had yet to take effect. Interestingly,
park at K vance peek mee ore watt apparent on the coast path near the National Trust car
y ng a visit with the Somerset Rare Plant Group in June in 2001.

50

Penlee Point and Polhawn Cove — 22 June

No ferns of note were seen on the visits to Penlee Point (20/4448) or Polhawn Cove
(20/4249) at the extreme south-eastern part of Cornwall.

Bude Canal and Maer Lake — 9 July

No ferns of note were seen in the area around the Bude Canal, from Hele Bridge (21/2103)
to Bude Marshes (21/2006) and Maer Lake (21/2007) in the north-eastern part of Cornwall.
However, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, A. ruta-muraria, A. trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens
and Polystichum setiferum were new to the tetrad (21/20 C) and Azolla filiculoides proved
to be abundant in a small pond on the Bude Marshes.

Castick Wood and Rocky Wood — 13 July

The aim of this meeting was to explore the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor, near North Hill
(20/2776), specifically targeting habitat thought suitable for Phegopteris connectilis and
Gymnocarpium dryopteris. Both of these ferns had been recorded on Bodmin Moor in the 1930s
but had not been seen since. The woodlands looked at (with kind permission from the owners,
the Latham family of Trebartha) were Castick Wood (20/2577) along the Withey Brook and
Rocky Wood (20/2675). These were chosen in preference to other parts of a rather over-grazed
Bodmin Moor for their cool, north-easterly aspect, high humidity and the presence of partly
undisturbed woodland. Unfortunately the search was unsuccessful, but similar habitats on
Bodmin Moor may well prove more fruitful. However, the day was not without interest, as
large populations of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense were seen on the sides of granite boulders,
around the boles of trees and in damp crevices in both woodlands, the plants at Rocky Wood
being especially luxuriant. Oreopteris limbosperma and Osmunda regalis were also recorded.

Rospannel Farm and Porthgwarra — 10 August

A visit was made to Rospannel Farm (10/3926) to see some wet valley moorland, typical of
the southern part of West Penwith in the extreme west of Cornwall, and to record the
species around a wildlife pond created in the 1990s by the farmer, Bernard Hocking.
Asplenium obovatum subsp. lanceolatum in an overgrown granite Cornish hedge was
pointed out to the group whilst walking to the valley, and several large plants of Osmunda
regalis were seen on the moor itself. Azolla filiculoides was recorded from a small part of
the wildlife pond and it was mentioned that this could become a problem in the future.

The afternoon was spent at Porthgwarra, an area very close to Gwennap Head, the most
south-westerly point in Cornwall. Asplenium obovatum subsp. lanceolatum was seen on a
natural rocky outcrop along the coast at Carn Scathe (10/3721), and A. marinum was found
in several crevices of Hella Point (10/3721).

For arranging access to sites visited so far this year, thanks are due to Tim Dingle and
Graham Sutton for Bude and Maer Lake, Brian Stringer and the Latham family for the
North Hill woodlands, Joe Costley of the National Trust for Cotehele, Bernard Hocking for
Rospannel Farm and Tilhill Forestry for Greystone Wood. Special thanks must go to Rose
Murphy, whose dedication in recording the Cornish flora is an inspiration to the other
members of the Botanical Cornwall Group.

Full details of the field meetings will appear on the Botanical Cornwall Group Website —
Www. floracam.co.uk/beg and will be published in issue 12 of Botanical Cornwall (to be
published early in 2003). During each field meeting full species lists are made, and these, as
well as copies of meetings reports, are available from Ian Bennallick, the Botanical Comwall
Group co-ordinator. All records made on meetings are held on ERICA, the local database in
Cornwall for botanical records, and these records will also be held at the Environmental
Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which is based at Allet near Truro.

51

SCOTLAND
Mugdock Country Park, Glasgow — 13 April Frank McGavigan

Deprived of all things ferny over the wettest winter on record, five die-hard enthusiasts met
on a beautifully sunny morning at the Mugdock Country Park (26/547780), just north of
Glasgow, for the first Scottish gathering of the year. The park contains the ruin of what
must have been a fine castellated stone mansion, an artificial loch, several acres of untidy
woodland and many neglected stone walls or dykes — a perfect habitat for spotting ferns.
We were not disappointed.

Almost immediately we came across Asplenium scolopendrium, A. trichomanes subsp.
quadrivalens and Dryopteris dilatata in what appeared to be an unmortared wall. There
must have been some old lime mortar to satisfy the two aspleniums, although the calcifuge
D. dilatata, which is abundant elsewhere on the estate, seemed unaffected.

Passing scattered clumps of Blechnum spicant and dormant plants of Dryopteris affinis
subsp. borreri, D. filix-mas and the ubiquitous Pteridium aquilinum, we came out of the
woodland to study healthy colonies of Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens and
A. ruta-muraria on a south-facing mortared wall; the latter species was more extensive, but
both occupied quite distinct and separate parts of the wall. We pondered, without coming to
any definitive conclusions, on the relative requirements of heat, moisture and lime of these
two species and on how long it takes for a colony to become established. The unmortared
‘dry stane dyke’ on the other side of the road had no ferns.

The massive sycamores lining the drive up to the ruined castle were festooned with
epiphytic polypodies. Were they Polypodium vulgare or P. interjectum? Difficult to tell,
even for Heather McHaffie, so samples were taken for microscopic examination. [All
confirmed as P. interjectum. H. McH.] But high up in the trees they are safe from the
‘improving’ hand of man, unlike ferns on the wall surrounding the old formal garden where
the Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens had been ripped out in their dozens to
prepare the way for elaborate repointing and restoration. The plants of A. trichomanes that
remained were curious in that the pinnae seemed more elongated in relation to their width
than is normal, and the pinnules were distinctly overlapping.

Alastair Wardlaw regaled us, perhaps because his arm was in a sling, with the tale of a
young child who had an arm bitten off by a leopard in the zoo that used to surround the
castle. The cages had been cut into the adjacent cliff, but all that remained of interest to us
were a few polypodies ~ definitely P. vulgare this time. We walked round the loch and
spotted a solitary plant of Asplenium adiantum-nigrum in a cliff-face, surviving on some
calcareous seepage in an otherwise acidic terrain. We caught sight of a few roe deer, quite
close and clearly unafraid of either humans or the ghosts of leopards.

After lunch and a quick visit to the Park’s garden centre, where we were surprised to find
on sale at exorbitant prices some of the fern species we had just seen, we drove to two
nearby roadside sites. At the first (26/563787) was a healthy colony of vigorous and robust
Asplenium ceterach; this is quite a rare fern this far north and it was quite a surprise to see it
flourishing so well. Nearer the city at a busy road junction (26/556739) several plants of
S. stopteris fragilis were pushing out from between the stone blocks of a railway bridge,

sharing the wall with an extensive covering of Conocephalum conicum, the scented
liverwort.

=e ati was spent at Alastair Wardlaw’s home. His garden is a pteridological
if st —— many species, both native and foreign, to enumerate here. Fortified by a
informal workshas ce wae’ by Alastair’s charming wife, Jackie, we held #
orkshop to discuss what key features of dicksonias could be scientifically

52

described to distinguish with certainty between those commonly grown in Britain, in
particular D. antarctica and D. fibrosa. Descriptions in current guides are laughably woolly
and vague. With sample fronds cut from Alastair’s collection we compared colour (but how
do you describe colour?), feel (but hardness is impossible to measure), the angle that the
pinnae meet the stipe (this looks promising), the relative width and length of the pinnae and
pinnules (needs a controlled study), and other features. Side by side the two ferns are
clearly distinct, but the layman would struggle to determine which is which from published
keys and descriptions.

With the warmth disappearing from the sun we brought a very satisfying day to an end,
carrying off to our gardens the usual exchanged coveted ferns.

The Sesquicentenary of Athyrium distentifolium var. flexile in Glen Prosen,
Angus — 27 July Heather McHaffie

A significant anniversary occurred in July this year that unaccountably failed to make the
headlines. I can now reveal that it was 150 years since Athyrium distentifolium var. flexile
was first found at the type locality in Glen Prosen. We could not visit on the exact date,
Wednesday 24th July, but on the following Saturday eight of us headed up Glen Prosen
(37/237736). There were three BPS members, three people from Kindrogan Field Centre
and two local botanists. The sun failed to shine on us but at least it didn’t rain.

We arrived at a small group of rocks near the head of the valley and satisfied ourselves that
the fern had not been eaten by the local sheep, deer or mountain hares. The large clumps of
A. distentifolium in the middle of the rocks had not been grazed yet. After the wet summer
the ferns were mostly better than I have ever seen them. One other clump of
A. distentifolium var. flexile further down the hill was barely visible and I only found it
because I knew the location so well. It looked as though the fronds had been frosted and
failed to recover. However, Frank Katzer found a better new clump further up the hillside,
which I had never found despite repeated searching.

We had lunch and then the cake was produced. The Dundee cake (City of Discovery) was
made by Frank McGavigan and had 1852 — 2002 in green icing with a tasteful
representation of a flexile frond across the middle. We sang Happy Birthday (although I am
not sure that everyone joined in), cut the cake, ate the lot and started to wend our way back
down via several interesting-looking outcrops. We saw Dryopteris oreades on inaccessible
ledges, which a few intrepid people visited. A block scree, with boulders at least ten metres
across had a family of foxes living among the D. expansa. There was abundant
Gymnocarpium dryopteris and occasional Cystopteris fragilis among the rocks. There were
Equisetum sylvaticum, E. palustre, E. fluviatile and E. arvense. A population of E. pratense
was barely visible among tall Ca//una that had grown since | previously visited. Presumably
once the heather is burnt the horsetail will be more vigorous again. In a calcareous area we
saw some ‘bonsai’ Polystichum lonchitis only a few centimetres tall that had been heavily
grazed. There was a little Lycopodium clavatum also, with Huperzia selago and Selaginella
selaginoides. Some people saw Botrychium lunaria (one plant) on the way up but we
couldn’t find it again. Oreopteris limbosperma grew by the streams and Blechnum spicant
was very common. Frank McGavigan and Frank Katzer boosted the total by spotting
Osmunda regalis, Asplenium trichomanes and A. ceterach in gardens at Glamis, but perhaps

that’s cheating.

Visit to Cystopteris dickieana, Aberdeen — 3 August Frank McGavigan
Having checked the tides (but unfortunately not the weather forecast) Heather McHaffie
had organised a trip to view Cystopteris dickieana in its type locality in a sea cave just
south of Aberdeen.

53

But firstly, even further south, a few of us were guided by Les Tucker, who seems to know
every site of botanical interest around the city of Dundee, to a location just north of
Glendoick, near Perth, where Asplenium ceterach grows naturally in rock (37/202241).
Even in Scotland, where it is uncommon, we are all used to seeing A. ceterach growing in
the lime mortar of old walls (and incidentally there is a huge colony in the village of Glamis
in Angus) but none of us had seen the rustyback in its natural habitat before, except perhaps
on holiday on the Mediterranean coast. There was no doubt that this was a natural site,
rather than man-made by some errant gardener. The nearest habitation is some distance
away and the site is difficult to access, up a steep and very slippery slope, made more
treacherous by this year’s atrocious summer, which showed no signs of improving during
our visit. There were several clumps, about a dozen in all, scattered around the outcrop of
voleanic rock along with plants of A. adiantum-nigrum, also often seen on walls. In
addition, our fern sleuth, Frank Katzer, spotted Polystichum aculeatum after the rest of us
had walked over it.

Then on to Aberdeen (Frank is as sharp at spotting speed cameras as he is at finding
ferns), where we met up with Anne-Marie and Chris Smout and Jackie and Alastair
Wardlaw. After clambering over the wet and precarious shore boulders at Cove (by this
time the rain had got even heavier) we were rewarded with the sight of the enormous sea
cave itself, populated by three fern species — Asplenium marinum (in great profusion and
of robust size), Athyrium filix-femina (strange to find lady fern there), and of course
Cystopteris dickieana, also in healthy profusion although most plants are on an
inaccessible ledge.

Heather had, in her usual efficient manner, provided us all with copies of Peter Marren’s
excellent article on the history of Dickie’s fern (Preridologist 1(1): 27-32. 1984). From this
we learnt that the fern was first named and described in writing in 1848, although Professor
Chris Smout makes no mention of this momentous event in his otherwise excellent
A Century of the Scottish People 1830-1950 (1986). Actually Dickie acknowledged that he
himself did not originally find the fern but was led to it as a student by his teacher,
Professor William Knight, several years before. However, he does seem to have been the
first to have recognised its uniqueness.

Unique it certainly is, in that it is found in very few other places in Britain besides this sea
cave and a few sites nearby, but is it actually a separate species or merely a variant of
C. fragilis? Anyone who has grown the two (and they’re easy to cultivate, unlike Asp/enium
marinum) can clearly see a difference, but what about the science? Much research work still
needs to be done. But, being a Scotsman and no scientist, I of course have no doubt at all
that Cystopteris dickieana is a separate, unique species, found only in this one little comer
of Scotland. Well, we don’t have much else to shout about.

Before ‘Tetreating to the shelter of our cars a few of us went in search of another
C dickieana site slightly to the north of Cove. Wading knee-high through soaking
vegetation and slithering down muddy slopes, Les Tucker, quickly followed by Frank
Katzer, soon found, near a magnificent waterfall, a very wet overhang that looked like the
remains of a collapsed sea cave. C. dickieana grows here alongside C. fragilis, with some
sore looking suspiciously intermediate. Clearly a research project in the making. Also at
. is site _ several Asplenium scolopendrium, which we later discovered on our Way
ome on sale at a well known garden centre at a m ith Blechnum
tee ta Es ox ere £7.95 per plant along with Blec
Despite rip-off garden centre

rices, thi : . : F not
fern-hunting, P is was a good day in perfect fern-growing, if
soar

ip weather. The following day summer began, the sun shone and temperatures
- 1 must have a word with Heather about timing.

54

Isle of Bute, Argyll — 7 September Frank McGavigan

The beginning of September saw us off to Bute again, on what has become an annual outing
for the Scottish Fern Group. This time it was a very relaxed visit with no frenetic hunting to
see how many fern species we could tick off in the day. It is such a beautiful, peaceful place
that any visitor is quickly overcome with the desire to take it easy.

First stop was the cave at Dunagoil Bay (26/0853) in the south of the island where James
Merryweather had taken us two years previously to see gametophytes of Trichomanes
speciosum, the Killarney fern. Of course there was no sign of the sporophyte, one of the most
beautiful of British ferns, because this is one of the sites where the gametophytes survive in the
absence of the sporophyte and have perhaps done so for hundreds (thousands?) of years.
Heather McHaffie had thoughtfully provided us all with copies of Rumsey, Jermy and
Sheffield’s article on this phenomenon (Watsonia 22: 1-19. 1998). From this we learn that the
“gametophytic generation, the sexual or gamete-bearing phase of the life-cycle, is not only
perennial but produces specialised structures for its vegetative propagation (gemmae),
allowing the potential development of extensive stands of this usually overlooked generation.”

Rumsey ef ail. list all the British sites where this occurs, although the Bute cave is not
included as it is a more recent discovery. They also point out “that gametophyte populations
extend into continental Europe far beyond the known sporophytic range of the species”,
which is mainly the warm Atlantic seaboard including places such as the Azores. So the
question is, how did these independent gametophyte populations become established and
when? Are these gametophyte populations the remnants of full sporophyte populations that
have been killed off due to conditions becoming too cold or too dry? The Bute cave 1s
relatively dry, whereas everyone who has tried to grow T. speciosum at home knows that it
needs to be grown in a glass case in shade with regular misting to maintain constant high
humidity. (I know; I’ve failed.)

Having noted plants of Asplenium marinum and A. adiantum-nigrum on the nearby cliffs,
we moved on to Ascog Fernery (26/1063), where the Killarney fern that RBGE had donated
the previous year was thriving. Only after Wallace and Kath Fyfe bought the house did they
discover that there was a ruined Victorian fernery in the garden. They set about restoring it
and restocked with help from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, although they did

a fuller description of the restoration.)

Apart from Dicksonia antarctica and D. fibrosa,
several Cyathea, the most noticeable being C. med :
black stipes. These are offset with various Davallia and Pteris, Woodwardia radicans,
which thrives both inside and outside the fernery, some unusual maidenhair ferns such as
Adiantum reniforme, exotic Blechnum species, Culcita macrocarpa, and many others.
Actually it is rather pointless listing all the ferns (even if I could remember them) as it Is
their presence en masse that is the real attraction.

One of the endearing things about Ascog is the complete lack of plant elitism; the rarities sit
happily beside the commonplace such as Asplenium scolopendrium. But the most remarkable
fact of all is that Wallace spends up to an hour and a half every day watering the ferns (and he says
he is not particularly a fern-lover!) I suspect he secretly prefers his dry gravel garden, which is
full of grasses, sedums and euphorbias and worth a visit in itself; no watering needed there.

Talking of water, as this was a BPS Scottish outing, you may ask if we avoided the rain. Of
course not — we got soaked. But then the sun came out again and by the time we were
ferrying back across the Firth of Clyde we had dried out sufficiently to reflect in comfort on
what an enjoyable day we had experienced.

55

HORTICULTURAL SHOWS

BBC GARDENERS’ WORLD LIVE! — 19-23 June A.R. Busby

As last year, the Society stand was located on an end-of-row corner, giving us the
advantage of having two frontages to display our ferns. However, this year, due to narrower
staging, we could only use eighteen ferns. Once again we were let down by those
responsible for erecting the staging. Having reported its absence, we waited for over an
hour without any response from the organisers. Fortunately, my friends on the NCCPG
stand came to my rescue with spare tables and hessian cloths, so that by late afternoon I was
able to start staging the ferns.

Preparing and selecting ferns for public display is a bit like being a football team manager.
You have a squad of ‘players’ from whom you will select only those fit enough to play.
There are those in reserve on the team bench in case some star fails to come up to scratch
and sadly, there are those who are unfit to play. This year, I was able to field my foreign
players: Adiantum aleuticum ‘Subpumilum’, A. venustum, Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’,
A. otophorum, Blechnum penna-marina, Dryopteris cycadina, Osmunda lancea and
Polystichum proliferum, while the local talent was Asplenium scolopendrium and its
varieties “Crispum’, ‘Laceratum Kaye’ and ‘Marginatum’, Athyrium filix-femina ‘Caput
Medusae’ (sporeling), Dryopteris affinis ‘Pinderi crispa’, Osmunda regalis and Polystichum
setiferum ‘Divisilobum’.

The aim of having the Society represented at shows is firstly to encourage membership,
secondly to promote the cultivation of ferns, and thirdly, to educate the gardening public
that not all ferns are bracken. The Objective is to show the visitors as wide a range as
possible of form and colour in hardy ferns.

Once again I had to rely very heavily on those members who were prepared to give some of
their valuable time to man the stand on those days that I was unable to be there. My sincere
thanks to Bryan and Gill Smith, Jeff Whysall, Ray and Brenda Smith and my partner
Elizabeth Graham. The dates of next year’s show are the 11th to 15th June and we are
always pleased to see members visiting our stand. If they can spare a couple of hours to
work with us, so much the better. You need not be an expert to make a valuable
contribution on the Society’s behalf.

SOUTHPORT FLOWER SHOW — 22-24 August A.R. Busby

This year’s show was blessed with dry weather and attendances were good. Unfortunately,
having lost the contributions of a number of long-standing fern exhibitors, the number ©
entries was very poor; I cannot recall a year when the number of entries was so low. The
entire range of fern classes was supported by only three exhibitors. The standard of
Presentation was poor due to lack of attention to detail. Consequently, the task of judging
was made too easy.

The judge was A.R. Busby.
Class 6

The prize-winners are listed below.
Individual Championship: Four hardy, two greenhouse and two foreign hardy
ey ferns: Ist Mr B. Russ, 2nd Mr I. Rawson (2 entries)
ass7 Three Hardy British Ferns (three distinct species not varieties): (1 entry -
disqualified)
One Foreign Fern Hardy in Great Britain: 2nd Mr I. Rawson (2 entries)
Raa Three Polypodium (distinct varieties): (no entries)
Three Polystichum (distinct varieties): 2nd Mr I. Rawson (1 entry)

io

Class 11 Three Athyrium (distinct varieties): 2nd Mr I. Rawson (1 entry)
Class 12 Three Asplenium (excluding A. scolopendrium): (no entries)

Class 13. One British Fern (any kind or variety): Ist Mr I. Rawson (1 entry)
Class 14 One Greenhouse Fern: Ist Mrs O. Fairclough (1 entry)

Class 15 Three Asplenium scolopendrium (3 distinct varieties): (no entries)

The Challenge Cup awarded for the most points gained over all the classes was won by Mr
I. Rawson.

One of many interesting features of this year’s show was the report of a Birkdale couple
who had discovered an original poster advertising the 1930 Southport Flower Show. This
was found in a car boot sale and advertises the show as the ‘largest summer flower show in
the world’. The attractions advertised are ‘horse leaping’ and ‘invitation sheep dog trials’,
View it yourself by visiting the show’s own website, details of which are given below. It is
interesting to compare our Society’s show report in the British Fern Gazette for 1930. A.J.
MacSelf reports on the various fern classes and includes his disappointment that there were
only three exhibitors in the class for a group of ferns occupying 100 square feet. The
previous year, this class boasted seven entries! Would that I could be given the chance to
Judge such a class.

I would like to express my thanks to the following members who took the trouble to
make long journeys to see the show and spend a few minutes chatting to us on the stand:
Mr and Mrs P. Hindle, Mr B. Russ, Mr P. Lamb and Mr R. Cole. My special thanks to
Ann Gill, Ray and Brenda Smith, and my partner, Elizabeth Graham, for their valued
Support.

The dates for next year’s show are the 21st to 23rd August and we look forward to seeing
you there. We are always short of help on the stand, so if any members have just a few
hours to spare 1 would be very pleased to accept offers of help. lf any members are
interested in showing ferns at the Southport Show, I would be pleased to advise them on the
pleasures and pitfalls of competitive showing. For a schedule for the show please apply to
Southport Show Ltd, Victoria Park, Southport, PR8 2BZ.

(www.southportflowershow.co.uk)

THE AMERICAN FERN SOCIETY
The AFS invites all readers of this Bulletin to join the American Fern Society. You are welcome
to visit the AFS website: amerfernsoc.org. Regular members receive F; iddlehead Forum five
times a year, a newsletter published for those who are interested in growing ss eae
them and expanding their knowledge of ferns. Journal members also receive the on -
quarterly American Fern Journal. Membership costs $19 and $32 per annum respectively *
members residing outside USA, Canada or Mexico, including postage for scaring
delivery. For particulars please write to Dr George Yatskievych, Missouri Botanical Garden, =
Box 299, St Louis, Missouri 63166-0299, USA (george. yatskievych@mobot.org). Prospective
Members residing in Great Britain should write to Mr MSS. Porter, 5 West Avenue, Wigton,
Cumbria CA7 9LG (Membership@eBPS.org.uk).
AFS SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENTS: Our societies have an exchange arrangement whereby
members of the BPS can pay their AFS subscription through the BPS Membership Secretary and
vice versa, Contact your Membership Secretary for details.

SECRETARIAL NOTES

Please note: names and contact details of all officers can be found
on the inside of the front cover of this Bulletin.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2003 — The 100th AGM will take place on Saturday 22nd
March 2003 in the Mineralogy Seminar Room, The Natural History Museum, London at 2.00 p.m.

COMMITTEE VACANCIES — In accordance with paragraph 3, section 3 of the Society’s
Constitution, two vacancies will occur due to the retirement of two of the longest serving
Committee members. In addition, there is one unfilled vacancy. Nominations are invited
from Society members to fill these vacancies at the Annual General Meeting in 2003. The
names of the nominees, proposers and seconders, together with a letter from the nominee
indicating his/her willingness to serve, should reach the General Secretary before the AGM.
Members with a potential interest in serving as an elected Committee member and
who wish to know more of the duties and responsibilities are invited to contact the
Secretary.

SUBSCRIPTIONS 2003 — Members are reminded that subscriptions were due on Ist January
2003 and should be paid to the Membership Secretary. Cheques should be made payable to
‘The British Pteridological Society’. Current rates are given inside the front cover of this issue.
Payment can be made by Credit Card — see renewal form. Standing Order forms are printed
on the reverse of renewal forms and are also available from the Membership Secretary and the
BPS web site (www.eBPS.org.uk). Standing Orders may be paid on Ist January or Ist
February. In either case, membership is deemed to be from Ist January to 31st December.

Senior’ Membership Subscription Rate — The Committee considered the suggestion of a
Senior Membership subscription rate. However, this is not a feasible option at present as too
many members would qualify and the Society’s funds would suffer to an unacceptable extent.
Currently 90% of subscriptions are already assigned to on-going commitments.

PUBLICATIONS BY AIRMAIL — Our journals can be sent by airmail to overseas
members, provided that they advise the Membership Secretary and pay an additional
subscription to cover airmail postage. See inside front cover for rates.

CODES OF SAFETY, CONDUCT AND DECLARATION FORM — All members
attending Society field meetings should be aware of the Society’s Safety Code (see 2000
Bulletin 5(5): 275), as well as the Code of Conduct for the Conservation and Enjoyment of
Wild Plants (see 1999 Bulletin 5(4): 199), and will be required to sign a Declaration form.
Copies of these documents can be obtained from the Meetings Secretary.

GREENFIELD FUND — This fund, set up as a memorial to one of our Society’s great fern
growers, Percy Greenfield, is used to finance approved research projects, helping with the
cost of necessary equipment, books and travel expenses. Percy Greenfield’s interest leaned
very much towards the non-scientific side of our activities and it is felt that he would have
wanted this taken into consideration when decisions are made. Workers eligible for
university or college grants and similar support are not therefore eligible for help from the
oun Applications will normally be dealt with once a year and should be submitted by Ist
ecember. Anyone wishing to avail themselves of this fund should contact the Hon.
General Secretary for further information,
CENTENARY FUND

~ This fund i ae Ps cts of
Slsdoplivtcs und is used to promote the study of all aspe

horticultural, scientific and educati s, students oF

; : ‘ , educational, whether by amateurs, studen

Grecat nal Pieridologists. As such its scope is much broader and more flexible than the

oS E — Applications will normally be dealt with once a year and should be

the Hon Gen st December. Anyone wishing to avail themselves of this fund should contact
- General Secretary for further information.

SR

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS - There are three Special Interest Groups. For further
information please send a stamped addressed envelope to the organisers:

Tree-ferns: Prof. A.C. Wardlaw, 92 Drymen Road, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 2SY.

Foreign Hardy Ferns: A.R. (Matt) Busby, 16 Kirby Comer Road, Canley, Coventry CV4 8GD.
Filmy Ferns: S.J. Munyard, 234 Harold Road, Hastings, East Sussex TN35 5NG.
Alternatively the organisers may be contacted by e-mail: Tree-Ferns@eBPS.org.uk,
ForeignHardyFerns@eBPS.org.uk, FilmyFerns@eBPS.org.uk.

Special Interest Groups Reviewed — Early in 2002 the Committee reviewed the Special
Interest Groups and noted that when they were first set up around 1992 it was expected that
each group convenor would collate and distribute an annual newsletter to members of the
group. However, all convenors found it difficult to elicit articles and news items from their
members and effectively had to write the newsletters themselves, which put a considerable
burden on them. The Committee felt that the groups should continue, but that their activities
might take alternative forms to a newsletter. Suggestions included a periodic meeting of the
Special Interest Groups, possibly a mini-symposium, rotating the interest of the meeting on
a two to three year cycle. The first of these meetings, on Tree-Ferns, is to be held in London
on 8th November 2003. Also, lists of ferns grown by members of each group might be
published, with their permission, in Preridologist. It was also recognised that articles
appearing in the newsletters were of wider interest than the Special Interest Groups and
could be equally published in Preridologist, which after all, is particularly concerned with
horticultural and non-scientific aspects of pteridology. With these alternative activities there
would be no expectation of an annual newsletter, but the idea of Special Interest Groups
would be preserved and would serve to extend the Society’s contribution to its educational
objectives.

MEMBERS INFORMATION SERVICE — Members often require information and
advice on many aspects of pteridophytes but are reluctant to ask or simply do not know
where to obtain help. Queries from members on any aspects of the biology, identification or
cultivation of ferns or fern allies should be sent, with three first class stamps, to the
Horticultural Information Officer.

READING CIRCLE — The Society operates a reading circle for the American Fern Journal,
a quarterly publication containing much information for those seriously interested in ferns.
The Fiddlehead Forum, which publishes many ‘ferny’ items of interest to the amateur grower,
accompanies it. To receive these journals contact the Horticultural Information Officer.

BACK NUMBERS OF JOURNALS - Our back numbers are a valuable source of
information pertaining to most aspects of ferns. A mixed pack of six of our journals is
available for just £5 post-free to whet your appetite; other back numbers of the Society’s
journal are available to members at reasonable prices. A full list is available from the Back
Numbers Organiser.

FOREIGN FERN SOCIETY JOURNALS HELD BY THE SOCIETY — The Society
exchanges journals with many other fern societies in the world. We have a collection of
journals/newsletters from societies in the United States (2), Australia (3), New Zealand,
India and the Netherlands. If members would like to browse these, they are welcome to get
in touch with the Back Numbers Organiser for a list of our holdings. The journals can then
be borrowed for just the cost of postage both ways.

E-MAIL ADDRESSES — Members who would like their e-mail addresses published in
future membership address lists and who (1) have a stable e-mail address that is unlikely to
change in the immediate future, and (2) keep up-to-date with their e-mail messages, are
invited to send their address BY E-MAIL to the Membership Secretary at:
Membership@eBPS.org.uk. Please subsequently notify the Membership Secretary if your
e-mail address changes.

59

WORLD-WIDE WEB SITE — The URL (address) of the BPS Web site hosted by The
Natural History Museum is ‘http://www.eBPS.org.uk’. See also article by our webmaster
entitled ‘eBPS’ in 2000 Bulletin 5(5): 276.

E-MAIL LIST & PRIVATE DOCUMENT STORE — Members are reminded that there is
an e-mail group or ‘list’ for BPS members only. Its purpose is for discussion of Society
matters of common interest and for communication of updated information; it is not
intended as a list to discuss the botany or growing of ferns, for which another list such as
FERNS would be more appropriate. See the BPS Web-site under ‘Links’. Send a blank e-
mail to: BPS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe. There is also a document store on this
site, which will be used for documents intended only for members and therefore not appropriate
for posting on the BPS web-site, e.g. Booksales list and Merchandise details. So far, few
members have subscribed to this service. Contact the BPS Webmaster for further information.

BPS VIDEO ‘BRITISH FERNS’ - This twenty-five minute video shows most of the
native British ferns growing in their natural habitats. It demonstrates the wide variety of
size and form to be found in British ferns and the broad range of habitats they colonise.
Attention is drawn to key identification characters for each species.

Schering Agriculture and the National Museum of Wales funded the video. It is available
for loan to members and interested organisations for £3, to cover handling costs (UK only).
For further details write to the General Secretary enclosing a stamped addressed envelope.

A copy of the above video is still missing despite last year’s appeal. If any member has
inadvertently forgotten to return the video after borrowing it, please would they kindly
return it to the General Secretary as soon as possible. No repercussions!

After receiving several requests to purchase the fern video, the Committee considered
issuing it as a CD . On review, the film quality of the video was considered too poor
by today’s standards to do so. However, it can be made available as a VHS tape at cost
price. Interested members should enquire of the Secretary for further details.

BPS FIRST MINUTE BOOK -— This historical document containing the Committee
Minutes from the inception of the Society in 1891 to 1983 is now available in full colour on
a CD ROM at £10 per copy, including postage. Place your order through Booksales.

BRITISH WILDLIFE — Concessionary individual subscriptions to British Wildlife
magazine are available to BPS members.

ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY — Our Society is affiliated to the RHS, enabling
a limited number of members to enjoy certain privileges in connection with RHS Shows,
competitions and services.

PAYMENT OF EXPENSES ~— Documents setting out the Rules of Conduct for the Treasurer
(BPS/T/1), the Rules for Seeking Re-imbursement of Personal Travelling and Administrative
Expenses by officers and members acting on behalf of the Society (BPS/T/2), and the
Authorities for Payment (BPS/T /3) can be obtained from the Honorary Treasurer on request.

COPYRIGHT ~ All contributors to the BPS journals and webpage are required to sign an
agreement assigning ownership of copyright of the article, photograph ete. to the BPS. pa
has the aim of safeguarding the contributors’ work from unlawful copying and use. It ue
not stop contributors from using their own work elsewhere provided that they acknowledge
the original source of publication.

aoe = . Do you have a BPS sweatshirt and/or tee-shirt, or one of the polo
bitieacdes rg all dark green with a small BPS logo in yellow. Ties, metal badges:
iatiees: cas car stickers sporting our logo are also available. Other items for sale:

gs cards, postcards and notelets. Can’t find your order form? Contact the

Merchandi : :
'S¢ Organisers for details. They would also welcome suggestions for new stock.

60

THE FUTURE OF BOOKSALES - Internet sales have pushed the second-hand prices of
pteridophyte books to exorbitant levels such that in the past two years the cost of second-
hand books has doubled and even trebled in some cases. Consequently the Booksales
Manager is struggling to buy books at reasonable prices. The Committee has agreed
therefore that he should continue to obtain second-hand books when they become available
at reasonable prices, but in future Booksales will concentrate on new texts, obtaining
publishers’ deals as far as possible. Each year, a list of new books and Society publications
available through Booksales and a full list of books available, including second-hand ones,
will be available to members on request from the Booksales Manager, who is also willing to
supply a list of email addresses of second-hand book retailers. Back copies of available BPS
journals will also be included on the list. It is also hoped to have the list available on the
BPS members’ web document store, see earlier item.

WANTED; HELP WITH PUBLICATIONS — We still urgently need Technical/Desktop
Editors to facilitate the flow of electronic information through the Societys’ newsletters,
journals and the web site, e.g. to convert newsletter format to web format, help wit

journal layout and production etc. Assistance is also needed with the preparation of our
ocasional Specail Publications and leaflets. This all involves a wide range of scanning,
editing, design and publishing skills. Or do you have an aye for detail or are familiar with
MS WORD? IF So, we would like you’re help.If you think that you could help the Society
in any of these ways (if you’ve found the numerous mistakes in this paragraph you
definatelycan help), please contact the President in his capacity as Acting Chairman of the
Publications Subcommittee.

ASSISTANCE REQUIRED ON BPS STANDS AT FLOWER SHOWS -— The Society
needs volunteers to assist at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live! and Southport Flower Show.
You do not need to be an expert on ferns or fern growing, just prepared to il wat re:
hours or a day on the stand. Expenses are available and should be negotiated with
A.R. Busby in the first instance. Further information is available from the Horticultural
Information Officer.

Do you have expertise in the design of display stands or similar skills and would like to
help the Society? The Committee has agreed the purchase of display stands for use at Flower
Shows and other events and is seeking help with their design. If you have that expertise and
are willing to help, please contact A.R. Busby, the Horticultural Information Officer.

n

j j cardia. \n addition,
Equisetum, O. da. Polypodium, Polystichum, Selaginella and Woodwardia. ic

BEE belo tasre easel € : > at Windsor Great Park and ‘British

different parts of the country and

i of visiting and to

establishing their own National Collecti
of the approx. 53 species of native British ferns and about 80 cultivars. Extensive
information about the NCCPG and the rationale for National Collections can be found at
www.nccpg.com or from NCCPG, The Stable Courtyard, Wisley Garden, Woking, Surrey
GU23 6QP.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2002

MINUTES of the 99th Annual General Meeting of the British Pteridological Society held at
Ness Botanic Gardens, Cheshire, on Saturday 16th March 2002 at 14.00 hours.

IN THE CHAIR: The President, Prof. A.C. Wardlaw.

PRESENT: Mr P.J. Acock, MrA.R. Busby, MrB.K Byrne, MrR.J. Cooke,
Mr J.P. Crowe, Mr S.E. Czeladzinski, Mr M.L. Grant, Mr G.K. Hoare, Miss J.M. Ide,
Mr A.C. Jermy, MsE.Knox-Thomas, Dr S.D. Martinelli, Dr J.W. Merryweather,
Mr M. Morgan, MrS.J.& MrsK.Munyard, Miss R.J. Murphy, Mr A.H. Ogden,
Miss A.M. Paul, Mrs B. Porter, Mr M.S. Porter, Mr P.H. Ripley, Mr H.C. Shepherd,
Mr F.A. Strang, Mr R.W. Sykes, Dr J.D. Womack, Mr B. Wright.

Item 1 — APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Mr R.G. Ackers, Mr J.A. Crabbe,
Dr A.F. Dyer, DrN.J.Hards, MrA.Leonard, MrA.Monaghan, = Dr C.N. Page,
Mr A.C. Pigott, Mr M.H. Rickard, Dr F.J. Rumsey, Mr B.D. & Mrs G. Smith,
Mr B.R. & Mrs R. Stevenson.

Item 2— APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of the 98th Annual General Meeting
held on Saturday 3rd March 2001, and published in the 2001 Bulletin (Vol. 5, no. 6) were
approved unanimously and signed by the Chairman.

(Note: The Minutes published in the Bulletin and approved at this meeting were a slightly
shortened version of the Minutes as recorded in the Minute Book.)

Item 3— MATTERS ARISING: None.

Item 4— REPORT OF THE HONORARY GENERAL SECRETARY (J.M. Ide):
Despite the still-continuing, well-publicised problems of the railways, which prevented
some members of the Committee, particularly those travelling from the north, attending
some meetings we always had more than a quorum and were able to continue reviewing and
megane the Society’s procedures and putting the activities of the Society on a sound
ooting.

SYMPOSIUM 2001: The Society’s Symposium, Fern Flora Worldwide — Threats and
Responses, held at Guildford University in July, was a huge success from every standpoint.

wenty-three countries were represented among the 74 delegates (this figure probably
underestimating the number of delegates). The papers presented were of high quality,
interesting, but some also disturbing. The Committee had already thanked R.G. Ackers,
who bore much of the burden and worry of the organising administration, A.C. Jermy, who
was responsible for the scientific programme of the meeting, A. Leonard, who was
concerned with the registration of delegates and the handling of the finances and R.J. Cooke
for the introduction to English Nature, which resulted in some funding from this
organisation towards the mid-Symposium excursion to sites of conservation interest in
Surrey. But I am sure that through this meeting, the Society would also wish to express i
thanks to these people and to all who contributed to the organisation and hence the success
of the Symposium. The finances were so finely tuned that the Society sustained a loss of
only £78.40, a mere 0.36% of the total cost of £22,055. I think all would agree that
R.G. Ackers and A.Leonard deserve to be congratulated. Unfortunately, the post-
symposium excursion had to be cancelled owing to foot and mouth disease, which
effectively closed the Lake District.

ve oh of the proceedings is well underway and it is expected that they will be published
S year as a special edition of the Fern Gazette and will be dedicated to A.C. Jermy ™

celebrat : : ;
tion of his 70th birthday and of his work for pteridophyte conservation.

62

CHARITY STATUS: After making changes to the Constitution at the AGM in 2000, the
Charity Commissioners advised, too late for the AGM in 2001, that they required an
additional amendment and the addition of certain clauses to the Constitution before they
could confer charity status. Unfortunately, the present Constitution only allows changes to

made at an AGM, so we have had to wait a further year before attaining our goal.
Forestalling a similar situation in the future, the Committee is recommending to the
membership that clause 10, which deals with constitutional change, be amended to allow
changes to be made at an Extraordinary General Meeting as well as an Annual General
Meeting. The amendments and additions that are being put to the meeting today have been
approved by the Charity Commissioners and the impression we have been given is that the
Society will be granted its Charity status once they have been made.

Once we achieve charity status every Committee member will become a trustee of the
Charity with a number of responsibilities, some of which have caused some of the present
Committee members some disquiet, fearing that their own funds and property might be
subject to forfeiture under certain circumstances. This could only happen if, as Trustees, we
were negligent in ensuring that the Society’s finances were properly managed or were
negligent with the safety of members at meetings. To ensure, as far as possible, that this did
not happen, the guidelines for leaders of meetings was revised, a Safety Code prepared and
distributed to all members via the Bulletin, and to protect the property of the trustees and
the Society, a small working party was set up under the chairmanship of R.G. Ackers to
investigate suitable insurance for the Society.

THE ARCHIVES: The lack of proper archives and of an archivist continued to exercise the
Committee, who had continued to look for an Archivist for the Society. Paul and Bily
Ruston, both with useful experience, kindly volunteered, but they had to withdraw their
offer due to a number of logistical difficulties. A.R. ‘Matt’ Busby, who is familiar with the
types of material that need to be archived and has a sound background in the history of the
Society, has offered to be the Archivist for the immediate future. We thank the Rustons for
their interest in the position and hope that they will be willing to help the Archivist in that
area in which they have a particular interest, namely historical documents. Another major
stumbling block is the lack of a suitable depository for the archives, with an appropriately
controlled atmosphere and accessibility for anyone wishing to consult it.

SCANNING OF THE SOCIETY’S FIRST MINUTE BOOK: Continuing with the theme
of the archives, B. Wright completed the scanning, in colour, of the Society's first
Minute Book, which runs from the Society’s inception in 1891 to 1983. This is the

page numbers cross-indexed with meeting dates, have been made for ve cecetanain
and distributed amongst officers for safe keeping. Important events are being cross-
indexed, and when this has been completed CD ROM copies will be available to
members at £10 a copy. We record our thanks to B. Wright for an excellent job, Viana
turned out to be not quite as straightforward as he had expected and involved him in
many hours of work.

The safety of the Minute Book itself was of concern to the Committee, and A.R. Busby

kindly purchased a metal box, which, although it would not prevent the Minute Book from

burning, would protect it from smoke and water damage. The Committee thanks him for his

generosity.

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS: As the Society’s range of activities increases, it is
inevitable that we have a slow trickle of officers, managers and organisers wishing to be
relieved of their duties after a number of years’ service. Following Linda and Mick
Craddock’s retirement as Merchandise Managers early in 2001, Bryan and Gill Smith took

63

on this task. The Committee would like to thank them for offering their services within an
hour of the appeal at the AGM last year! Karen and Steve Munyard would be taking
merchandise to meetings.

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP: The Committee recommended as good practice that any
member considered as a potential President, should be invited to serve as a member of the
Committee. It was also agreed that where there were two or more editors of a journal, only
the senior editor should serve on the Committee ex-officio. An exception would continue to
be made for J.A. Crabbe in view of his long service as an editor of the Fern Gazette and his
long-time and continuing interest in the work of the Committee.

The Committee was sorry to receive during the year the resignation of Lawrence Kirkham
as an elected member, due to family and work pressures. He has agreed to continue as
Chairman of the Fern Varieties Nomenclature Subcommittee.

GREENFIELD AND CENTENARY FUNDS: A review of the constitutions and
procedures for the Greenfield and Centenary Funds is under way.

PTERIDOLOGY AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW: Members visiting the
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew recently will have been horrified to discover that the Filmy
Fern House has been pulled down to make way for an extension to the Orangery for an
expansion of the tea-room. In June, the President wrote to the Director, Prof. Peter Crane,
expressing the Society’s disappointment with this decision, and at the apparent running
down of the other living fern collections and pteridophyte research at Kew. The reply, from
Dr Nigel Taylor, was a grave disappointment to the Committee.

WG CDR ERIC BAKER’S FERN COLLECTION: Last year we reported the death of Eric
Baker. He had a large collection of ferns, which his widow, Rita, felt unable to maintain and
it was Jack Bouckley’s inspiration that the collection should go to Brodsworth Hall in South
Yorkshire (in the care of English Heritage) for planting in the restored Victorian Fern Dell.
Jack and several other members represented the Society at the opening of the restored Dell
on the 6th June.

DEATH OF MR A.J. WORLAND: Of the twelve past and present members of the Society
who died in 2001, perhaps we should particularly mention the untimely death of Tony
Worland, a long-time member and staunch supporter of the Society, being central to its
activities in the 1970s and 1980s when he was firstly Meetings Secretary and then later the
Fern Distribution Recorder. We send our condolences to his and all those families who have
lost a member during the year.

The Secretary’s report was approved, proposed by R.J. Cooke and seconded by M.S. Porter.

Item 5 - REPORT OF THE HONORARY TREASURER: In the absence of the
Treasurer, A. Leonard, the Chairman presented the unaudited accounts for the year ending
31st December 2001.

The accounts were approved, subject to auditing, proposed by A.C. Jermy and seconded by
A.M. Paul. (For audited accounts see page 72.)

Item 6 —- REPORT OF THE MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY (M.S. Porter): In 2000.
membership of the BPS topped 800 for the first time in the Society’s history, and holding
on to this increased membership in 2001 was obviously going to be a considerable
challenge. It was pleasing to report that we were able to meet the challenge and, althou
membership numbers dropped slightly, they remained above the magic 800.

During 2001, 76 new members
Application Form three major re.

joined the Society. From information given on the

asons for joining could be identified: firstly, personal

64

recommendation by friends or colleagues already in the Society, secondly, the stimulus
provided by exhibits at shows and talks given by members, and thirdly, (and perhaps now
most important), the Society’s website, which has obviously inspired an increasing number
of people to become members.

Against the 76 gains had to be balanced 87 losses and the death of eight members. Again,
this was a sad loss of fern enthusiasts, who had been deeply involved in the world of
pteridology, and a number of whom had made a considerable contribution to the Society
itself. Twenty-three members resigned, citing old age, infirmity or loss of interest as their
reason. On this occasion there were no expressions of dissatisfaction and, in fact, many of
those resigning sent their thanks and best wishes for the Society’s future. The remaining
losses were the 50+ lapsed members, some of whom may have been extremely dissatisfied
with the Society but, since they said nothing on the subject, we do not know the grounds for
their dissatisfaction and could, therefore, do nothing to rectify matters. | should stress that |
do pass on all comments (particularly negative ones!) either to the Committee or to the
Society Officer concerned and I know that serious attempts are made to remedy perceived
weaknesses.

The final breakdown of members for 2001 was as follows: 36 Complimentary or Honorary
Members, 53 Family Members, 606 Ordinary Members, 10 Students and 96 Subscribers,
giving a total of 801 members.

Item 7 — REPORT OF THE CONSERVATION OFFICER AND RECORDER (R.J.
Cooke): 2001 was a relatively quiet year with only five requests for information. These all
concerned plans to re-point old walls supporting aspleniums, and in one case Osmunda (on
a canal wall). In these situations it is difficult to advise anything else other than to leave
some fern-rich areas temporarily unpointed to allow re-colonisation. Ferns in walls are
notoriously difficult to re-establish elsewhere and this was, in my view, not really a viable
option in these circumstances, so we would have to rely on the ferns’ ability to colonise. If
this has happened near you it would be interesting to record rates of re-colonisation, and
whether or not the same species are involved.

The big event of the coming year will be the launch of the Botanical Society of the British
Isles’ new Atlas. This ‘millennium project’ was to update the 1962 plant atlas, and will
include updated distributions for all ferns. No doubt this will stimulate further recording in
which the Society should participate. Watch Pteridologist for details.

During comments, A.C. Jermy said that that he would like to see the Society publish a
separate volume of the fern records. R.J. Cooke replied that he saw no obstacle to obtaining
the records as they were held by the Environmental Information Centre, Monks Wood, and
Were not copyrighted, but the Society would need to add its own text as the BSBI text
would be under copyright.

Item 8 - SUBCOMMITTEE (Permanent) REPORTS: |

8.1 — MEETINGS SUBCOMMITTEE (P.J. Acock): It was feared that the field meetings
would be completely disrupted by foot and mouth disease in 2001. In the event, it was
mainly some regional meetings and the end-of-Symposium Excursion that succumbed to
this scourge of the countryside.

The early meeting in Guernsey proved a great delight, with many regulars and newer
members enjoying the very different pteridophytes, Pleasant weather and evening
banter. Andrew Leonard must be complemented for his diligent work in seeking out
every last plant of interest. The AGM proved ever popular as the place where the
membership could meet and leisurely exchange ideas through interesting discussions

65

and talks. Thanks go to Barrie Stevenson and his group for hosting it so well and to
Graham Ackers for putting together such an interesting programme. The Cornish
meeting went ahead despite being at the peak of the epidemic, with Rose Murphy and
Ian Bennallick arranging a very varied and full event. The meeting was noteworthy for
the discovery of only the second locality for the only ‘alien x native’ hybrid fern in
Britain, Polystichum munitum x P. setiferum. The late season meeting at Wakehurst was
eventful and some members travelled a considerable distance to be present. The autumn
meeting, though not so well attended considering its central location, was so much
greater than the sum of the individual pieces, and was greatly enjoyed by those present.
We must thank Jennifer Ide who conceived and organised such a fine event.

I am sure you would want me to pass on our grateful thanks to all our organisers and
their helpers, many of whom miss part of the programme to check that the events are
running smoothly. Another packed programme has been arranged for 2002, and the
planning for 2003 is nearing completion. The Subcommittee would like to give the
membership every opportunity to suggest ideas for and to lead meetings, and hope you
will contact us after the meeting or by dropping us a line.

After the presentation of the report, A.C. Jermy suggested that a meeting could be planned
around one or more of the Special Interest Groups, thus providing an opportunity for
members of the group or groups to meet. P.J. Acock replied that such a meeting was
planned for 2003.

8.2 — PUBLICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE (Prof. A.C. Wardlaw): After several years of
dedicated service, Miss J.M. Camus resigned as Chairman of the Publications
Subcommittee in April 2001. The Society owes her a great debt for furthering the
publishing activities of the Society, particularly for her initiative in introducing the
copyrighting of Society publications and for being Chief Editor of The Fern Gazette. Until
a replacement is found, the President has assumed temporary chairmanship of this
ubcommittee. To deal with the problem of members having difficulty in physical
attendance at meetings, a new system of electronic exchange of subcommittee business has
been introduced, all current members being on e-mail.

8.2.1 — BULLETIN: The 2001 Bulletin was again a bumper issue comprising 72 pages plus a
complete membership address list. As always, the Editor would appreciate feedback on the
length and general content of reports. The activities of the Society continued to diversify,
and despite the restrictions caused by the foot and mouth epidemic, the Regional Groups
managed a notable programme of meetings that required a full 24 pages of the Bulletin. The
Society is very fortunate to have such a dedicated and competent Editor as Miss A.M. Paul
producing the Bulletin.

Index to BPS Bulletin. A.M. Paul reported that Jonathan Crowe had completed a draft index
to volumes 1-4 of the Bulletin (1973-1995). It is hoped that an index to volumes 1-5 will be
published in the next year.

8.2.2 % THE FERN GAZETTE: The year started well with the spring issue of the journal
appearing on time. But then publication was interrupted by the resignation of Miss J.M.
Camus as Chief Editor. Despite extensive enquiries by the President, no person willing to
become Chief Editor had been found by October 2001 and, as a stopgap measure, the
pia with assistance from R.J. Cooke and Dr N.J. Hards, undertook to get the autumn
As ne published from manuscripts already in the pipeline. This 52-page issue is now in

inal stages of preparation. Meanwhile, in December 2001, Dr M. Gibby volunteered to

become Chief Editor of The Fe
j Poet ment of
journal during summer 2002. azette and was expected to take over the manage

8.2.3 — PTERIDOLOGIST: Prof. B.A. Thomas completed a four-year period as Editor in May
2001 and deserves a warm expression of appreciation from the Society for having
maintained the journal with many interesting articles during this period. Later in the
summer of 2001, Dr J.W. Merryweather, who had been Editor previously, indicated his
willingness to undertake another tour of duty as Editor. As always, the Editor is dependent
on members of the Society for submission of papers on all general aspects of pteridology.
The new Editor, with backing from the Committee, is keen for Preridologist to become the
‘flagship’ publication of the Society, both serving the existing membership and attracting
new members. For example, a new initiative to be explored could be supplying the
magazine for sale at public gardens where ferns are a major attraction. To that end, it is
proposed that the page size be increased to A4, to bring the magazine into line with current
publishing trends and to allow greater flexibility and attractiveness of internal layout.

There was a general agreement amongst members present for the proposed A4 format.
A.C. Jermy commented that the editor needed to be a commissioning editor.

8.2.4 — WORLD WIDE WEs SITE: A.C. Pigott continued to manage the Society’s site on
the World Wide Web and was always on the lookout for new material. Members were
referred to his article published in a previous Bulletin (Vol. 5(5): 276, 2000).

8.2.5 — OTHER PUBLICATIONS AND SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS: Prof. B.A. Thomas had
indicated his willingness to become Editor of Special Publications.

8.2.5.1 — Symposium Proceedings: The proceedings of the very successful International
Symposium on Fern Flora Worldwide — Threats and Responses, which was held at the
University of Guildford, Surrey in July 2001, is being prepared as a special volume of The
Fern Gazette. Dr A.F. Dyer, Dr E. Sheffield and Prof. A.C. Wardlaw are editing it. The
volume is likely to run to around 230 pages and to contain the text versions of about 25
Papers that were presented at the Symposium, together with the Abstracts of over 30
posters. Publication is expected during the summer of 2002. This volume will be dedicated
to A.C. Jermy to mark his 70th birthday.

8.2.5.2 — BPS Minute Book CD: The Society’s most valuable archive, the 630-page
Minute Book, had been scanned in colour by B. Wright, and a CD is now on offer by
subscription. Further particulars are contained in the flyer presented at the current meeting.

8.2.5.3 — Index for Pteridologist: M. Searle had completed the compilation of an Index for
the last volume (Vol. 3) of Preridologist, and was about to start indexing Volumes 1 and 2.
When complete, these indexes will provide invaluable access to information on t
range of pteridological subjects published in that magazine since 1984.

heir inception in 1994 the three BPS
Ferns and Tree-Ferns, have suffered
tain the regular production of

he wide

of pteridophyte.
8.3 — FERN VARIETIES NOMENCLATURE SUBCOMMITTEE: No report.

Item 9 — SUBCOMMITTEE (ad hoc) REPORTS:
9.1 — FERN ATLAS SUBCOMMITTEE: No report.

67

Item 10 -COMMITTEE-APPOINTED OFFICERS AND MANAGERS:

10.1 — ARCHIVIST (A.R. Busby): I have been trying to find a central place where archive
material could be located, and received one quote for rent of £17,000 per year! Items for the
archive are at risk through not being in the correct environment and through being lost due
to not being in a single central location but scattered amongst members, a number of whom
are of advancing years.

A.C. Wardlaw commented that once the Society had obtained charity status, there was the
possibility of seeking funds from the Lottery and Heritage Funds for the archives.

10.2 — BOOKSALES (S.J. Munyard): Booksales had a successful year in 2001 despite the
usual problem of finding second-hand stock. I lost the hard drive on my computer as a result
of the telephone line being struck by lightning, which meant that members’ book requests
had been lost. If any member requires a particular book title, please let me know and I will
try to fulfil the request. Due to the influence of the Internet on book prices, Booksales
would now carry a higher proportion of new publications. Second-hand prices in a lot of
cases have doubled, or even quadrupled in the last year, and it is not a viable proposition
for me to purchase them. Booklists are now sent out all through the year upon receipt of
a SAE, therefore the list sent out with the Bulletin would show only BPS and new
publications.

10.3 - MERCHANDISE (B.D. & G. Smith): We were very pleased to be asked to take over
running BPS Merchandise when Mr M.J. and Mrs L.I. Craddock regrettably decided that
they could no longer do so. Our task was made so much easier when, in June, Mick and
Linda handed over the carefully listed merchandise stock, and explained in great detail
(with notes) how to manage things. Since then, there has been a slow but steady stream of
merchandise requests, and there was an extremely healthy injection of funds from sales at
the Guildford Symposium. It seemed that everyone wanted some memento of the BPS anda
magnificent £337 was raised at that event alone.

For the future, apart from much needed re-stocking of items, we are looking for new items
to add to the merchandise list. Hallmark Cards in the USA, who produced a lovely fern-
covered serviette, were approached but unfortunately no reply has been received. Other
items being exploring are BPS pens, china mugs and beach towels. When samples and
information on prices have been gathered together, we will present them to the Committee
for approval. If anyone has any other ideas and/or contacts, please let us know — either by
letter or via the BPS Merchandise e-mail address.

10.4 — PLANT EXCHANGE (R. & B. Smith): The past year was exceptional in that two lists
were circulated, instead of the usual one in September. This resulted in a double response,
i enquiries amounting to over 100, some from the same source, the net figure for
individual enquiries being around 75. Sincere thanks to all those who have contributed to
the scheme. One interesting feature was the extensive number of Selaginella and Equisetum
species on offer, which provided an excellent opportunity for anyone wishing to develop 4
collection of these particular taxa.

We are hopeful that the next circular will be included in the 2002 Preridologist and that an
updated list will be available for distribution in September.

A : : : :
(Australia 20, Austria 1, Belgium 2, Canada 1, Czech Republic 1, Denmark 1, Eire 2,

68

Estonia 2, France 6, Germany 8, Israel 1, Kenya 1, Luxembourg 1, Mauritius 1, Mexico 1,
Netherlands 2, Poland 2, Sri Lanka 1, Switzerland 1, USA 5.)

Of the 571 taxa on the 2001 list there were requests for 528 of them. To give an idea of the
pattern of requests — there were only 38 taxa where more than ten packets of each taxon
were sent out. The majority of taxa were requested less than five times. This figure is
slightly artificial as some donations were so small that we could only make up five packets,
or less, as in the case of Woodsia alpina and W. ilvensis, which are always requested
beyond our ability to supply. The top ten species (those of which the most number of
packets were sent out in 2001) were as follows, with the number of times they were
requested: Cheilanthes argentea 25, Woodwardia areolata 23, Woodwardia fimbriata 19,
Asplenium ceterach 18, Woodwardia unigemmata 18, Blechnum chilense 18, Polystichum
lonchitis 16, Todea barbara 16, Cryptogramma crispa 15, Polystichum drepanum 15.

A.R. Busby reported that he had only a single request for Osmunda spores in 2001.

During 2001 we received donations from 27 donors. Without donations there would not be
an exchange. We are grateful for all the spores we received and would also like to thank
those requesting them for their patience in the early weeks of the distribution. Dealing with
the first flush of requests continued to be a problem. We usually get around 70 requests in
the first two weeks of the list being sent out. The way we run the exchange means that we
can take up to six weeks to turn round some of the earliest requests. As the exchange year
progresses, we have a shorter turn-round period. We hope to publish an article in
Pteridologist about exactly how we manage the exchange.

10.6 — HORTICULTURAL INFORMATION OFFICER (A.R. Busby): Eight enquiries were
received, all but one from non-members.

The above reports, Items 6 to 10.6, were accepted en bloc, proposed by S.E. Czeladzinski
and seconded by S.D. Martinelli.

Item 11 — ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS: .
ELECTION OF OFFICERS, COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND AUDITORS: With the exception of Miss
J.M. Camus, who had resigned as Chief Editor of The Fern Gazette, the present officers of

the Society were all eligible for re-election and had indicated their willingness to stand. Dr
d as Editors of The Fern Gazette

Munyard, were both eligible for re-election and had indicate D sta

Was proposed from the Chair and seconded by S.D. Martinelli and S.E. oper Pipe

all officers, those elected members eligible for re-election and the auditors be elected en
loc. The vote was unanimously in favour.

ELECTION OF NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS: There were four nominations for Committee

membership as follows:

Mike L. Grant — proposed P.J. Acock, seconded P.H. Ripley

Steve J. Munyard — proposed M.S. ,

Paul H. Ripley — proposed J.M. Ide, seconded A.M. Paul.
The above were duly elected unanimously.
Item 12 - CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES: As repo
item 4 above, the Charity Commissioners required amen

rted by the General Secretary under
dments and the addition of clauses

69

to the Constitution before they would confer charity status on the Society. The following
proposed changes were circulated with the last Bulletin.

1. Clause 2. OBJECTS The objects of the Society are to promote and encourage the cultivation
of ferns and other pteridophytes and to further the study of their taxonomy, distribution,

the public benefit particularly by encouraging the cultivation of ferns and other pteridophytes
and to further education in and study of their taxonomy, distribution, conservation and ecology
through publications, meetings and the provision of grants.

2. Clause 10. ALTERATION TO RULES This Constitution may be altered as follows: Any
proposal for alteration or addition to this Constitution shall be in writing, and shall be signed by
two members, and be deposited with the Honorary General Secretary not less than thirty days
before the Annual General Meeting. Such alteration or addition shall be included in the Agenda
of that meeting and circulated to all members and shall not be carried unless the votes of two-
thirds of the members present at the meeting are cast in favour.

To be amended as follows: ALTERATION TO RULES Any proposal for alteration or addition
to this Constitution shall be in writing, and shall be signed by twenty members, and be deposited
with the Honorary General Secretary not less than thirty days before the Annual General
Meeting or at an Extra-ordinary General Meeting called for the purpose. Such alteration or
addition shall be included in the Agenda of that meeting and circulated to all members and shall
not be carried unless the votes of two-thirds of the members present at the meeting are cast in
favour.

No alteration shall be made which would have the effect of making the Society cease to be a
charity at law. .

3. The addition of the following clauses of empowerment, inserted as Clause 4:

4. POWERS In furtherance of the objects but not otherwise the Executive Committee may
exercise the following powers:

(i) power to raise funds and to invite and receive contributions provided that in raising funds the
Executive Committee shall not undertake any substantial permanent trading activities and shall
conform to any relevant requirements of the law;

(ii) power to buy, take on lease or in exchange any property necessary for the achievement of the
objects and to maintain and equip it for use;

(iii) power subject to any consents required by law to sell, lease or dispose of all or any part of
the property of the Charity.

(ix) power to do all such other lawful things as are necessary for the achievement of the objects:
4. The additio

n Of the followi aia eae” a Clauses 5
and 6 ctively: wing clauses concerning the Society’s finances, inserted as

- ei AND EXPENDITURE
into an oo. including all donations contributions and bequests, sha
ed by the Executive Committee in the name of the Charity at sue

II be paid
h bank a

70

the Executive Committee shall from time to time decide. All cheques drawn on the account must
be signed by at least two members of the Executive Committee.
(ii) The funds belonging to the Charity shall be applied only in furthering the objects.

6. ACCOUNTS

The Executive Committee shall comply with their obligations under the Charities Act 1993 (or
any Statutory re-enactment or modification of that Act) with regard to:

(i) the keeping of accounting records for the Charity;

(ii) the preparation of annual statements of account for the charity;

(iii) the auditing or independent examination of the statement of account of the Charity; and
(iv) the transmission of the statements of account of the Charity to the Commission.

Original clauses 4-10 to be renumbered to take account of new clauses; separate paragraphs
within all clauses to be numbered appropriately.

Before putting the proposals to the vote, one correction to the published proposals was
noted: the first sentence of the proposed amended Clause 10 should read *... nor less than
thirty days before the Annual General Meeting or before an Extra-ordinary General
Meeting ...” The acceptance of all the changes was proposed by R.W. Sykes, seconded by
S.D. Martinelli and carried unanimously. [The revised Constitution can be seen on page 75.]

Item 13 - HONORARY MEMBERSHIP: A proposal to award Honorary Membership to
A.C. Jermy, supported by a detailed document setting out his contribution to the Society and to
pteridology in general, had been made by Miss J.M. Camus and seconded by Miss A.M. Paul.
The President noted that in the past the Society had been frugal in its giving of Honorary
Membership, however, the Committee was unanimous in its wish to honour A.C. Jermy in this
way and he was congratulated by the meeting. [See tribute on page 73 of this issue. ]

Item 14 — ANY OTHER BUSINESS: There being no further formal matters for
consideration, after two announcements the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 15.30
h

Jennifer M. Ide
Hon. Gen. Secretary

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

. The accounts reflect the subscriptions actually received in the year.
. BPS Booksales had assets of £5,361.24 (£5,708.28) at 31.12.2001.
. The Society also possesses the following asse
Back issues of the Bulletin, Fern Gazette and
Merchandise valued at approximately £1,500.
Booksales has a computer valued at £600 in 2000.

we No —

ts: ; :
Pteridologist valued at approximately £3,000.

- The Society made no grants in 2001.
. The Society bought a computer for the editor of Pteridologist for £1,1 apie
The numbers of copies of publications are shown on either side of the title.

mposium accounts 2000-2001

IDM fs

The difference (£78.40) was made up by BPS funds.
The committee had offered the symposium £400.00.
K. Munyard & P.H. Ripley

AUDIT iple
d them to be an accurate record of the Society s

We have audited these accounts and foun
finances.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2001

(2000)
£11,732.81
922;

£21,851.30

(8,022.93)
18,141.21

£10,118.28

6,255.14

£6,086.15

1,828.07
92.94

6.00
£1,927.01

ee

5,332.67

£5

ORDINARY ACCOUNT

INCOME:
Subscriptions

Symposium 2001
TOTAL INCOME

EXPENDITURE:
Pteridologist
Fern Gazette
Printing & Stationery
Administration & Postage

Subscriptions to Societies
Plant & Spore Exchanges

Special Interest Groups

TOTAL EXPENDITURE

BALANCE for current year

Balance brought forward

CENTENARY FUND

Balance brought forward
Interest

Grant
174. World ofFerns /72
Balance carried forward at 31.12.2001

GREENFIELD FUND

Balance brought forward
Interest

ants
Donations

Balance brought forward
Interest

History of British Pteridology

BPS Abstracts & Papers

Balance carried forward at 31.12.2001

Balance carried forward at 31.12.2001

PUBLICATIONS ACCOUNT

430

109.38 Balance carried forward at 31.12.2001

2001
£12.973.77
637.48

£33,483.43

2,940.85
10,118.28

£13,059.13

6,086.15
383.44

16.00

_ 26,485.59

1,927.01
121.41

3.00

_£2,051.42

5,109.38
321.90

_£5,954.30

AWARDS

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP - A. CLIVE JERMY

At the AGM on 16th March 2002 Honorary Membership was conferred on Clive Jermy for
his services to pteridology and to the BPS. The following tribute by JMC was published in
Taxon (42: 477-479, 1993) to mark Clive’s retirement from The Natural History Museum,
London and is reprinted here with permission, with amendments and additions.

Clive Jermy is a name associated round the world with ferns, conservation and sedges. He
took up the role of Head of the Fern Section in the Department of Botany of the British
Museum (Natural History), London, on 6th October 1958, after his postgraduate studies on
Carex at the University of Leicester.

He immediately took the British pteridological world in hand, publishing 4 preliminary
census list of British pteridophytes in 1959, the year he also took over as editor of the
British Pteridological Society’s journal The British Fern Gazette (now known as The Fern
Gazette). His influence over this Society has been impressive and of long duration. He has
held these offices: Editor of The Fern Gazette (1959-1965 sole editor, 1966-1983 with
others), Editor of Special Publications series (1984-2002), President (1982-1985) and Vice-
President (1987-1993).

The Society’s President Emeritus, J.W. Dyce, credited Jermy with taking the BPS (a mainly

horticultural and amateur society) ‘into the botanical world’ and making it a truly

international society at all levels of pteridology. Jermy encouraged the membership to think

about all aspects of a fern or fern ally — morphology, genome, ecology. In 1978 the Atlas of
Ferns of the British Isles was published as a result of collaboration initiated by Jermy

between the BPS and the Botanical Society of the British Isles. The BM Fern Crib (1987)

Was so popular that it led to publication of The Illustrated Field Guide to Ferns and Allied

Plants of the British Isles in 1991.

Jermy was the driving force behind two of the Society’s three international symposia: The

Phylogeny and classification of the ferns, held jointly with the Linnean Society in 1972, and

the BPS’s centenary symposium in 1991 on The cultivation and propagation of
pter idophytes.

He was awarded the Society’s rarely bestowed Stansfield Medal for outstanding services to

Pteridology in 1991.

Jermy’s enthusiastic and international role in furthering pteridology has led to the highly apt

tag of ‘catalyst’. There cannot be a pteridologist in the world of any discipline who is not

indebted to Jermy in some way or other. He has given unstinted encouragement to novices

and helped established scientists. His help has been especially valuable to those in countries

Where the pursuit of such academic studies has not been greatly supported. His

determination enabled him, in 1978, to be one of the first foreign scientists to visit the

People’s Republic of China in many years.

His publication (with Jim Crabbe and John Mickel) in 1975 of A new generic sequence for
the pteridophyte herbarium is widely used round the world by herbaria.

In 1981, Jermy instigated the International Association of Pteridologists, which started
under the aegis of the International Association of Plant Taxonomists. He has held the
Office of Chairman (1981-1987), and also edited its Newsletter from its initiation in 1986
until 1992.

Jermy has collected pteridophytes (and other plants) in every ecosystem from tundra to
everwet tropical forests. His collecting numbers are now in the 23,000s. His ample
collections of multiple sets are enhanced by his valuable sampling of “piccaninnies’
(sporeling plants), which greatly enriched the living collections of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, and opened up new avenues of pteridological research — developmental
studies, cytology, electrophoretic study of enzymes, and, most topical of all, DNA
sequencing.

Jermy’s renowned predecessor, A.H.G. Alston, died with his manuscript on South
American Se/aginella unfinished. This work was completed (with J.M. Rankin) and
published in 1981. His current research interests lie with lycopods (Diphasiastrum and
Isoetes) and ferns (Dryopteris affinis complex and Trichomanes). He has worked closely
with Dr Trevor G. Walker on aspects of taxonomy and cytology of the pteridophytes of
Trinidad and (with other colleagues as well) of SE Asia.

The enthusiasm Jermy gives to pteridology has spilled over into two other fields —
exploration and conservation.

He received the prestigious Murchison Award from the Royal Geographical Society,
London, in 1980. This is given for the advancement of geographical science and was
awarded to Jermy for his efforts as: scientific co-ordinator of the RGS Gunung Mulu,
Sarawak, expedition in 1977/78; first honorary head of the Expedition Advisory Centre at
the RGS; trustee of the Young Explorers’ Trust and its chairman for three years in the mid
1990s.

In the course of conservation, he has long been associated with local British organisations
such as the Norfolk Naturalists’ Trust and The Kent Trust for Nature Conservation. On the

British Isles since 1954, a Vice-President 1991-1995, an Honorary Member since 1997 and
an active member of their Conservation Committee. He was deeply involved with the
forming and managing of the Conservation Association of Botanical Societies in 1988 and
played a major role in the group that founded Plantlife (the only organisation solely devoted
to plant conservation) in 1989.

Pteridophyte taxonomy is, as a discipline, a good proving ground for stamina and
determination. Hence, two years before his retirement on 2nd July 1992, Jermy took up the
challenge of revitalising the Botany Department’s collections management policy when the
Department was restructured.

Jermy’s colleagues are secure in the knowledge that his retirement merely means the

shedding of administrivia and more time to devote to that most pleasurable occupation — the
study of ferns.

Josephine M. Camus

CONSTITUTION
OF THE BRITISH PTERIDOLOGICAL SOCIETY

As adopted at the AGM 27 September 1961 (with amendments 1972, 1975, 1983, 2000 & 2002)

1. NAME The Society shall be called “The British Pteridological Society”.

2. OBJECTS The objects of the Society are to promote horticulture for the public benefit
particularly by encouraging the cultivation of ferns and other pteridophytes and to further
education in and study of their taxonomy, distribution, conservation and ecology through
publications, meetings and the provision of grants. (March 2000, March 2002)

3. MANAGEMENT

(i) The Officers of the Society shall consist of a President, up to six Vice-Presidents, a
General Secretary, a Treasurer, the Editors of the Society’s regular publications comprising
the Bulletin, the Fern Gazette, the Pteridologist, the Society’s World Wide Web Site, a
Membership Secretary, a Meetings Secretary and a Conservation Officer. All posts being
honorary. (October 1972, March 2000)

(ii) The Management of the Society shall be in the hands of a Committee consisting of not
more than ten elected members with the addition of the Officers of the Society. Five
members, of which one will be an Officer, shall constitute a quorum. The Committee shall
have the power to co-opt additional members for special purposes, including Assistants to
the Honorary General Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and Editors of Publications. (October
1972, March 2000)

(iii) Any Holders of Committee appointments, such as Spore Exchange Organiser, Plant
Exchange Organiser, Booksales Organiser, or Archivist, who are not also either an elected
Officer of the Society or an elected Member of the Committee, will be eligible to attend
Committee Meetings but will have no voting rights. (March 2000)

(iv) The President shall be elected at an Annual General Meeting and remain in office for
three years and on retirement shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. All Vice-
Presidents shall be elected at an Annual General Meeting and remain in office for six
years. On retirement they shall not be eligible for re-election. All other Officers of the
Society shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting and remain in office until the
next Annual General Meeting when they shall retire but be eligible for re-election.
Members of the Committee shall be elected at an Annual General Meeting, and shall
remain in office until the next Annual General Meeting when they shall retire but be
eligible for re-election with the exception of the two members with the longest service
who shall not be eligible for re-election until after the lapse of one year. In the event of
there being more than two members of the Committee who would be ineligible for re-
election, the names of those to retire shall be decided by lot. Should a vacancy occur
during the year, such a vacancy may be filled by Committee. (February 1983, March
2000)

(v) A resolution in writing signed and agreed to by all members of the Committee for the
time being in the United Kingdom shall be as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at
a meeting of the Committee duly called and held, and may consist of several documents in
the like form each signed by one or more members of the Committee.

(vi) Nominations for Officers and members of the Committee must normally be received by
the Honorary General Secretary twenty-one days before the Annual General Meeting.

75

4. POWERS (New clause March 2002)

In furtherance of the objects but not otherwise the Executive Committee may exercise the
following powers:

(i) power to raise funds and to invite and receive contributions provided that in raising
funds the Executive Committee shall not undertake any substantial permanent trading
activities and shall conform to any relevant requirements of the law;

(ii) power to buy, take on lease or in exchange any property necessary for the achievement
of the objects and to maintain and equip it for use;

(ili) power subject to any consents required by law to sell, lease or dispose of all or any part
of the property of the Charity;

(iv) power subject to any consents required by law to borrow money and to charge all or
any part of the property of the Charity with repayment of the money so borrowed;

(v) power to employ such staff (who shall not be members of the Executive Committee) as
are necessary for the proper pursuit of the objects and to make all reasonable and necessary
provision for the payment of pensions and superannuation for staff and their dependants;
(vi) power to co-operate with other charities, voluntary bodies and statutory authorities
operating in furtherance of the objects or of similar charitable purposes and to exchange
information and advice with them;

(vii) power to establish or support any charitable trusts, associations or institutions formed
for all or any of the objects;

(vill) power to appoint and constitute such advisory committees as the Executive Committee
may think fit;

(ix) power to do all such other lawful things as are necessary for the achievement of the
objects.

5. RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE (New clause March 2002)

(i) The funds of the Charity, including all donations contributions and bequests, shall be
paid into an account operated by the Executive Committee in the name of the Charity at
such bank as the Executive Committee shall from time to time decide. All cheques drawn
on the account must be signed by at least two members of the Executive Committee.

(ii) The funds belonging to the Charity shall be applied only in furthering the objects.

6. ACCOUNTS (New clause March 2002)

The Executive Committee shall comply with their obligations under the Charities Act 1993
(or any statutory re-enactment or modification of that Act) with regard to:

(i) the keeping of accounting records for the Charity;

(ii) the preparation of annual Statements of account for the charity;

(iii) the auditing or independent examination of the statement of account of the Charity; and
(iv) the transmission of the statements of account of the Charity to the Commission.

7. MEETINGS

. The Annual General Meeting of the Society shall be held at such time and place as the
ommuittee may decide for the purpose of passing accounts, electing Officers and the

Committee and transacting the general business of the Society. General and field meetings
shall be held at the discretion of the Committee.

76

(ii) An Extra-ordinary General meeting shall be called by the Honorary General Secretary
within thirty days of receiving a request in writing from the Committee or of not less than
twenty members stating the purpose for which such a meeting is required.

(ili) At least twenty-one days notice of any General Meeting shall be given to all members.

8. NOTICES The accidental omission to give notice of a meeting to, or the non-receipt of
notice of a meeting by, any member shall not invalidate any proceedings or resolutions at
any meeting of the Society or any Committee thereof except in the case of removal from
membership.

9. ORDINARY MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS The annual subscription
payable by members shall be payable in advance, and due on the First of January in each
year, or on the election of the members. The rates of subscription shall be fixed by a
General Meeting from time to time. (October 1975)

10. HONORARY MEMBERSHIP The Committee may elect any person or persons to
Honorary Membership of the Society. Honorary Members shall be entitled to all the
ptivileges of membership, but shall not be liable for payment of any subscription.

11. REMOVAL FROM MEMBERSHIP
(i) Any member failing to pay his subscription within six calendar months of its becoming
due shall be liable to have his name removed from the List of Members of this Society.

(ii) Any member whose conduct in the opinion of the Committee is prejudicial to the
interests of the Society may be removed from membership by a two-thirds majority vote of
those present at a meeting of the Committee on the Agenda of which the words “Removal
of a Member” shall have appeared; provided no member may be so removed unless due
notice has been sent to the member of the intention of the Committee to proceed under this
tule and of the nature of the charges made and an opportunity has been afforded of
answering such charges to the satisfaction of the Committee. A member so removed shall
forfeit any claim upon the Society.

12. AWARDS The Committee may make awards in respect of plants of outstanding
Scientific or horticultural interest.

13. ALTERATION TO RULES

(i) Any proposal for alteration or addition to this Constitutio
Shall be signed by twenty members, and be deposited with the Honorary —
Secretary not less than thirty days before the Annual General Meeting or before an
Extra-ordinary General Meeting called for the purpose. Such alteration or addition shall
be included in the Agenda of that meeting and circulated to all members and shall not be
carried unless the votes of two-thirds of the members present at the meeting are cast in
favour. (March 2002)

(ii) No alteration shall be made which would have the effect of making the Society cease to
be a charity at law. (March 2002)

14. DISSOLUTION The Society may be dissolved by a vote of at least three-quarters
majority of those present and voting at an Extraordinary General Meeting called for that
Purpose and if an effective resolution for dissolution is passed the surplus funds and
Property of the Society shall be disposed of to an agreed charitable organisation of similar
interest. (March 2002)

n shall be in writing, and

OBITUARIES

JAMES ALBERT CRABBE 1914 — 2002

It is with great sadness that we report the news of Jim Crabbe’s death on 22nd August 2002.
That his name has been associated with The Fern Gazette (earlier known as The British
Fern Gazette) for the last 39 years is the finest tribute and lasting memorial to him.

Jim began his career at The Natural History Museum when it was still known as the British
Museum (Natural History) in 1932. His job bore the now extinct title of Attendant, and he _
was assigned to help the late A.H.G. Alston with the Fern Herbarium. His career was
interrupted for nearly six years by World War II, but, ever the kindly tutor, in the last
months of the war Jim asked his parents to send his natural history books out to him in Italy
so that he could wean his fellow servicemen back into education.

On his return to the Museum in 1946, he found that the building and some specimens had
been damaged during the war. However, this enabled the Department of Botany to expand
and Jim’s careful forethought and organisation resulted in the Fern Herbarium moving to
new accommodation and gaining the reputation of being one of the best curated collections
of fern specimens in the world.

The post-war years also saw the British Pteridological Society take on a new lease of life,
and Jim’s long involvement with the Society began in 1954. His name appears regularly in
accounts of Society field meetings. He is pictured on page 108 of The History of British
Pteridology 1891-1991 (Camus, ed. 1991) enjoying a rest, faithful camera in hand — he was
a keen photographer. He became a Committee Member in 1955 and in 1963 took on the
editorial duties that continued until his death. During this time he worked with ten co-
editors (A.H.G. Alston, Clive Jermy, Frances Jarrett, Barry Thomas, Chris Page, Jeffrey
Grimes, Mary Gibby, Barbara Parris, Josephine Camus and Alastair Wardlaw), training
most of them to his own high standards. He always had the interests of the Society at heart,
and when his health no longer permitted him to attend Committee meetings he was on the
phone early the next day demanding a detailed debriefing.

Ji : .
im Crabbe in the library of the South London Botanical Institute, 1992

78

Alston was succeeded by Clive Jermy, who shared the same desire for long collecting trips
abroad, so Jim was able to continue with his own projects and to provide valuable
assistance to fern researchers all over the world. Jim’s name is regularly featured in the
acknowledgements of major publications until his retirement from the Museum in 1979, By
this time he had risen considerably through the ranks to Senior Scientific Officer. His own
publications covered biographies, bibliographies and new discoveries amongst ferns, and he
was co-author of the very important work on the new generic sequence of ferns that has
been adopted by many herbaria worldwide.

In 1997 Jim donated a silver cup, the J.W. Dyce Trophy, to commemorate the great service
that his friend Jimmy had given over many years to the Society. It was agreed that the
Trophy would be awarded annually to the exhibitor who amassed the most points over all
classes at a BPS Fern Show.

Jim’s colleagues remember him as a cheerful and pleasant person with a ready smile and
good sense of humour. He had many friends in museums, universities and botanical
societies around the world. He was a strong character, especially when it came to the use of
words. Successive editors of The Fern Gazette had to stand firm on the use of metric
measurements and deny Jim the comfort of Imperial feet and inches. His notes with the
distinctive ‘JAC’ autograph are found throughout the Museum’s collections and books,
guiding the next generation along the right path. His personality and contributions to
pteridology and the Society will be greatly missed.

Jim’s wife Joyce, with whom he shared a love of music, died 16 years previously. We offer
our condolences to his daughters Jaquie and Jenny and their families.

Josephine Camus

HUGH VANNER CORLEY 1914 — 2002
Hugh Corley, a long-standing member of the Society, died on 19th October 2002, 12 days
after celebrating his 88th birthday. By the BPS, he will be remembered for his enthusiastic,
yet scientific studies of the male and buckler ferns for which he was elected an Honorary
Member in 1994.

Hugh was born in South India, where his father taught at, and was later Principal of, the
Christian College in Madras. He left India when he was four and went to school in England,
eventually attending Marlborough College, from where he gained entrance to Oriel College,
Oxford, to read zoology. After a brief period in the army he took up farming, at first
working as a pupil on a farm near Kelmscott. Towards the end of 1938 he bought recut
Farm at Faringdon. At that time, Pucketty, like many farms in Britain, was quite run down
and Hugh soon decided that he would try to build it up on organic principles. Not only did
he become an organic farmer, he eventually wrote a book on the subject, and in those early
days many people came to Pucketty to learn how to farm organically.

At the outbreak of World War II, Hugh was advised by the Gloucester Regiment that they
had plenty of officers and did not need him, so he resigned his commission and continued
farming, joining the Home Guard instead. In 1940, a land-girl called Betty Henry arrived at
the farm to help, and within three months Hugh and Betty were married.

In the 1950s, Hugh developed an interest in ferns — quite by chance. In North Wales he
Was showing his eldest son how to use a dichotomous key. They picked a common fern
at the roadside, which they tracked down to be the rigid buckler fern, Dryopteris villarii
(now D. submontana), only to find that it was listed as a very rare species. With the
determination that was characteristic of him, Hugh worked through the key again and

79

again to reach the ultimate
and correct answer that it
was the common male

50 years of enthusiastic
with S

he did thoroughly, and
the study of ferns was no
exception. He found out
about the BPS, and joined
the Society in 1962. He
egan to specialise in
Dryopteris, particularly the
mal m complex and
then the scaly male ferns,
a group with a_ wide
range of variation that is
enough even to wilt many
a professional botanist.
Another innovative photo: A.C. Jermy
contribution he made was
in being the first to
suggest formulae (e.g.
AB, AAB) for the possible combinations of genomes in what later became the subspecies
of Dryopteris affinis, work that is still being continued today.

Hugh Corley

He began to read around the subject, in particular Irene Manton’s milestone treatise on the
cytology of ferns, and other publications that were emerging from her School of fern
cytology. One line of published research into the buckler ferns (by Stanley Walker) had
stimulated Hugh to search for the ‘missing’ diploid parent of D. carthusiana. Hugh
contacted Stanley, then President of the BPS, who lent him an old microscope so that Hugh
could check spores to see if they were abortive and thereby a hybrid.

Fieldwork was done in southern England and Wales at weekends when the farming
calendar allowed it, and for many years in Argyll, a ‘hot bed’ of Dryopteris variation,
where the Corleys had a farming friend who they visited twice a year. In 1982 Hugh
was fern hunting in Kintyre and made the first discovery outside Finland of Dryopteris
x sarvelae (D. carthusiana x D. expansa). Hugh led a BPS Meeting in Argyll in 1996
when members visited 15 sites and saw much of interest (see BPS Bulletin 5(1): 3-5).

A living fern collection was built up at Pucketty — in the garden, in outhouses and in the
sitting room. Those in the house were usually in plastic sacks, sometimes for several
months, and (with the surrounding carpet!) were regularly sprayed with water until he
found time to pot them up; unconventional though he was, Hugh got his priorities right
and the ferns’ well-being came first. Many of these specimens were later studied in
depth by Walker, and latterly, by his former student Mary Gibby at the BM. Under
Stanley Walker’s tuition Hugh quickly learned to detect the exact stage when
developing Spores could be stained to show their chromosomes to allow both counting
and, in the case of hybrids, their grouping behaviour (‘pairs’ or ‘singles’) that allows
the observer to propose the plant’s lineage. Much of this ‘laboratory’ work was done 1
in carly hours of the morning and Hugh was told that chromosomes would not be
showing the required behaviour in the dark. He was quite unconcerned, however, we

80

how others did things, but simply followed what seemed to him the most sensible or
practical course. He stood the plant in front of electric lamps for a time before collecting
the required material.

He was a kind and generous person, and was always willing to assist anyone who needed
help or who showed an interest in ferns. One such person was a young student from Radley
College, Christopher Fraser-Jenkins, who struck up a long-lasting friendship with Hugh and
with his encouragement went on to study ferns, especially Dryopteris, on a worldwide
basis. On finding a species of Dryopteris new to science in N. Spain, Fraser-Jenkins named
it D. corleyi in honour of Hugh.

One problem that they solved between them concerned the (tetraploid) common male
fern (D. filix-mas). Professor Manton’s studies had shown that this species had been
formed from the hybrid of two (diploid) ancestral species, one of which (D. oreades) she
collected in the English Lake District. The other had been searched for but was hitherto
unknown. Hugh, from his intimate knowledge of the species morphology, drew up an
‘identikit’ of the plant they needed to find and encouraged Fraser-Jenkins to search for it
on his travels. The latter eventually found it by chance, first in NE Turkey and then in
the Caucasus. The resulting research was published as a joint paper in the Fern Gazette
after they found that it had been named in Russia in the early 19th Century but had been
long overlooked.

In the seventies Hugh Corley trained as a chiropractor, being one of the first pupils of the
late John McTimoney. He was not just content to learn to be a chiropractor; he built on
McTimoney’s ideas, and founded the Oxford College of Chiropractic. His claim that many
common illnesses were the result of skeletal maladjustments was often shown to be true.
When Hugh discovered that I suffered from sciatic pains he insisted on checking my
vertebral column whenever we met, whether at home, at Pucketty, in the Museum
herbarium, or in the field.

Over the 50 years that I have known Hugh and his wife Betty, I have been privileged to
have been accepted into his family circle. I have been grateful for his mental stimulation
both in the field and during those late-night discussions, Hugh pointing out, albeit gently,
when and where my reasoning was flawed. Betty passed away seven months before him but
he leaves eight children, 16 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He will be sadly

missed by them and all who came into his ambit.
Clive Jermy

BETTY MOLESWORTH ALLEN OBE 1913 — 2002
Betty Allen, a shy and self-deprecating person who had quietly contributed significantly to
the science of botany in both Asia and Europe, died on 11th October in south Spain at the
age of eighty-eight. She was a BPS member for 25 years, first joining in 1957.

Betty Eleanor Gosset Molesworth was born on 21st July 1913, in Opotiki, New Zealand,
her father, Ernest, having emigrated there during the 1890s to make a life as a sheep
farmer. When Betty was 14 she contracted tuberculosis, often a killer in those days, and
Spent two years in confinement in a sanatorium. During this time she spent much time
reading books about the natural world, whetting her appetite for a life-long interest in
plants.

She then found a part-time job at Auckland Museum mounting plants specimens (in fact,
Banks and Solander collections made on Captain Cook’s voyages of discovery to New
Zealand and Australia in the 1770s). It was here that she developed an ambition to read
Natural sciences at Cambridge University, but intermittent illness prevented her from

81

pursuing it. She did, however, eventually move to Dunedin where she read botany under
Prof. J. Holloway. Holloway’s speciality was ferns, and it was he who first worked out the
life cycle of Psilotum nudum, a fact that made Betty aware of the plant wherever she
subsequently travelled.

At the outbreak of World War II Betty
volunteered for service in the Royal Air
Force, but knew that her health would
prevent her from being accepted.
However, she got a job driving lorries
in New Zealand. After the war she
returned to Auckland Museum, as their
Botanist. On the strength of her
knowledge of the Pacific flora, Betty
was offered a bursary to work for two
years at Basle University, to be
followed by fieldwork on the island of
New Caledonia. Realising that she was

familiarise herself with them. She
arrived there in 1947 and stayed with
her cousin David Molesworth, a
pioneer doctor. Within the year she had
met and married an ex-RAF officer,
Geoffrey Allen. He was to become a
merchant with Jardine Matheson and
already had a wide experience of India
and the Far East. His strong interest in
; birds and insects complemented Betty’s
photo: JM. Castle-Smith love of plants. Betty sent her apologies
Betty Molesworth Allen to Basle, and went with Geoffrey to
collect plants in Thailand and Borneo.

She soon met up with R.E. Holttum, Director of Singapore Botanic Garden, who was then
completing a definitive account of the Ferns of Malaya, and Betty took the chance of
narrowing her studies and decided to concentrate on these plants. She had an excellent
memory and a discerning eye for detail, an aspect that was appreciated by Holttum and he
published her observations in Appendix 2 of his book, then ready for printing. Her Malayan
and Thai collections are deposited in Singapore BG (SING), with various duplicates and
other collections in Auckland (AK), Kepong (KEP), Kew (K), NHM, London (BM),
Smithsonian (US) and Stockholm (S)

Betty

and Geoffrey shared nearly forty years of happy marriage, most of it based in
Malaysia where they travelled much. In 1963 they retired to Los Barios, S. Spain,
where Betty took up the study of the Spanish vascular flora with enthusiasm, sending
many specimens to Prof. T. Tutin at Leicester University. Tutin and his colleagues were
at that time working on a major project, Flora Europaea, and Spain at that time was
under-collected. Betty made many new discoveries and several records of ferns that
were either new sites or confirmation of records over 50 years old: Culcita macrocarp4,

82

had seen in many sites in SE Asia and that had not been found north of the Sahara at
this longitude.

Betty was soon sought out by Spanish botanists, who were now on the increase. She
contributed to the Flora Vascular de Andalucia Occidental and wrote many articles in local
magazines. Her last book, A Selection of Flowers of Andalucia, was published in 1993. In
1988 she was made an Honorary Daughter of Los Barrios, a rare distinction for a non-
Spaniard, and in 1995 she was awarded the H.H. Bloomer Award by the Linnean Society of
London. Three years later she received an OBE.

She remained in contact with Eric Holttum, whom she regarded as her mentor, until his
death and attended the Holttum Memorial Pteridophyte Symposium at Kew in 1995,
meeting up with old friends. She was kind and helpful to any botanist who arrived in Los
Barrios and, once she had assessed their motives as genuine, enjoyed showing them her
sites of ferns, walking many miles even when in her eighties. She was a conservationist to
the end and could not tolerate any kind of wanton collection of specimens. She was
respected and loved by all who met her. Her papers and library are being reorganised and
will eventually be available to scholars through Martin Jacoby, to whom I am grateful for
much of the information given above.

Clive Jermy

JOHN D. BOND

Although never active in the management of our Society, John Bond was one of the most
influential fern growers over the last 25 years. He was for many years a member of the
council of the Royal Horticultural Society, a position he used to keep abreast of all aspects
of gardening including promoting fern growing. As a frequent exhibitor at RHS flower
shows over the last ten years I was always delighted to see John on the list of judges. He
Was certainly no pushover but he knew his plants, including ferns of course, and I always
knew I would get a fair assessment; his friendly advice and comments on my display were
always immensely helpful.

He joined our Society in 1977, and as head of the garden staff at the Savill Garden in
Windsor Great Park he built up the National Collection of ferns in the gardens. Unlike most
National Collections, his was a general collection covering all genera of hardy ferns, plus a
few not so hardy in the greenhouse. He had a collection of 286 taxa including many unusual
ferns collected by Christopher Fraser-Jenkins. John was an incredible plantsman. At Savill
he established other National Collections — conifers (2,822 taxa), Hex (353), Magnolia (78),
Pernettya (40), Pieris (102) and some Rhododendron (813). In addition to all these he had
Superb collections of many other groups.

In 1991 I asked if the BPS centenary tour could visit the Savill Garden; we were
welcomed warmly on the day despite the fact that we were running well over an hour
late. I was very embarrassed but he made nothing of it. He gave us a wonderful tour.
More recently John was asked to write the Plantfinder’s Guide to Garden Ferns for
David and Charles; he agreed but soon after signing all the agreements his wife fell ill
and sadly died. At the same time John was also unwell and not up to writing the book. I
am not sure, but I believe he suggested David and Charles invite me to take on the
work. This I did and the rest is history, although prior to publication John did say how
Pleased he was that I was writing the book. On the face of it he recovered from this
illness but I never saw him looking well again. He was a gentleman who will be greatly
Missed,

Martin Rickard

JOHN MASHITER 1909 — 2002

The death on June Ist of John Mashiter
ended one of the longest running family
memberships of this Society. John, who first
joined c.1960 and had followed his father as
a member, died at the age of 93.

Born in Westmorland (now part of Cumbria
in the Lake District), John was always a
countryman at heart, but his chosen career of

qualified chartered secretary and he was also
a linguist, speaking seven European
languages. Not surprisingly, he was destined
for a successful career but after spells in
Manchester and Liverpool he declined to

Yorkshire Dales and not too far from the hoon a
Lake District) and he held this position for John Mashiter
21 years until his retirement in 1969.

Prior to retirement, he had stumbled across a building plot at Arnside, Cumbria on which he
had his retirement home built, albeit always secondary to his garden! Situated in a valley,
John devoted his entire retirement to creating a splendid garden at his home of which the
main feature was a hillside, which he excavated by hand back to rock-face and where he
created a renowned garden of ferns and alpines.

His interest in ferns and alpines went back to early days when John, along with his father,
travelled extensively in Europe long before the days of package holidays, their mode of
transport being train and bike. On these trips, father and son admired flora and fauna In
alpine meadows and mountains, and these holidays provided his inspiration.

A modest man, he created his gardens for the pleasure of propagation and achievement
rather than for public show. He delighted in showing members of the Society around his
garden and many members will recall the wonderful afternoon spent at his garden during
the BPS Centenary year.

Richard Mashiter

PETER G. CORBIN

Peter joined the Society in 1969 and occasionally attended meetings in the Devon and
Cornwall area. Sadly I only met him a few times way back in the early 1970s, although we
have corresponded a little since. He was a knowledgeable biologist, and a good companion
in the field; he used to work in marine biology. His greatest claim to pteridological fame
was his discovery of a true wild Asplenium scolopendrium ‘Crispum’ twenty or more yeats
ago. Apart from another fine ‘Crispum’ found in Cheddar Gorge by Christopher Potts 1
1984, I know of no other wild finds of this cultivar from the last 50 years at least. Even that
great hunter Jimmy Dyce often lamented that he never found one — for the record neither
have I! Sadly I never saw Peter’s plant; hopefully the new custodians of his garden can find
it and preserve it.

Martin Rickard

DR JAMES C. PARKS 1942 — 2002

Those who met Jim Parks at several BPS meetings over the last ten years will be sorry to hear
that he died suddenly just before Christmas. He had undergone a quintuple by-pass and other
vascular surgery in May 2002 but recovery and the prospects for the future had been good.

At Millersville University, Pennsylvania, his teaching duties over 34 years covered a wide
range of subjects in Higher and Lower Plant Biology, Systematics and Evolution. He
participated in a variety of local and State activities concerned with recording, publicising
and conserving the Pennsylvania flora, and (with Jim Montgomery) was preparing a
taxonomic treatment of pteridophytes for the Flora of Pennsylvania project.

His interest in pteridophytes developed during a field course led by Don Farrar at the
University of Virginia’s Mountain Lake Biological Station in 1978. In 1981 he began
working with Don on independent fern gametophytes in north-east USA. In 1983 they
published, with Bruce McAlpin, the first report of Vittaria and Trichomanes, as
gametophytes, in Pennsylvania, where sporophytes of these genera had not at that time been
found, and later Jim published the results of an intensive survey of the distribution of
independent gametophytes in Pennsylvania.

In the meantime, Jim had worked with Charlie Werth on an investigation, using allozyme
analysis, of population structure in a stand of Pteridium aquilinum in Virginia, reporting the
largest clone of bracken then known, at least 1.1km across. In 1993, Jim, accompanied by
his wife Vicki, came to the UK to work with Stuart Lindsay and me at the Royal Botanic
Garden Edinburgh. Over a period of several months he conducted a comparative study of
allozymes and frond and spore morphology in Cystopteris dickieana from the type locality
and in other representatives of the C. fragilis complex. This work yielded no support for
treating C. dickieana as a separate species. The following year Jim came again to Edinburgh
to participate in the BPS meeting on ‘Ecology and Conservation of Scotland’s Rare Ferns’,
where he spoke about his work on Cystopteris. More recently, he participated in the BPS
International Symposium ‘Fern Flora Worldwide — threats and responses’, presenting a
paper he had prepared with S. Grund on ‘Aspects of conservation action in a large nation;
at-risk pteridophyte conservation in the USA’. At the time of his death he had plans to work
with Jim Montgomery on a Field Guide to the Fern Flora of Pennsylvania, making use of
his extensive field experience. He was due to retire from the University later in 2003 but
was looking forward to continuing his fern interests as well as having more time with the
families of his two daughters, Heather and Holly.

the loss of his detailed knowledge of the distribution a ert.
Pennsylvania (not only the ferns). I will miss a good friend, whose apa ngs pe
apposite quotations, wry sense of humour and thought-provoking comments ee He am
World in general, provided stimulation, information and entertainment in equal measure.
Adrian Dyer

IN MEMORIAM

We were also sorry to learn of the death of the following me mbers:

Mr J.K. McCormick of Co. Down, who joined the Society in gus

Mr Rudolf Schweizer of Switzerland, who joined the Society in 1985. saePesiaite >

Mr Peter Hindle of Penwortham, Preston, who joined cnt: Shia , Our
stalwart of the North-West Group and recently became Joint abi Demmeeeaitc

condolences to his wife, Joan, who is also a member.

85

MEMBERSHIP LIST: ADDITIONS AND AMENDMENTS
NEW MEMBERS

* new members 2002, ** new members 2003, # members rejoined 2002
* Adkins, Dr M.S., 1 Streamside, Fleet, Hants. GU51 3LX
* Alexander, Mr W., 28 Mount Eagle Rise, Leopardstown Heights, Dublin 18, Ireland
* Anderson, Mrs I.G., Greystones, Ley Lane, Olveston, Bristol BS35 4D
** Askham Aan College, Attn. Mrs Lynn Gray, Askham Bryan, York YO23 3FR
** Baggott, Mr M.A. & Mrs L.C., The Nutshell, Canon a penne Nr. Le ae Herefordshire HR8 2TB
* Ball, Mr P.G., 33 Clovelly Drive, Newburgh, West 8 7L
* Bambrough, Mr N.J., 17 Hadrian Drive, Coles hill, Warvvicks. B46 THW
* Barker, Dr J.H.A., IACR - Long Ashto n Research Station, Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9AF
* Barker, Mr M.S., Department of Botany, Miami University, Oxford OH 45056, USA
** Bass, Mr L., 2 Pascali Place, Banbury, Oxon OX16 7FG
ig Beaton, Mr W.M.Y., 105 Henderson Row, ny i EH3 5BB, Scotland
* Beety, Mr E., 28 Barton Terrace, Leeds LS11
** Betts, Dr T. ‘of 30520 Sodaville Mtn Home Road, Lebanon, Oregon 97355, USA
- Bishop, Mr M. , St Michael’s Lodge, Hinton Admiral, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 7DY
** Brown, Mr B. N. , 4 Bank Parade, Otley, West Yorks. LS21 3DY
* Budd, Mr J.R., 31 Walsall Road, Little Aston, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B74 3BA
: Burrow, Miss H. L., Room 9, Burwood House, Maynes Row, Tuckingmill, Camborne,
Cornwall TR14 8QP
** Butler, Mr N.J., 4 Higher Hollicombe Cottages, Hollicombe Lane, Preston, Torquay, Devon TQ3 2DS
* Byfield, Mr A.J ., 21 Fishers Road, Totton, Southampton, Hants. SO40 9HW
am s

l
* Cogan, Mr B.H., Oakside, The Street, pace Norfolk NR29 5AZ
* Collecott, Miss B., Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB
: * Cook, Mrs N.A.. 11367 Eastside Road, Sruydaing Ohio 45130, USA
Corcoran, Bos CR. = & Mr R.P.S. Barnwell, 3 Bryn Place, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire

: Crow, Mr G., 155 Gilbert Road, Smethwick, West Midlands B66 4PY
** Donnelly, Mrs C.J. , Flat 2, 41 Palace Court, London
: ** Drury, Miss G.E. & Mr AR. Gray, 4 Peterson Court, Euxton Lane, Chorley, Lanes. PR7 IPS
: esi m, Ms S.J., AEN Division, [ACR - Rothamsted, Harpenden, Herts. 2JQ
: etcher, >. , Huitson House, Aldwark, Alne, York, North Yorks. YO61 1UB
Garrett, Mr P., 7 Roxburgh Croft, Leamington Spa, Warwicks. CV32 7HT
* Gebruers, Dr R. , Jachtstraat 35, Mol, 2400, Belgium
: Green, Mr P.R. , Coombe egate Cottage, St Ive Cross, Liskeard, Cornwall PL14 3LZ
: Harris, Mr RC; 2 Creynolds Close, Cheswick Green, Solihull, West Midlands B90 4EW
if olin Mr S.C.P., Fair Oak, North Street, re sori rth, Hants. PO10 8SP
, isha Mr J.J., Naktergalen 39C, Hjarup, S-24562,
"Stats DELS & Mrs V.P.M., 62 Station Road, “at pabanag on Dove, Burton on Trent,

* Hunt, Miss H.V., St John’ s Colle
ge, poopy e CB2 ITP
nig E., FIU Biolo 67, 11200 SW. 8th Street, Miami, Florida 33199, USA
: ume " B. = 133 Harrow Road, Wollatos Park, Nottingham NG8 1FL 4AQ
race ke owan, Dr R.T., Ma alplaquet House, 137-139 Mile End Road, London E? SHR
* hatets r EP. & Mrs sRL., 12 Westfield Rise, Saltdean, Brighton, East t Sussex BN2
sect A M.A., 41 Babbacombe Gardens, Ilford, Essex IG4 5LZ
— e, Ms S., 743 Crest Lane, Springfield, Oregon 97477, USA
» D-P., 12616 Ibbetson Ave., Downey, CA 90242-5050, USA tland
Manze, Mr P . Cr. raigendarroch Walk, Ballater, Aberdeenshire AB35 5ZB, Sco
»MrP.T., 11 Sinnels Field, Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxon OX7 6EJ 3NR
, G., 24 Hollingthorpe Grove, Hall Green, Wakefield, West jabra Wh POd opt

-A., Dept. Plant & Soil Science, University of Aberdeen, Cruickshank

* Moore, tmal University, No. 88, Sec "Tin Chow Rd., Taipei 116, Roe; .
. CF wes = ot of Earth Sciences, Cardiff “Tigh PO Box 914, Car diff
, Schoo 3AB
Moths, babar | of Horticulture, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW?
wansenstr, 2, Hamburg, D-22049, Germany

86

* Munro, Mr N.F., 6 Pitmaston Court, Goodby Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8RJ
** Muse, Mr A. F., 26 Diksmuide Drive, Ellesmere, Shropshire SY12 9QA
* Myhrvold, Dr N. P., 1422 130th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA
* Noakes, Mr R., 25 Stukeley se Holbeach, Spalding, Lincs. PE12 7LQ
* Northwood, Mr G. , 2 High Causeway, Much Wenlock, Shropshire TA3 6BZ
** Ogden, Mr WRE. , 20 Clifton Rei Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV6 9AP
* Orgee, Mr MLR., Ferne Park, Berwick St John, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 0EU
* Partridge, Mr R., 26 Park Close, Cheslyn Hay, Staffs. W
** Pasek, Mr S.R. & Ms DM. Pasek- Atkinson, 29 ee Avenue, Chilwell, Beeston,

: ; um
* Polkey, Prof. C.E., 121 Court Lane, Dulwich, London SE21 7EE
* Ponder, Mr L.J., 71 Station Road, North Walsham, Norfolk NR28 0BW
* Powell, Dr G., Adonis emery 25 South William Street, Dublin, Ireland
* Quinn, Mr N.A., 93 Linwood Close, London SES 8UX
* Rajan, Dr J.A., 11 Went Close, St Albans, Herts

. AL4 9JW
* Robinson, S., Ivy Cottage, Ixworth Road, Honington, ge IP31 1QY
# Rogers, Clir K., 8 Birch Coppice, Droitwich Spa, Worcs., WR9 7
R , 37 Saint ewido s Road, Perth PH2 ets ia
— Mr J., Creacombemoor Cottage, Rackenfor on EX168
* artz, Mr D.K., 9715 Chi sai ait Bakersfield, California 933 12-5617, USA
. Scary, cS, 105 Buckingham Roa orlton, Manc

, Z
= ters have Mr B. & Mrs S.E., 117 Newington Drive, Bury, Lancs. BL8 2EG
* Super Channel Enterprise Corp., c/o Museum of Natural Science, P.O. Box 43-478, Taipei, 110, China
* Thomas, Mr S., Hen Ardd, Carreg y Garth, Rhiwlas, ssaraiie’ Gwynedd LL57 4HD, Wales
5 aan Mr P.B., 15 Beacon yey, Littlehampton, lakes ee BN17 6
* Torres, Mr S.M., Sunnybank House, Moor Monkton, York, North ea be 8JA

M. .N
* Warren, Mr D.R., 18 Birch Tree Avenue, West Wickham, Kent BR4 9EJ
* Watkins, Jr, Mr J.E., 1018 NW 10th Ave, Gainesville, Florida 32601, USA
* White, Mrs A.L. 59 Whitebridges, Honiton, Devon EX14 2
* Wilding, Miss F., RHS Garden, Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH
* Wilks, Mr D.S., Winnstan , 3A Heol Maes, Yr-Haf, Pencoed, Mid Glamorgan CF35 5QJ, Wales
sg Wilmott, Mr O., 22 Long "Walk, New Milden, Surrey KT3 3EJ
7 Yansura, Mr D., 330 Camel Avenue, Pacifica, California 94044, USA

CHANGES OF ADDRESS
Ashcroft, Dr C., 53 Keppel Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, bestest M21 OBP

inson, Miss W.J., Botany Section, Liverpool Museum, William Brown Street, Live verpool L3 8EN
BIOSIS, ‘Source Log In, T Te wo Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Suite 700, Philadelphia,

.M., St W..G el ny Onta o NIC 7, Canada
Brown, Mr S., | skouees Court, 37 inh Park Hill A South Croydon, Surrey CR2 er
Bungard, Dr S.J., Ceol-na-Mara, West Suisnish, Isle of Raasay, By Kyle, IV40 8NX, Scotlan
Davies, Dr The Rectory, 56 Lichfield Road, Stone, Staffs. ST15 8PG
Dickinson, Mr T.M., 3 Prospect Road, Wellingt Telford, Shropshire TF1 3BE
Earnshaw, Dr M.., Terrace, Brough, Kirkby — Cc ree Cc : i
Gias, Mr M., 77 Howard Street, Apt. 2202, Toronto, Un
Gray, Mr P.J., 73 Kenilworth Road, Monkseaton, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear NE25 8BB

Kelly, Mr G.J., 12 Mitchell Street, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Irelan

Laws, Dr H., PO Box 9, South Hobart, TAS 7004, Peshoan lia

Lellinger, Dr D. B., 326 West St N.W., Vienna, VA 22810-4151, USA i. Wieeactaele
Lindsay, Dr S., Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Avenue, C ambridge, Massac

M T e Farm, Attadale, Strathcarron, Wester Ross IV54 8YX, Scotland
i t TN4 0
Mullin, Mi TEM. Mi acre d, Southborough oa Fold. Blackburn Road, Higher Wheelton,

orley, Lancs. PR6 8
Mundy, Dr a 12 Bogs Gap Lane, Steeple Morden, Herts. SG8 OPN
Quinn, Mr NA. 93 Linwood Close, London S x
Schmitt, Mr L., Flurweg 12, Grie belschied, a nega

, Oxon
Wares i cea oe _ Durham, County Durham DH1 4HT
HG1

Womack, Dr J.G., 25 Eastville Terrace, Harrogate, North Yorks.
Won = Mr LM. 50 Shambrook Road, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, Herts. EN7 6WB

87

MEETINGS PROGRAMME 2003

ogre Secretary: P.J. Acock j
Meetings Subcommittee: R.G. Ackers, N.J. Hards, J.M. Ide, A. Leonard, P.H. Ripley
Sat. 22 March Spring Meeting & AGM — Natural History Museum, London
Leader: Graham Ackers
Sat. 24 - Sat. 31 May Week Field Meeting — South-West Ireland
Leaders: Stephen & Karen Munyard
Sat. 21 - Sun. 22 June Weekend Field Meeting — Machynlleth, Mid Wales
eaders: Barry Thomas & Pat Acock
Tues. 15 - Fri. 25 July Overseas Field Meeting & Garden Excursion — Seattle,
Washington a USA
Leader

e Olsen
Thurs. 21 - Sat. 23 Aug. Southport F phe Show: BPS Stand
urther Info.: tt Busby
Fri. 22 - Sat. 23 Aug. <ssroteg to coincide with Southport Flower Show
eader: Pat Acock
Sat. 13 - Sun. 14 Sept. Weekend Field Meeting — Ilfracombe, North Devon
Leader: Paul Ripley
Sat. 8 Nov. oe Meeting on Tree-Ferns — RBG Kew, Surrey
Leaders: Graham Ackers & Alastair Wardlaw
8 - 19 Jan. 2004 Orenen Field Meeting — Trinidad, West Indies
Leader Yasmin Baksh-Comeau & Graham Ackers

For further details of these and other meetings of interest to members, including information
on accommodation, please see the separate Meetings Programme sheet. This can be sent to
Overseas members on request.

REGIONAL MEETINGS

For details of additional meetings in the following areas, please contact the regional

organisers, enclosing a stamped addressed envelope.

Leeds & District B. Wright, 130 Prince Rupert Drive, Tockwith, York YO26 7PU
e-mail: Leeds@eBPS.org.uk

South-East England P.H. Ripley, North Lodge, Dene Park Gardens, Shipbourne Road,

onbridge, Kent TN11 9NS; e-mail: SouthEast@eBPS.org.uk

East Anglia B.R. Stevenson, Willow Cottage, Cowlinge, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 9QB
e-mail: EastAnglia@eBPS.org.uk

North-West England Mrs F. Haigh, 56 Church Street, Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7DZ
e-mail: NorthWest@eBPS.or g.uk

Cornwall IJ. Bennallick, Lower Polmorla St, Wenn, Bodmin, Cornwall PL30 5PE
e-mail: Cornwall@eBPS.org.uk

Scotland Dr H.S. McHaffie, 180 Granton Road, Edinburgh EHS 1AH
e-mail: Scotland@eBPS.org.uk

SPORE LIST ADDENDUM

Spores of the following five taxa were not included on the spore list:
36 Adiantum peruvianum 1071
1705S Platycerium bloomei 1706
1066 Platycerium elephantotis

Platycerium lemoinei
Platycerium ridleyi

Barry Wright

ii

753 0031 TT
REGINALD KAYE Ltd
Silverdale, Lancashire LA5 0TY
Stock a very comprehensive collection of
BRITISH FERNS AND THEIR CULTIVARS
Catalogue on request

FIBREX NURSERIES Ltd
Honeybourne Road, Pebworth, nr Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire CV37 8XT
Hardy and tender ferns
Begonias, Gloxinias, Hederas, Hydrangeas, Primroses, Arum Lilies
and plants for the cool greenhouse
Catalogue on request

RICKARDS HARDY FERNS Ltd
Hardy and half hardy ferns
Carreg y Fedwen, Sling, Tregarth, nr Bangor, Gwynedd LLS7 4RP
Please send stamped addressed envelope for list

FANCY FRONDS
Specialising in North American and British hardy ferns
Judith Jones
1911 4th Avenue West, Seattle, Washington 98119, USA
Send two International Reply Coupons for catalogue

The Fern Nursery, Grimsby Road, Binbrook, Lincolnshire LN3 6DH
Please send stamped addressed envelope for list

ee
MRS J.K. MARSTON

Specialist Fern Grower . :

A wide range of hardy and greenhouse ferns, especially Adiantums

Culag, Green Lane, Nafferton, nr Driffield, East Yorkshire YO25 OLF
Send £1 for catalogue

MONKSILVER NURSERY
Oakington Road, Cottenham, Cambridge CB4 4TW
Hardy British and foreign ferns
(together with over 700 choice herbaceous and woody plants)
Please send six first class stamps for catalogue