New England Wild Flower Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society

Transcription

1 New England Wild Flower Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society Ferns

2 Making Conservation Possible The New England Wild Flower Society s Permanent Conservation Endowment Fund The New England Wild Flower Society is committed to protecting native plants and their habitats. Please consider sharing in our commitment. For information, call the Society s development officer at , extension 3801.

3 New England Wild Flower Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society Volume 6, No. 3, 2002 Featuring FERNS of New England 2 Fern Evolution and History by Elizabeth Farnsworth 4 Natural History, Fern Facts, and Fern Biology 101 by Cheryl Lowe and Michelle Baumflek 8 Fern Portraits by Pam Thomas and Amy McIntire 20 Fern Look-alikes by Cayte McDonough 22 Wood Ferns of New England by Arthur V. Gilman 24 Fern Propagation by William Cullina 25 Landscaping with Ferns by Tom Smarr 28 Fern Allies by Arthur Haines 32 Fern Conservation in New England by Chris Mattrick 32 Fern Aficionados by Greg Lowenberg 36 References This publication was made possible through the generosity of Jackie and Tom Stone, The Millipore Foundation, and members and friends of the New England Wild Flower Society. Ferns of New England When I first arrived in New England over 20 years ago, I was thrilled by the new plants I was seeing, but I was most overwhelmed by the abundance of the ferns. There are plenty of fern species in the Mid-Atlantic states, but it was the exuberance of the ferns that grew in ditches, woodlands, and wetlands, seemingly everywhere I drove in New England, that got my immediate attention. I was soon to discover that this profusion also masked a bewildering assortment of species, many highly specific to certain habitats. Since ferns are so ubiquitous here, it is possible that New Englanders might become a bit blasé toward them, but the New England Wild Flower Society has never lost its enthusiasm for these ancient plants. Over 100 years ago, NEWFS was founded out of a concern over the destruction of our native flora. In 1901, the second leaflet produced by the Society lamented the gross destruction of ferns occurring at that time, primarily through overcollection. Although our concern for collection of native plants from the wild still exists, many common fern species have recovered nicely. As this issue of Conservation Notes shows, however, some fern species are still rare in the region as a whole, or in one or more states. Collection of rare species is always a concern, but destruction of habitat is the more insidious and prevalent threat today. NEWFS again went back to its roots by dedicating 2002 as the Year of the Fern. This issue reminds us that this ancient group of plants has much to offer us (and we have much to learn about them). We intend this to be a primer on ferns, with enough information to entice you to become reacquainted with some old friends and also to become aware of some of the recent discoveries, both botanical and horticultural. We hope that you ll enjoy learning about the history of ferns, their biology, their landscape use, their conservation, and their taxonomy. So sit back, and enjoy the read, and by the time you re finished, you won t take our pteridological neighbors for granted. Bill Brumback NEWFS Conservation Director

4 FERNEvolution and Devonian ma Carboniferous ma Permian ma Triassic ma Jurassic ma Cretac First ferns appear Horsetails Osmunda species Marattiales Angiopteris Seed ferns Lygodium, Salvinia, Azolla Polpo Some of the important milestones in fern evolution, showing the geological periods We call ourselves the New England Wild Flower Society, so why did we recently devote a whole year to the celebration of ferns, with nary a flower among the bunch? As diverse and charismatic as the flowering plants are, they ve been around just a blink of an eye compared to ferns, which have held sway on this planet for most of the last 470 million years. In fact, ferns were only overtaken by the angiosperms (with their new-fangled systems for getting pollinated and making seeds with coats) some 90 million years ago. Our Ferns have had to be tough to survive 500 million years, and they still show up in some of the most challenging places on earth. This fern, Saddleria cyathoides, is one of the first colonizers of new lava flows in Hawaii. 2 New England Wild Flower Society embraces the whole evolutionary history of plants, and the present-day wonder of ferns on earth tells a story that stretches back almost to the first tentative days when green plants began their photosynthetic lives on land. The fern is the great-granddaddy of the flower. Ferns occupy a thick slice of the fossil record. Spectacularly beautiful, lacy fossil ferns began to show up in the Middle to Late Devonian, 370 million years ago (ma)*, not long after the first vascular plants struggled up from the sea into terrestrial habitats. At that time, geologists tell us, North America and Europe treaded water together somewhere near the equator, enjoying moist tropical climates, while Siberia fended off glaciers in the north, and the rest of the land masses formed a composite continent in the southern hemisphere. Rhacophyton, one of the most ancient Devonian ferns, bore little resemblance to modern ferns except in the fine structure of its vessels and rhizomes. Stauropteris, appearing about 20 million years later in the Carboniferous, displayed an elaborate filigree of branching fronds comparable to later ferns. At the same time, intriguing groups known *ma million years ago This modern tree fern forest of Hawaii harkens back to the Carboniferous. as the seed ferns were experimenting with new shapes and lifestyles. Sadly, we know these seed ferns only from rocks principally fossil tar balls from West Virginia and Illinois; they are now entirely extinct. But they were harbingers of the seedbearing plants that would later come to dominate the earth. One such sapling-sized seed fern, Trigonocarpus, produced peanutsized seeds on its fronds. Early fern history included many false starts. According to Kathleen Pryer, an expert on fern evolution from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, five or more families of fern recognized from the Carboniferous

5 History by Elizabeth Farnsworth, Ph.D. NEWFS Conservation and Research Plan Editor eous ma Paleogene ma Neogene ma Recent Times dium Asplenium Botrychium (possibly earlier) Ferns, ferns, and more ferns in which some of our familiar ferns and allied groups appear in the fossil record. were extinct by the Permian (290 ma). The Carboniferous, nevertheless, was the heyday of ferns as well as their allies, the horsetails and clubmosses. Imagine tree ferns 30 feet tall dominating damp, dripping forests, with six-foot dragonflies swooping among them. This distant epoch, popular in the imaginations of natural history diorama artists, produced a substance with great modern significance: coal. By the end of the Carboniferous, ferns were firmly established. New groups, many of which still exist today, began really taking off in the This tree fern (Cyathea arborea or Helecho arboreo) in Puerto Rico displays fantastically intricate foliage. Jurassic. Imagine a 45-foot-long, lumbering sauropod dinosaur, Nigersaurus, munching ferns with its 1,000 sharp teeth. Recently unearthed by paleontologist Paul Sereno (University of Chicago) in Niger, this beast would have grazed on familiar modern genera like Lygodium, Salvinia, or Azolla. Only a mile from my house in Holyoke, Massachusetts, fern fossils appear with dinosaur footprints in basalt exposures near the Connecticut River. Meanwhile, just as mammals were beginning to compete with reptiles, the first flowering angiosperms were quietly gaining a foothold. But ferns kept proliferating, producing an incredible variety of forms, from minute plants a few millimeters long to shrubs bearing fronds arching more than 20 feet. By the end of the Cretaceous, most of the major fern taxa we recognize today had emerged. Ferns number about 11,000 species in 300 genera and 33 families. This diversification has been hastened by the fact that ferns hybridize easily. Their unique reproductive strategies (covered elsewhere in this issue), encourage interbreeding accidents and innovative combinations, some of which stick. The mangrove fern (Achrostichum aureum), whose leathery fronds threaten to engulf the author, occurs throughout the tropics. Today, ferns occupy all corners of the earth deserts, lakes, cliffs, mountaintops, coastal swamps across most latitudes, although their center of diversity remains the tropical rain forests. We name and classify them based on their gross shapes, sizes, and habitats, as well as the microscopic features of their spores and the structure of their DNA. We celebrate their diversity here at Garden in the Woods by festooning our grounds with them. Undoubtedly, the next 500 million years will foster the proliferation of still more wondrous ferns. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 3

6 found. Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern) and Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern) are ferns of open woods, woodland clearings, or dry fields. Natural History of Ferns by Cheryl Lowe, NEWFS Horticulture Director, and Michelle Baumflek, NEWFS Horticulture Fellow HABITATS Explore almost any of New England s natural habitats, from open fields to forests, wetlands to rocky cliffs, and you will discover ferns. Some species flourish in a wide range of habitats, while others are associated with very specific site conditions. Many different ferns thrive in our mesic hardwood forests (sugar maple, beech, yellow birch, oak). Dryopteris intermedia (intermediate wood fern), Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern), and many Lycopodium species are widespread. You will find Gymnocarpium dryopteris (oak fern) and Phegopteris hexagonoptera (broad beech fern) are more common in cooler, moist woods, while patches of narrow beech fern (Phegopteris connectilis) often decorate moist stream banks, near the sweet sounds of water. In forests with a more calcareous bedrock, such as those in the Connecticut River valley, Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair fern) is very common, as are Dryopteris goldiana (Goldie s fern), Diplazium pycnocarpon (narrow-leaved spleenwort), and Botrychium virginianum (rattlesnake fern). In northern coniferous forests, the dim light that reaches the forest floor, along with cooler temperatures and thin soils, creates a spiritual place for hikers to explore, but a challenging habitat for many herbaceous plants. You will find Dryopteris campyloptera (mountain wood fern), however, and some of the most beautiful patches of Lycopodium species (clubmosses) you ll ever see. In many acidic oak/conifer forests, thin, well-drained, nutrient-poor soils often limit the variety of ferns and fern allies to Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern), Polypodium virginianum (rock polypody) and clubmosses. Within such a forest, microclimates can create opportunities for other species in open rocky sites, shaded ledges and moist humusy sites, look for Dryopteris marginalis (marginal wood fern) and on cool, moist, shaded cliffs, Asplenium montanum (mountain spleenwort) might be Calcareous cliffs and sloping rock outcrops like Bartholomew s Cobble are great places to find special ferns: Asplenium ruta-muraria (wall rue), Asplenium platyneuron (ebony spleenwort), Asplenium trichomanes (maidenhair spleenwort), and Pellaea atropurpurea (purple cliffbrake), especially on drier, more open calcareous ledges. Maidenhair spleenwort is common on serpentine soils which are high in magnesium, iron, and heavy metals like nickel, and are deficient in calcium, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Cystopteris bulbifera (bulblet bladder fern) and Cystopteris fragilis (fragile fern) are more common on cliffs dripping with moisture. Cryptogramma stelleri (slender rock brake) and Woodsia glabella (smooth woodsia) are also found in these sites but are much rarer. Floodplain forests with their deep soils and high water table are good places to see the largest, tallest ferns, such as Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern). Swampier sites are home to Osmunda species, Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern), Woodwardia species and Dryopteris cristata (crested wood fern). The more delicate Thelypteris palustris (marsh fern) is at home in open wet meadows. ADAPTATIONS How do ferns manage to establish themselves in the most challenging sites? Many plants send out runners or rhizomes to claim new territory, but with cliff-dwelling ferns, pushing rhizomes through solid rock is a tough assignment. The bulblet bladder fern develops pea-like formations on the frond, which drop off, roll down to a new crevice, and become new plants. The walking fern takes a different approach, developing new roots at the tip of its small, arching, slender fronds a better mode of travel for its cliff habitat. We don t normally think of ferns as fire-adapted species, but bracken fern is one such example. Its deeply buried rhizomes are protected from the heat of fire, and sprout vigorously following the conflagration. Large stands of bracken fern also help promote fire by producing a highly flammable layer of dried fronds every fall. Fire removes competition and creates alkaline soil conditions that are favored by bracken spores. What about animal interactions? Some ferns are more than forage for browsers. The cinnamon fern, for example, is the larval host plant for the osmunda borer moth, the pink-shaded fern moth, and the silver-spotted fern moth. Cinnamon fern fiddleheads are also favored as food by the ruffed grouse, and the fuzz is sometimes used by the rubythroated hummingbird to line its nest. Cinnamon fern stands also provide excellent cover for numerous frogs and salamanders. 4 New England Wild Flower

7 HUMAN AND CULTURAL USES For thousands of years, humans all over the world have used ferns for food and medicine, as well as the more familiar garden plantings. Quite a bit of lore surrounds ferns. Before it was understood that they reproduce through spores, people believed that ferns, like most other plants, bore seeds. Since nobody ever saw them, it was thought that the seeds must be invisible. And if the seeds were gathered on St. John s Eve (mid-summer evening), the only time they were visible, they could be used to render their possessors invisible. Ferns are consumed all over the world. In the Northeast, three types of ferns are edible in their fiddlehead stage the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), and bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum). Of these three, only the ostrich fern is choice and commercially available. While no ferns are poisonous in the fiddlehead stage, some can be quite toxic after they have unfurled into fronds. The bracken fern, for example, contains known carcinogens, although, in some parts of the world, the rhizomes of bracken and other species are roasted, ground, and used as flour. The traditional medicines of many cultures have long incorporated ferns as well. In North America, the male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas), as well as bracken fern, are still used as remedies for intestinal worms. Maidenhair fern (Adiantum spp.) stimulates the function of the mucous membranes and is useful in treating ailments such as asthma, coughs, and pleurisy. Other common herbal uses of ferns are as diuretics, blood coagulants, and treatments for bruises, burns, bites and stings. Humans have also relied on ferns as building materials. Because the sturdy trunks of tropical tree ferns are decay and termite-resistant, they are used as fence posts and housing frameworks. These same ferns, as well as the fibrous roots of Osmunda species, make an excellent planting medium for orchids. Ferns continue to serve humans in some unexpected ways. The mosquito fern (Azolla spp.) is a nitrogen-fixer and is used in rice paddies as a natural organic fertilizer. The brake fern (Pteris vittata), native to China, but naturalized in the southeastern United States, has great potential for remediation of metal-tainted soils. It thrives in poor, polluted soils, and has been found containing levels of arsenic 200 times higher than in the surrounding contaminated soil. ern Facts New England has 58 species of true ferns. Although another 47 species of fern allies share many characteristics, such as reproduction by spores, significant botanical differences separate them taxonomically. (See Fern Allies on page 28). The largest New England fern is Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern). The genus Osmunda is also the oldest of New England s true ferns Osmundas first appeared in the fossil record in the Triassic ( million years ago). On the other end, the smallest New England fern is Botrychium simplex, a grape fern. Who would think to compare the sweet fragrance of a rose with that of a fern? Fragrant cliff fern is probably the sweetest of the ferns its sweet scent is reminiscent of Fruit Loops cereal. The hay-scented fern, however, earns its name, conjuring images of idyllic summers in the country. The broad beech fern might be last choice for a gardener interested in showy spring displays, since it is the last of the New England species to emerge. On the other hand, it continues to send up new fronds for much of the summer, giving a fresh, young look to the patch when others have long ago finished. What does the term anthelmintic have to do with ferns? Not a botanical term at all, anthelmintic means used to treat intestinal tapeworms, and some ferns, such as the male fern, were once used medicinally for that purpose. Scientific names for plants and animals are never the same, except one (which is spelled slightly differently). Camptosorus rhizophyllus or walking fern (now known as Asplenium rhizophyllus) is also the name of a small dinosaur. The Camptosaurus, literally bent lizard was 5 meters long and lived in the Jurassic period 150 million years ago.the leaves of the walking fern look just like a lizard s tail. Fiddleheads are not the only connection between music and ferns. Violin makers still use Equisetum hymenale, or common scouring rush, for the final polishing of the wood.they split open the scouring rush stems and use the inner lining, as it does not release sand particles and clog the wood s pores like a fine sandpaper would. Spores of Lycopodium do more than produce new plants. They are highly flammable, and were once used for fireworks and in early flash photography. Picture that! Since they repel water, they were also used as a coating for pills and as a baby powder. There are no annual (or woody) ferns in New England all ferns are herbaceous perennials. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 5

8 FERN BIOLO LIFE CYCLE Unlike plants that grow from seeds, ferns reproduce from spores and have two major stages in their development: the sporophyte stage, in which spores are produced, and the gametophyte stage, which is the sexual phase of a fern s life cycle. This type of reproduction, known as the alternation of generations, is characteristic of ferns and fern allies. The familiar fern fronds we see are in the sporophyte stage. Ferns have both sterile and fertile fronds, the latter being where spores are produced. In some ferns, such as the cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), and the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), the fertile frond has a completely different shape than the sterile frond. This is known as dimorphism, and recognizing this condition helps in the identification of ferns. If you look at the underside of most fertile fronds, you will see red, brown, or black colored dots, or patches on the pinnae. These sori (singular: sorus) are the structures that contain the spores. The sori always contain clusters of sporangia (singular: sporangium), the cases that hold the spores. The sori are sometimes covered by a protective shield of plant tissue called the indusium. The presence of the indusium on the sori, their shapes and the patterns they form, as well as their location on the blades of the frond, are other important tools in species identification and classification. known as the prothallus. The prothallus is the gametophyte plant, the site where the sexual organs of the fern are formed. To continue growing, the prothallus develops rhizoids: root-like hairs that absorb and transport nutrients and water to the cells. Eventually, the female egg-producing organs, called archegonia, and the male sperm-producing organs, called antheridia, are formed on the underside of the prothallus. When they are mature, motile sperm from the antheridia use water as a pathway to find and fertilize the eggs in the archegonia. The sperm may fertilize eggs on the same prothallus, as well as different ones, as long as there is water to carry them. The necessity of water is why ferns are most abundant in moist locations. When fertilization occurs, the chromosome number is returned to the original number of the parent fern. This fertilized egg begins to divide and grow, forming a new sporophyte. At first, small fronds will form, not at all resembling those of the mature plant. Later fronds will be recognizable, and soon the sporophyte will produce fertile fronds, starting the life cycle of the fern anew. Within each sporangium, a single cell divides to produce many spores, each genetically unique, and with half the number of chromosomes of the parent fern (sporophyte). A single fern can produce millions of spores. So why aren t the forest floors covered with ferns? The answer has to do with the next phase of the fern life cycle, the gametophyte stage. When the spores are mature, they are released from the fern, and dispersed from a few feet to several miles away. Those lucky enough to find the correct conditions, good moisture, and light, can start the process of division. Through division, a small, green, heart-shaped group of cells is formed. Very small (only a cell thick at the edges), but visible to the naked eye, this is 6 New England Wild Flower The fern life cycle is reproduced with permission from the McGraw-Hill Campanies. K. Stern, Introductory Plant Biology, 2000.

9 GY 101by Cheryl Lowe, NEWFS Horticulture Director, and Michelle Baumflek, NEWFS Horticulture Fellow PARTS OF A FERN Botanists use a special set of terms to describe ferns a somewhat challenging task, as the diversity of leaf forms and plant shapes doesn t fit easily into distinct categories.to add to the confusion, the authors of various fern books use different terminology. For simplicity, these descriptions and diagram may serve as a common reference. Costa Rachis Frond A Frond is the whole fern leaf, including both blade and stalk. Depending on the particular species, fronds emerge from the rootstock in circles, tufts, or individually. The Blade is the expanded, leafy part of the frond.the blade can be simple and undivided like Phyllitis scoloendrium (Hart s tongue fern); compound (divided into pinnae or leaflets) like Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern); or decompound (pinnae also divided) like Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern). Blade Rootstock or Rhizome (botanically an underground stem) is a scaly or hairy structure from which the fronds and roots emerge. Sometimes they are short, thick, and hard to find under the mass of fronds. Usually the rhizomes are elongated and growing horizontally below the ground with fronds sprouting at intervals from the upper surfaces. Roots of most ferns grow from the sides and undersides of the rootstock, and are thin, wiry, black, and often grow in dense mats. Stalk or Stipe is the stem of the frond below the blade. It is usually concave or flat in front, with a rounded back, and often covered with variously colored hairs or scales. Rachis or Axis. The portion of the stipe extending into the blade (leafy portion) is called the rachis or axis. Pinnule Pinnae Stalk Pinnae or Leaflets. When a blade is divided (compound), divisions are known as pinnae and the blade as a whole is called pinnate,or once-cut.the pinnae can be lobed, or the lobes completely separated from each other.with the latter, the separate lobes are known as pinnules (or sub-leaflets) and the blade is called twice-cut, twice-divided or bipinnate. Many of our most common ferns, such as the interrupted and cinnamon ferns, male fern, and marginal wood fern, fall in this category. If the pinnule is divided again, divisions are known as segments, lobes or pinulets and overall the blade is thrice-cut, thrice-divided, or tripinnate. One such example is the hay-scented fern. Costa. When a pinnule is compound, the mid-rib of the pinnule is called a costa to distinguish it from the rachis. Roots Rootstock Other fern terms: The fiddlehead or crozier is the unfurling frond of any fern, not just the edible ones. In some ferns, such as the bracken fern, the rachis appears to divide into 3 parts, producing a ternate or tripartite frond because the lower pair of pinnae is so large compared to the rest of the pinnae.the maidenhair fern has pedate fronds since the stipe is actually forked. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 7

10 Fern Portraits by Pam Thomas, NEWFS Horticulturist, and Amy McIntire, Horticulture Intern I can remember taking a walk in the woods last April and marveling at the variety of forms and fresh new growth of the understory ferns. It is almost a primordial experience to see green fern crosiers unraveling as a stage dressing for the leaf expansion activities of deciduous trees. Here in New England we are fortunate to have over fifty native fern species, offering a plethora of choices for garden cultivation and identification in natural areas. Pam Thomas Scientific names are based on the Flora of North America, Volume 2, Oxford University Press, 1993, except where noted.

11 Adiantum pedatum Northern Maidenhair Suspended above the ground on a wiry, black stipe, the emerging northern maidenhair fern spreads a horizontal fan of branches with dangling, bronzy-green pinnules over the forest floor. Once the delicate hairless fiddleheads have unfurled, the light green, ginkoshaped pinnules twist and turn at the slightest ripple of wind. The spores, located in the folded outer margins of certain pinnules, are green to brown, darkening as they mature. Adiantum pedatum is native to rich, deciduous woodlands, often on humus-covered talus slopes and moist calcareous soils. Asplenium montanum Mountain Spleenwort This medium green colored fern grows three inches tall with fiveinch-long arching fronds. The blade tapers to a point and the pinnae margins are finely cut. The stipes are covered with fine dark brown hairs or indument, along with numerous lanceolate papery scales. Asplenium montanum is widely distributed in southern New England, growing in cliff crevices in pockets of acid soil. Asplenium platyneuron Ebony Spleenwort This medium-sized fern grows up to 18 inches tall with a reddish brown stipe and rachis. Its dark, glossy green fronds have a herringbone silhouette similar to Nephrolepis exalata, the Boston fern. Ebony spleenwort is a dimorphic fern and the fertile fronds are distinguished from the sterile in being taller and more erect in form. It grows naturally in shaded woods and fields in dry to moist soils. Asplenium platyneuron withstands a wide range of soils from acid to calcareous, but is sensitive to waterlogged conditions. Asplenium rhizophyllum Walking Fern The walking fern is a small, prostate fern with dark-green, entire, hastate leaves which are highly variable in size, but can grow up to eight inches long and one inch wide. The apex of the leaf blades tapers to attenuated, thread-like points that contain buds which readily root and form new plants when they touch the soil surface. The common name, walking fern, is thus a reference to this unique propagation method. Asplenium rhizophyllum has strong, forked veins emerging from a prominently raised midrib, and grows best on moist, shady, shallow limestone or rocks. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 9

12 Asplenium ruta-muraria Wall Rue Found in seemingly inhospitable places, the wall rue grows out of the cracks and crevices of old stone masonry and limestone cliffs. This small fern is difficult to establish and cultivate in a garden, but the leathery, blue-green oval pinnules resemble garden rue in color and shape. Asplenium trichomanes Maidenhair Spleenwort If the northern maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum) is an elegant coiffure, the maidenhair spleenwort is a proliferous mop. A spray of three-to-four-inch fronds with sets of opposite pinnae branch from a central crown, forming a small prostrate fountain of green. The plant is found on moist, mossy limestone cliffs. The trailing, infertile fronds emerge first, and are followed later by the more erect cowlick of fertile fronds. This is the easiest of the spleenworts to grow in a garden. Asplenium viride* (Asplenium trichomanes-ramosum in Flora of North America) Green Spleenwort This is a rare fern, easily confused with, and occupying the same habitat as the maidenhair spleenwort. While the stipes of the maidenhair spleenwort are dark brown from base to tip, the stipes of the green spleenwort are brown at the base, changing to green above. The green spleenwort has alternately spaced pinnae, whereas the maidenhair spleenwort s pinnae are opposite. The alternating position of the pinnae gives the green spleenwort a more sparse, airy appearance. Athyrium filix-femina Lady Fern This member of the Dryopteris family is native to several continents including North America. It has slender, reddish or green stipes when it emerges in spring and blackish-brown scales covering the fiddleheads and stipe. It has long, arching bright green foliage, which is very lacy and showy. A. filix-femina var. angustum, the variety native to the eastern United States, is common in moist woodlands and thickets. *Zimmer, B. and W. Greuter A proposal to reject the name Asplenium ramosum L. (Pteridophyta). Taxon 43: New England Wild Flower

13 Botrychium dissectum Dissected Grape Fern The common name of this fern refers to spore cases resembling clusters of grapes. It is an evergreen terrestrial plant growing to ten inches in height with both sterile and fertile blades. The sterile blades have terminal segments cut to the apex, and the dissection can be variable along the trowel-shaped pinnae. Botychium dissectum has a wide distribution in the United States, from the midwest to the east coast, and grows in conditions from open grassy meadows to deep forest habitats. Botrychium lunaria Moonwort This tiny fern has small, showy, succulent blades with overlapping pinnae. It is extremely rare in New England, but has a widespread distribution into Canada and the western United States. The fronds appear in spring then die back later in the year; they also twist radially to avoid over exposure to the sun. Moonwort grows in open fields and meadows and along sandy streambanks. Botrychium matricariifolium Daisy-leaf Moonwort This diminutive fern grows four to six inches tall. It has succulent foliage with stout stipes and entire, toothed, or deeply dissected segments. Its spores are found on separate fertile fronds at the end of the main frond. The daisy-leaf moonwort is a circumboreal species thriving in cool rich woodlands and thickets. Botrychium virginianum Rattlesnake Fern A softer textured leaf distinguishes Botrychium virginianum, the rattlesnake fern, from its relatives. Like many of the other Botrychium species, the plant consists of a single sterile frond and a single fertile frond bearing only a panicle of spores. On the rattlesnake fern, the two fronds join just below the bottom pinnae of the leafy sterile frond. Rattlesnake fern was celebrated by European colonists, not as remedy for snake bites as Native Americans used it, but as an indicator species for American ginseng (Panax quinquifolius), a highly prized export. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 11

14 Cheilanthes lanosa Hairy Lip Fern This small fern is commonly found in clumps at the base of rocks and other protected areas. The yellow-green foliage has a crisp, dry appearance due to the dense layer of small tan hairs covering every above-ground surface of the plant, including the curled margins of the pinnae (the hairy lips ) where the spores reside. For a fern, this plant is remarkably drought tolerant, drying and browning to the point of appearing dead during brief periods of drought, but greening up after a good rain. Cryptogramma stelleri Slender Rock Brake This member of the Pteridaceae family has thin, lacy foliage which reminds me of Dicentra species. Its three-to-six-inch fronds are long, erect, and have an arching habit. The fertile fronds are taller and more narrow than the sterile fronds and the rachis are winged with scallop-edged segments. It grows in cool, moist shady pockets of calcareous rock. Cystopteris bulbifera Bulblet Bladder Fern The charming bulblet fern derives its common name from the pea-like formations along the plant s rachis and pinnae midribs. These formations fall to the ground and produce new plants. It grows inches tall on fine, brown, wiry stipes similar to maidenhair ferns. The long, triangular-shaped, yellow-green fronds contain finely cut pinnae that are very lacy in appearance. Cystopteris fragilis Fragile Fern Wide spaces between sets of opposing pinnae give the fragile fern a delicate, wispy appearance as it creeps along a single slender rhizome. Cystopteris fragilis gets its common name from its brittle stems which snap with little persuasion. Perhaps this is why the fragile fern is most often found in places sheltered from wind, in ravines, and at the base of boulders. The sporangia, like the pinnae, are sparse, positioned on veins on the underside of pinnules. The hairless fiddleheads, which emerge in winter, unfurl in early spring and the fronds disappear by late summer. 12 New England Wild Flower

15 Dennstaedtia punctilobula Hay-scented Fern The hay-scented fern has pinnae arranged like rungs on a ladder with fairly wide spacing in between. Its lime green to chartreuse colored fronds have finely pubescent stipes and the light golden hairs lend a soft textured appearance. This three-foot tall spreading fern looks best en masse in large spaces where its fronds can wave delicately in a breeze. The hay-scented fern is one of the few ferns that can cope with full-sun situations, as well as dry, shady conditions. In the fall, its soft golden-bronze color almost glows. Deparia acrostichoides Silvery Glade Fern The fronds of Deparia acrostichoides boast a height, and an elegant tapering form, similar to that of the ostrich fern, Mattucea struthiopteris, a fern named for its feather-like, finely dissected fronds. But where the ostrich fern is a soft, clean feather, the silvery glade fern, with its widely spaced pinnae, is a somewhat matted, bedraggled one. The fern makes up for its sparse appearance with an impressive herringbone alignment of rectangular, silvery sporangia on the underside of fronds, coupled with a layer of yellowish hairs, that allows the fronds an aspen-like flicker of contrasting colors. Diplazium pynocarpon Narrow-leaved Glade Fern At first glance, one might confuse the narrow-leaved glade fern with the Christmas fern. Both ferns have long, triangular pinnae with the signature thumb-shaped lobe where stipe meets pinnae. However, when compared side by side, the pinnae of the glade fern are more flexible, and a lighter shade of green than those of the Christmas fern. The sporangia on the backs of the glade fern are arranged neatly in a parquet pattern (the spores of the Christmas fern cover large portions of the underside of the pinnae). This fern often grows in association with Goldie s fern (Dryopteris goldiana) in moist, lime-rich forests, ravines, swamps, and glades. Dryopteris campyloptera Mountain Wood Fern A natural hybrid between Dryopteris expansa and Dryopteris intermedia, the mountain wood fern has cut pinnae margins with the second, widest set of pinnae tapering gradually to the apex. It is very soft to the touch but has short, light brown scales and prominently raised seams along the back sides of the stipe and costa. It is most common in cool moist woods. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 13

16 Dryopteris carthusiana Spinulose Wood Fern The triangularly shaped blades and very deeply cut pinnae lend an airy and lacy effect to the spinulose wood fern. It has wide papery brown scales covering the stipes and a sparse indumentum (fuzzy coating) covering the back side of the rachis. Common in swamps and wet woods, this fern is also easy to grow in rich woodland soils as well as wet sites. Dryopteris clintoniana Clinton s Wood Fern This naturally occurring hybrid between Dryopteris cristata and Dryopteris goldiana was first discovered in the 1800s by George William Clinton. The pinnae of this fern look very much like D. cristata, but do not tilt horizontally. Overall, the stature of Dryopteris clintoniana is erect and vase-shaped like Dryopteris goldiana. Clinton s wood fern is another great choice for a moist, shady garden. Dryopteris cristata Crested Wood Fern An intricate web of veins in the shiny, blue-green pinnae of Dryopteris cristata gives the foliage a rough, leathery appearance. The lobed pinnae are oriented horizontally, like the rungs of a ladder. The sporangia, with kidney-shaped indusia (covers that protect spores) typical to the Dryopteris genus, are located close to the midrib on the underside of the pinnae. This fern is referred to as semi-evergreen because the spore-bearing fronds die back, but the smaller sterile fronds remain green through the winter. Dryopteris filix-mas Male Fern This plant is rare in North America, but quite common in Europe and parts of Asia. It prefers shady, wet areas with exposed limestone in eastern North America; in the Rocky Mountains it grows in open woods and talus slopes of granite. An extract of the rhizome of the male fern is sold in Chinese apothecaries. This fern, which resembles the marginal shield fern, is a truer green and bears its spores on the underside of the pinnules midway between the midrib and the margin. Dryopteris fragrans Fragrant Wood Fern This species may be found growing on cold, rocky, north-facing slopes. The new fronds, which originate from the center of the slow-spreading clump, protrude from a mass of old dead fronds. The pinnae have curled edges giving the plant a thick, succulent appearance. This is a northern-based species, and not closely related to any other Dryopteris in North America. 14 New England Wild Flower

17 Dryopteris goldiana Goldie s Wood Fern The stunning sturdiness of this fern attracts much attention here at Garden in the Woods. The stiff vase of fronds is tall enough and dense enough to form a nice three-to-four-foot hedge in the summer months, but goes dormant in the fall. In the spring, the tips of each pinnule emerge a bright, spring green. The contrasting shades of green on newly unfurled fronds gives this fern a delightful shimmer. Dryopteris intermedia Intermediate Wood Fern The jagged teeth that lie along the perimeter of each pinnule give this fern an ornate, lacy appearance. This tall, semi-evergreen fern forms a crown of large, dark-green fronds. This intermediate wood fern grows naturally in rocky, moist woodland soils. It is a strong grower and well-suited to massing, or as a featured specimen plant in the garden. Dryopteris marginalis Marginal Wood Fern The marginal wood fern gets its common name from the way the sporangia sit precariously close to the edge of each fertile pinnule. The fiddleheads, which emerge from underneath a mat of last year s fronds, are covered with brown, fibrous scales that resemble the husk of a grocery store coconut. The newly unfurled fronds are a bright yellowish-green, changing to bluish-green in summer. Common on rocky, woody slopes, it adapts well in the garden to both moist sites and drier woodlands. Gymnocarpium dryopteris Oak Fern This lovely small fern is one of my favorites, with triangular blades that arch slightly and incurve at the margin. It has black wiry stems and midribs covered with very fine tan hairs, and is darkgreen with lobed pinnae. Native to cool, moist acidic woods, it grows well in a garden if those same conditions are provided. Lygodium palmatum Climbing Fern The climbing fern s tendency to vine and scramble over the surfaces of surrounding plants makes it unique in habit. It has an wavy palmate leaf with four to six lobes and a kidney-shaped leaf base connected to a fine, wiry stipe. The climbing fern is rare in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island. It grows in sandy bogs or swamps in shady conditions. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 15

18 Matteuccia struthiopteris var. pensylvanica Ostrich Fern Each spring, the thick patch of ostrich fern that resides across from our administration building captivates many a visitor at Garden in the Woods. If the ostrich fern were not considered highly ornamental, it might be considered a pest. The fern sends out vigorous runners which, if left unchecked, can easily consume a garden. Nevertheless, the stately, feather-shaped fronds are made up of long, thin pinnae spaced close together, and tapering elegantly at each end of the stipe. The spores, located on shorter, narrower fertile fronds, become woody and brown, releasing spores throughout the winter. Onoclea sensibilis Sensitive Fern The pinnatifid form, winged rachis, deeply lobed blades, and scalloped margins are key spotting characteristics of the sensitive fern. It has a mahogany-colored stipe, finely netted veins, and bronzy, thin hairs covering the frond. The sensitive fern has a soft, velour like texture and grows in sandy, acidic soil. The infertile blades die back with the first frost while the fertile spores, carried on separate blades, overwinter. The new growth has a reddish cast to the blade margins. Osmunda cinnamomea Cinnamon Fern The cinnamon fern, a lover of moist, acidic soils, is often seen in boggy areas, and along roadside ditches. Like the ostrich fern, the cinnamon fern s fertile fronds are much different in appearance from the sterile, photosynthesizing fronds. The immature fertile frond, which looks more like a stick of dark-green, old-fashioned rock candy than like the lush, green sterile fronds that surround it, turns a rich cinnamon brown when the clusters of sporangia mature. The fronds are dramatic, emerging as light-green fiddleheads covered by a dense, white wool. The sterile fronds, which can be as much as 60 inches long, emerge later in the season. Osmunda claytoniana Interrupted Fern The interrupted fern s woolly fiddleheads, and its bright-green, leathery pinnae, very much resemble the fiddleheads and sterile pinnae of the cinnamon fern. Both grow in wet, boggy areas. The fertile pinnae of the interrupted fern are sandwiched between sterile pinnae, giving the fronds an odd, hourglass shape. At first glance, it looks as though someone has partially snapped off the middle pinnae of some of the fronds, and left them hanging, shriveled, and dead. The dangling central pinnae of the fronds, however, are the crucial spore-bearing parts of the plant. Osmunda regalis var. spectabilis Royal Fern The thin, light green pinnules of the royal fern resemble the leaves of the black locust tree. This fern is also known as the flowering fern because the fertile pinnae are clustered at the top of each frond, resembling the flower form of a goldenrod or an astilbe. In actuality, this flower bears thousands of tiny spores, not seeds. 16 New England Wild Flower

19 Parathelypteris noveboracensis* (Thelypteris noveboracensis in Flora of North America) New York Fern The New York fern, which is easily confused with the hay-scented fern Dennstaedtia punctilobula, can be identified by the diamond shape of its fronds, which taper at the top and the bottom of the stipe. The pinnae are oriented vertically, not horizontally like the pinnae of the hay-scented fern. The ferns do share a very similar rambling habit, forming mats of spreading foliage in moist woodland habitats. Parathelypteris simulata* (Thelypteris simulata in Flora of North America) Massachusetts Fern The Massachusetts fern is rare and difficult to find in the wild. It is equally difficult to cultivate due to its wet, acidic soil requirements. It is fairly triangular in shape; the bottom pinnae do not taper as drastically as those of the New York fern, its close relative. The veins of the pinnules are distinct in that they do not branch once they have departed from the main mid-vein, but continue in a straight line to the margin of each pinnule. Pellaea atropurpurea Purple Cliff Brake This evergreen fern is found from Canada to Guatemala on limestone and dolomite outcrops. Its hairy purplish stems and delicate grayish-blue leaves jut from the narrowest cavities and fissures. This distinctive appearance, coupled with the ability to grow well in cultivation, makes it a wonderful fern for a calcareous rock garden. Pellaea glabella Smooth Cliff Brake The smooth cliff brake is a small fern with sturdy ascending rhizomes and clustered fronds. The pinnae are deeply divided, oblong in shape, with shiny brown stipes, and a glaucous-colored blade. You can find it growing on calcareous cliffs and bluffs in New England and throughout North America. Phegopteris connectilis Narrow Beech Fern The triangular, light green blades of each frond do not begin until halfway up the stipe. Two opposing pinnae at the base of the blade point diagonally down towards the ground and are distinctly separated from the next upper pair. In the wild, the narrow beech fern is often found growing on shaded banks near streams. This fern is easy to cultivate and the new fronds emerge all summer long. *Zimmer, B. and W. Greuter A proposal to reject the name Asplenium ramosum L. (Pteridophyta). Taxon 43: *Smith, A.R., and R.B. Cranfill Intrafamilial relationships of the Thelypteroid ferns (Thelypteridaceae). American Fern Journal 92:

20 Phegopteris hexagonoptera Broad Beech Fern If the blade of the narrow beech fern is an isosceles triangle, the blade of the broad beech fern is an equilateral triangle; its long lower pinnae stretch out from either side of the stipe, giving the blade a perfectly triangular appearance. A wing of leaf tissue connects the deeply dissected pinnae of each blade. Spores are borne in unprotected clusters on the underside of the fronds. Polypodium virginianum Rock Polypody This small evergreen fern grows six inches to one foot tall on or among moist, shaded rocks. It has a soft, rubbery texture with medium-green fronds and eight-inch-long blades, which are lanceolate in shape. The triangular-shaped offset pinnae create a rick-rack pattern. The pinnae are almost entire, with the widest basal pair tapering to a long point, and the blades have a slightly upward curve. Polystichum acrostichoides Christmas Fern This member of the Dryopteris family produces the much beloved evergreen fronds once so popular for indoor Christmas displays. Its rich, deep-green blades have slightly toothed margins and the pinnate leaf pairs have an upward pointing spur or finger at the top of each basal segment. The Christmas fern is clumping, with an erect habit, and its soft-textured new foliage turns leathery with age. It is easy to cultivate in both moist, shady sites and on dryish slopes. Polystichum braunii Braun s Holly Fern This is one of the most rare and beautiful native ferns in our moist forests, growing erectly in distinct circular clumps, with crowns up to three inches in diameter. It has finely cut pinnae, and the twoand-one-half-foot fronds have pointed apices lending the appearance of a king s crown. The holly fern s bronzy stipes are covered with soft, tan, translucent scales, and the new spring growth has golden hairs, making a dramatic show in morning sun or the slanted light of late afternoon. Polystichum lonchitis Northern Holly Fern The northern holly fern s dark, shiny green leaves with their serrated pinnae give this plant its common name. The golden scales that trace the rachis, mixed with the glossy green foliage, make this a strikingly beautiful evergreen fern. It grows on moist, shaded calcareous rocks in boreal forests and alpine slopes. 18 New England Wild Flower

21 Pteridium aquilinum Bracken Fern This is one of New England s most common and most cursed ferns. The beautiful red-green, distinctly three-parted blades which seem to rise and uncurl out of nowhere in early spring, are connected by long, vigorous rhizomes that tunnel though the soil at lightening speed. One large stand of bracken fern in the woods can easily be a single colony. Besides its effortless spreading habits, the fern has several other life extending strategies, such as a rapid regrowth after forest fires and the ability to synthesize ecdysones chemicals that make predatory insects molt prematurely and die. Thelypteris palustris var. pubescens Marsh Fern This North American variety of the marsh fern grows up to 18 inches tall and has subopposite pinnae arranged to form an elliptical outline. The marsh fern is bright yellow-green, soft-textured with a light pubescence along the stipe and rachis. The new fiddleheads unfurl intermittently with the fully expanded fronds, and the fronds tend to twist vertically in the direction of the sun. Woodsia ilvensis Rusty Cliff Fern This fern typically grows in high altitudes on cliffs and other rocky surfaces usually inhospitable to ferns. Some say the rusty cliff fern gets its name from the rusty brown color of its fronds when they shrivel and brown during drought. It is not uncommon for the fronds to play dead in this manner, greening again after a solid rain. Others attribute the name to the rust-colored hairs and scales of the lower surface of the mature frond. Woodwardia areolata Netted Chain Fern Netted chain fern emerges in late spring with shiny, bronzy new growth and a velvety texture. Its pinnatifid blades are deeply lobed like a wide letter u, and the fiddlehead looks like a small green chambered nautilus. The alternately arranged pinnae have netted venation and a sparse brown covering of indumentum. The common name, chain fern, refers to the elongate sori appearing in broken lines; these interrupted sori distinguish it from members of the Blechnum genera, which it closely resembles. The netted chain fern grows in shaded swamps and wet woods. Woodwardia virginica Virginia Chain Fern The striking new growth of the Virginia chain fern has a bronzy tinge with light brown hairs on the brown rachis and stipe. Its softtextured offset pinnae have prominently raised segmented costules. Woodwardia virginica grows in acid bogs and swamps. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 19

22 Fern Look-a Achillea lanulosa (wooly yarrow) When you picture a fern in your mind s eye, what do you see? Do you envision lush green compound leaves divided into leaflets like a tropical palm frond? Maybe those leaflets are divided further, creating a feathery or lacy look. Our world is filled with many plants not just ferns that fit that image. Walk through the woods or an open field and you are likely to encounter plants that look like ferns, but are not. Ferns possess characteristics that differentiate them from most other vascular plants they reproduce from spores, do not flower or produce seed, and unfurl their fronds in a circular uncoiling motion (hence the term fiddlehead). Despite these differences, the visual distinctions can be subtle, and when you come across a plant in the wild with no flower buds and leaves resembling fern fronds, you might readily mistake it for the real thing. Habitat is not always a clear indicator while many ferns grow in moist shady places, they also inhabit sunny and even dry locations. Here are a few plants likely to be mistaken for ferns. Several species of Achillea, known as yarrow, are found in New England. They can be difficult to distinguish from one another and, when immature, look remarkably like ferns. Young plants form a basal rosette of narrow, lance-shaped pinnately dissected leaves resembling a circle of low arching feathers. Mature plants, which usually produce unbranched stems with alternate, sessile leaves, can reach three feet. Achillea millefolium var. occidentalis is a native species with wooly pubescence, and leaf segments whorled to create a three-dimensional look. The leaves of Achillea millefolium Comptonia peregrina (sweet fern) var. millefolium, a naturalized European species, are twodimensional and less hairy. Tolerant of dry, sandy soils, Achillea often grow in disturbed areas, roadsides, meadows, and lawns. The creeping rhizomes tend to form dense patches, particularly in mowed areas. White or pinkish composite flowers appear in flat-topped inflorescences, similar to Queen Anne s lace, from late spring to fall. Queen Anne s lace (Daucus carota), also known as wild carrot, is one of several members of the Apiaceae or carrot family that bear fern-like leaves resembling those of cultivated carrots or flat-leaved parsley. Incidentally, culinary carrots are a race of this species. Found throughout North America, along roadsides and in disturbed areas, Queen Anne s lace, a Eurasian biennial, forms a basal rosette of pinnately dissected leaves in its first year. While seedlings might be confused with yarrow, wild carrot leaves are wider and not as finely dissected. Comptonia peregrina, commonly known as sweet fern, is actually a low growing (two-to-four-foot) native shrub that spreads via rhizomes. The fern portion of the common name refers to thin, narrow, two-to-five-inch leaves that look like they were trimmed with pinking shears to create deeply scalloped edges. You can discover the source of sweet by rubbing the leaves between your fingers they exude a deliciously sweet spicy aroma that reminds me of a very mild bayberry or a mild, refreshing blend of cleansing sage and lavender. This tough, nitrogen-fixing plant inhab- 20 New England Wild Flower

23 likesby Cayte McDonough, NEWFS Assistant Propagator Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman s breeches) its dry, well-drained, acidic soils and is often found in coniferous forest openings, roadside embankments, and disturbed areas. It forms colonies, with the erect or spreading reddish-brown branches holding alternating leaves. In spring, look closely to see the tiny greenish-brown male and female flowers borne on separate catkins, with the female inflorescence appearing more rounded and possessing a reddish-magenta stigma. Early in spring, you can find some of our native Dicentra species (D. canadensis and D. cucullaria, squirrel corn and Dutchman s breeches, respectively) soaking up the bright unfiltered sunlight under the still-leafless trees. Mounds of delicate, lacy, blue-green foliage are composed of leaves broadly triangular in outline and more than once compound, giving the appearance of a finely cut fern frond. The white spurred flowers appear quickly, allowing the plants to set seed before going dormant in summer. Another species, Dicentra eximia, wild bleeding heart, has medium-green ternately (divided into three leaflets) dissected, coarsely toothed leaves that appear in advance of the pink heartshaped flowers. All of these species can be found in rich woodlands, though bleeding heart will also grow in sun, and flowers from spring to fall. Pedicularis canadensis (wood betony) Some members of the genus Corydalis, such as rock harlequin (C. sempervirens), are mistaken for maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum). Rock harlequin, which grows as a biennial in dry or rocky woods, has soft gray-green bipinnately dissected foliage that is eventually accompanied by single-spurred pink flowers tipped with yellow. Some species of Corydalis, including non-native ones, have a tendency to seed themselves, so don t be surprised if you find them in the wild near cultivated areas. Like the Dicentra species, early meadow rue (Thalictrum dioicum) appears in early spring, sending forth stems bearing compound leaves with individual leaflets shaped like miniature paw prints that fan out from one another. The lacy, gray-green foliage can easily be mistaken for maidenhair fern or wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). Pedicularis canadensis, commonly known as wood betony or common lousewort, has attractive six-inch narrow basal leaf blades that are pinnately lobed with oblong segments, somewhat resembling fronds of rock polypody (Polypodium virginianum). While the polypody fern is typically found on or near moist shaded rocks, wood betony grows in meadows and open woodlands, as well as mossy slopes. Once the flower stem appears, bearing a dense head of red or yellow snapdragon-like flowers, its non-fern identity becomes clear. It is native to New England, as is Pedicularis lanceolata, which bears similar, but opposite leaves and yellow flowers, and is found in swamps and wet woods as well as meadows. Both species are hemiparasitic they draw sustenance from a variety of host plants via the hosts roots, yet they continue to photosynthesize independently. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 21

24 Wood Ferns of New England by Arthur V. Gilman Arthur V. Gilman D. campyloptera D. carthusiana D. clintoniana D. cristata The name wood fern is apt for the genus Dryopteris, because most of our nine species (and numerous natural hybrids) occur in forested areas. None venture far into the open except crested wood fern (Dryopteris cristata), which thrives in sunny, boggy soils as well as in wooded swamps. High in the mountains, mountain wood fern (Dryopteris campyloptera) forms waist-high thickets so dense they are difficult to walk through, but still enjoys at least partial shade of fir and spruce. Occasionally, other species will grow at woodlot edges or in the shade of boulders or stonewalls, but they are not very happy away from a true woodland home. The nine New England species (see list on next page) are only a small portion of the genus. There are approximately 225 species worldwide, many in eastern Asia and the Himalayas. Only a few grow in the southeastern United States, and the whole American West can supply only three more species. Europe has a number of species, including several that we share with them. The most common species in Europe is male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas), a species that is oddly rare here, occurring natively in only a few rich upland forests in Vermont and Maine. Male fern is sometimes found in urban areas (Newport, Rhode Island, for example), where it is likely a garden escape of the European strain. Although all the wood ferns are rather intimately related indeed, every one of our nine species is known to hybridize with at least one other, and some are downright promiscuous our native ones can be thought of, for convenience, as consisting of two main groups, each of three species, and three additional species. The first group is the fancy-leaved wood fern group, with three species that closely resemble each other and have sometimes been considered only varieties of one species. Genetic studies have shown, however, that they are distinct, and a practiced eye can usually distinguish them. Still, in some habitats they seem to resemble each other more, and I particularly recall a confusing afternoon spent among them near the coast of downeast Maine. These three are spinulose wood fern (D. carthusiana), intermediate wood fern (D. intermedia), and mountain wood fern (D. campyloptera). Details of the dissection or cutting of the leaflets (pinnae) are diagnostic, but they often sort out easily by habitat as well. Spinulose wood fern occurs in damp woodlands throughout New England; intermediate wood fern in damp to dry woodlands, not quite as frequent in coastal areas but still the most common of all the wood ferns in New England, and mountain wood fern on the high hills and mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Massachusetts, with outliers along the coast of Maine. Spinulose and mountain wood ferns are deciduous, with their fronds dying down in fall, but intermediate wood fern is evergreen, and its dark green fronds can be seen in spring, lying prone on the forest floor. Upon examining intermediate wood fern with a hand lens, one finds innumerable fine, white glandular hairs minute hairs with a tiny clear club-tip on the underside of the frond. These hairs are inherited, useful in identifying any of its hybrids. The second group of three has less finely dissected, less fancy fronds. Included are crested wood fern (D. cristata), a relatively small plant with narrow, strictly upright fronds; Goldie s wood fern (D. goldiana), a tall and statuesque fern with broad and spreading fronds that form a vase-shaped clump; and Clinton s wood fern (D. clintoniana), which originated as a natural hybrid of the other two. Clinton s wood fern looks, as offspring do, like both parents now one, now the other. These three can also typically be sorted by habitat, with crested wood fern in mossy, soggy swamps and acid soils; Goldie s wood fern in very rich deciduous forest among maples, ashes, and basswoods in limestone soils; and Clinton s wood fern, again, in intermediate habitats but sometimes with one or the other parent. 22 New England Wild Flower

25 D. filix-mas D. fragrans D. goldiana D. intermedia D. marginalis The remaining three wood fern species are easy to identify, if not always easy to find. First, the rock-loving fragrant cliff fern is unmistakable in its small size (rarely a foot tall) and habitat of dry ledges in cold mountainous terrain. It is truly an evergreen fern, for its fronds remain green all through their first winter and through a second summer. Old fronds remain long after they have shriveled and curled, hanging in great masses below the crown of the plant. Fragrant cliff fern is well named, for it has a delicious scent said by some to be reminiscent of raspberries. I find it a little spicier than that, somewhat resinous and tangy, a true reminder of the wild north. Second, male fern is a sturdy figure with three-foot fronds that spread rather stiffly to form a wide but rather stiff, vase-shaped plant. It is characterized by numerous, narrow leaflets (pinnae), and the stipes are chaffy with delicate golden-brown scales. The few native populations are restricted to rich, cold woodlands. Why it should be so rare is something of a mystery. Last of all comes a plant familiar to anyone who has tramped the rocky slopes of New England hillsides, north or south. This is marginal wood fern (D. marginalis), a somewhat bluish-green, rather fancily cut fern with thick, almost leathery fronds, evergreen through the coldest winters. It is one of the first wood ferns to re-colonize in second-growth woodlands, especially on dryish soils. I think of it as a friendly familiar face in some rather difficult, otherwise mundane locales. It is perhaps the easiest of the wood ferns to cultivate, and provides a fine reward for little effort. Arthur V. Gilman is a native of Vermont, where he is employed as an environmental consultant with the firm of William D. Countryman, Environmental Assessment and Planning. He has a particular interest in ferns and fernallies, and has published several articles regarding their systematics and biology. Art is currently Vice President of the New England Botanical Club. New England Wood Ferns Dryopteris The Fancy Ferns Mountain D. campyloptera Mountains above 1500', where it is abundant; cool coastal forests. Spinulose D. carthusiana Damp to swampy woodlands, throughout New England, a very common fern. Intermediate D. intermedia Common in many woodland types. Two Parents, One Child Crested D. cristata Wet, boggy areas, throughout New England. Goldie's D. goldiana Very rich deciduous forests, scattered through western and northern New England. Clinton's D. clintoniana Damp to swampy woodlands, north through Vermont but only to southern Maine. Three Distinctive Wood Ferns Male D. filix-mas Rich northern woodlands, rare. Fragrant D. fragrans Dry mountain cliffs, rare. Marginal D. marginalis Dry rocky or bouldery slopes, common throughout New England. Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 23

26 Fern Propagation by Bill Cullina, NEWFS Nursery Manager and Propagator Propagating plants is really a form of alchemy, and none more so than raising ferns from tiny spores. It is almost magical the way a little pinch of spores gathered from a ripe frond and scattered over the surface of damp soil will grow up into a thick turf of baby ferns as if from thin air. Even in this age of scanning electron microscopes, this miraculous phenomenon enchants me again and again. The best part is that unlike turning lead into gold raising ferns from spores is really quite easy, and with the price of plants these days, just about as lucrative. The key, as with anything, is timing. The Druids believed the best time to gather fern seeds for invisibility potions was on midsummer s eve (see Human and Cultural Uses on page 5), and they were not too far off the mark. Spores must be collected just before they are released from sporangia. If you look at an immature fertile frond, the sori containing the spores appear as light green slits or dots along the lower side of the leaflets. Ripe spores are either dark brown, black, rusty orange, or black-green. The sporangium that contains the spores is itself translucent, so once the spores mature, the dots or slits or, in the case of cinnamon fern or ostrich fern, the entire fertile frond take on their color. The time to collect the frond is just as the sporangia turn from green to some shade of brown or black. If you wait too long, the spores will be shed, and even though the sori will continue to look dark in color, they will be empty. We begin collecting the Osmundas in May, Polystichum, Dryopteris, Athyrium, and Gymnocarpium in June and July, and the rest in August and early September. Lygodium is the last to ripen, finally darkening up as late as early December. Cut the ripe frond and lay it spore-side down on a piece of waxed paper in a still, dry room. After a day or two, lift the frond and you should see the ghostly halo of the leaf traced in spores that have dropped during drying. Simply fold up the paper, tapping the spores gently into the centerfold, and fold again and again, then tape or paperclip the packet closed. They can be stored like this for years on the side door of your refrigerator. 24 New England Wild Flower Spores can be sown at any time, but I usually wait until mid-october, as I have less going on then. All you ll need are some new, clean four-inch pots, a fresh bag of soil-less seed starting mix (available at most garden centers) and some gallon-sized self-sealing ( Ziploc ) bags. Fill your pots with mix and lightly tamp the mix down with the bottom of another pot so that the surface is flat and about ½ inch below the rim. Temporarily cover the top of the pot with a piece of plastic wrap and a rubber band, and place the bottom in a saucer of water overnight. Alternatively, some fern growers prefer to pour boiling water into the pot to pasteurize the soil, sowing the spores once the pot cools. If you have trouble with molds overpowering your spores, you might try this the next time. The next day remove the plastic wrap and gather a pinch of spores (about as much as will fit on the last ¼ inch of a paper match) and dust them over the surface. Don t overdo it too many sporlings will crowd each other out. Now place the pot inside the self-sealing bag and zip it closed. No additional water will be needed as long as the bag remains sealed. Place the bag in a bright window where air temperatures stay above 70 degrees, and you should see the soil surface turn green (the beginnings of the gametophyte stage) in two to three weeks. Keep the bag closed up; and after another month or two, baby sporophytes will begin to pop out of the mat of gametophytes. When these are at least ¼ inch tall, prick them out into a new pot prepared as above, and place them back in a baggy. If you sow the spores in autumn, the ferns should be large enough to carefully wean out of the humid bag by the following spring or early summer. Keep the weaned sporlings in a pot and fertilize them every few weeks with dilute liquid fertilizer and most will be large enough for the garden by August. Some species like Christmas fern and all the Aspleniums may need an extra season indoors before they are large enough to fare well on their own. Adiantum viridimontanum (Green Mountain maidenhair) gametophytes and sporophytes

27 Landscaping With Ferns by Tom Smarr, NEWFS Horticulturist Interviews with Four Landscape Designers and How They Use Ferns in Garden Designs Ferns can introduce dramatic new effects into the home landscape. In this issue, we asked well-known New England garden designers to reveal their favorite ferns and techniques for designing with these unique plants. PATRICK CHASSÉ Patrick Chassé (ALSA) has a successful international design practice based in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Bar Harbor, Maine, working on ecological restoration and private landscape projects. When Chassé uses ferns in his designs, he thinks of them in two ways, which he describes as the non-emotional connection and the emotional connection. The non-emotional connection is a plant s functional use. For example, some species, such as hay-scented fern, are durable, aggressive, spreading ferns that can be tough groundcovers, resistant to browsing by deer. The way ferns may be used to create a sense of refuge, on the other hand, is an example of what Chassé means by the emotional connection. In his vision, ferns suggest a mature forest, providing the feeling of an undisturbed, quiet, and established place. For an enclosed courtyard space, Chassé designed a green garden, focusing on scale and texture. The plantings included masses of various grass and astilbe species, mixed with native ferns and white and light-colored flowers. Some of Chassé s favorite ferns are members of the Osmunda species including royal fern (O. regalis), cinnamon fern (O. cinnamomea), and interrupted fern (O. claytoniana). He also favors rock fern (Polypody virginianum), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), and several of the wood ferns (Dryopteris spp.) He avoids bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) and sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis), which he feels can become weedy-looking, giving the impression of neglect. As native ferns become more popular in public garden displays, and as different species become available from nurseries, people will be more comfortable exploring the tremendous benefits ferns can offer to the home gardener. As Chassé says, Ferns are often robust, adding a feeling of durability and stability to the plants and the site, and suggesting these beneficial qualities in your own life. Cordtlandt Manor, New York Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 25

28 JULIE MESSERVY Julie Messervy owns a landscape design practice, Messervy Associates, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Her background includes degrees in architecture and city planning, plus two years of study with a Japanese garden master. She has designed many acclaimed regional and international gardens. The Japanese style of gardening often uses plants to provide accents in combination with stone. The delicate nature of many fern species, such as maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), can be used to soften rock edges. For the Japanese Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Messervy placed ferns around the drip edge of a stone water basin. The ferns, along with the water and shade, intensified the sense of a deep, dark, moist space. In the executive rooftop garden at Fidelity Investments in Boston, she used rock fern (Polypodium virginianum) as a groundcover to soften the rocks and provide year-round greenery. For a residential garden in Brookline, to simulate the sense of moisture, ferns were planted along a dry riverbed. One of Messervy s favorite native ferns is the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), because it feels primordial, with its softness, robust size, lime-green color, and aura of permanence. It also has a jungle feel when planted in masses. Other favorite native ferns are maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum), marginal wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis), and the delicate lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina). Ferns can be diverse, Messervy says ranging from the very tiny and delicate to a grand scale. Japanese Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts WYNNE WIRTH A graduate of the Conway School of Landscape Design in Conway, Massachusetts, Wynne Wirth is a member of Thomas Wirth Associates, Inc, in Sherborn, Massachusetts. Wirth specializes in native plant garden designs. Shady, moist conditions often work best for the ferns she likes to use, including what she describes as the Osmunda sisters royal, cinnamon, and interrupted ferns. At Elm Bank, the headquarters of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Wirth took advantage of a site that used rain collection to irrigate a small garden. In this moist site, she worked with children to plant a native fern garden, slipping in lessons about the history of ferns, the fern life cycle, and their value to the ecosystem, as the children dug and planted. Complementary plantings of Iris cristata and Dicentra eximia added contrast. She designed this garden to emphasize texture rather than color, setting it apart from many of the other gardens at Elm Bank. Cottage Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley, Massachusetts 26 New England Wild Flower

29 In Newburyport, Massachusetts, she was able to include a small fern garden in a historical landscape restoration. Fifteen fern species were intermixed with woodland favorites such as ginger, trillium, Solomon s seal, and wild bleeding heart. In addition to their textural qualities, Wirth uses ferns to convey a prehistoric feeling. Many of her inspirations have come from visits to gardens in San Francisco and the natural layering of the tree ferns (Polypodium glycyrrhiza) and different species of ground ferns she observed while hiking in British Columbia. As she puts it, Using native species, such as native ferns, in the home garden creates a relationship or connection when one goes into the woods. Using native species, such as native ferns, in the home garden creates a relationship or connection when one goes into the woods. Cottage Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley, Massachusetts HASSO EWING As the designer for the New England Wild Flower Society s fern garden exhibit at the 2002 New England Spring Flower Show, Hasso Ewing helped kick off our Year of the Ferns. She conceived the exhibit as a small natural woodland fragment featuring more than 26 fern species and supported by other woodland plants. Working with these plants, Ewing found, was a great opportunity to observe all of the growing details of the different fern species, as their first fronds unfurled and fully expanded over the course of a few days. Though they may not have the splash of a double peony, ferns give long-lasting garden interest and value. As Ewing puts it, people should use more ferns because they are beautiful, lending delicacy and sophistication to any landscape. Ewing, the owner of Ewing Landscape and Gardens in Concord, Massachusetts, says she takes a traditional, rather than naturalistic, approach in her designs. As Ewing explains it, naturalistic designs can appear too wild and out of control for residential clients. In nature, the plant community is more important than the individual plant, while in a garden, individual plants are often prominent design elements. The traditional approach applies English-style plantings up close to the house and natural plantings farther away in the landscape. Ferns stand out strongly in a designed landscape, with their size, numerous shades of green, various forms such as the vertical structure of ostrich and royal ferns and unique frond textures. Fern species that naturally grow in groups can be planted in sweeps to provide a visual resting space in the landscape. They are notable for their seasonal variety, with early spring fiddleheads, the fertile fronds of some species, and late autumn changes such as the toasty golden color and grassy fragrance of the ripe hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula) New England Spring Flower Show Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 27

30 Fern Allies by Arthur Haines, NEWFS Research Botanist Fern allies represent an ancient group of plants that arose about 420 million years ago. They could be described as an amalgamation of several different plant families related to true ferns. Together, fern allies and true ferns are often referred to as free-sporing tracheophytes. This accurately describes their life history and anatomy. The term freesporing refers to the production of spores as the primary dispersal stage, as opposed to the seeds or fruits of conifers and angiosperms, respectively. The word tracheophyte is a name given to plants with tracheids, or specialized conducting cells for the transport of fluids and photosynthetic products. Tracheids are absent in more primitive plant groups such as algae, liverworts, and mosses. In what ways do fern allies and true ferns differ? The answer depends on which person you ask. Many people equate relatively large, often divided, leaves with true ferns, while the free-sporing plants with reduced leaves, including clubmosses and scouring rushes, are thought to be fern allies. Though this rule is accurate much of time, some of the plants often considered to be true ferns actually are not. How then are fern allies defined? Huperzia lucidula (shining firmoss) In what ways do fern allies and true ferns differ? A taxonomist defines fern allies according to the specific type of sporangium they possess, as well as other features, such as leaf origin. The sporangium is the structure that produces spores. True ferns have a stalked sporangium that is only one cell layer thick and, in most groups, is opened by a specialized cluster or band of cells called an annulus. Fern allies, on the other hand, have unstalked sporangia two or more cell layers thick that lack annuli. This may appear to be too trivial a feature on which to base a nomenclatural system. However, there are a number of other characteristics that corroborate a division based on sporangium morphology (including anatomy and DNA sequences). For example, the leaves of true ferns often uncoil from bud (the classic fiddlehead), while in fern allies they do not. 28 New England Wild Flower

31 In New England, fern allies are a popular group for study by both amateur and professional botanists. They form easily recognizable groups comprising relatively few species (anywhere from one to six species per genus). Underneath the inviting exterior, however, lies a group beset with hybridization, polyploidy, and a complex evolutionary history that makes certain species complexes puzzling even for veteran plant taxonomists. New species and hybrids of fern allies are still being described in North America, even within the well-studied New England region! As a final lure for plant biologists, many fern allies possess desirable qualities that heighten their worth as subjects of study for all levels of expertise. These include reliable indication of hydrology, status of regional conservation concern, and interesting or aesthetic structures and forms. FIRMOSSES Firmosses (Huperziaceae) are a large group of terrestrial and epiphytic herbs that reach their greatest diversity in tropical forests. They are related to clubmosses, but differ in several ways. One obvious difference is that the sporangia are borne in the axils of relatively unmodified leaves that remain green for the life of the plant (i.e., they do not wilt after release of the spores as in clubmosses). Other differences between these two groups include the type of branching, spore morphology, base chromosome number, and plant habit. Until recently, North American clubmosses were categorized in a single genus Lycopodium. Recent research, especially in the past few decades, has shown that Lycopodium needs to be subdivided into smaller, more homogenous groups to bring the classification system in line with that of other fern groups. This subdivision is supported by morphology, anatomy, chromosome number, and DNA sequences. Segregating the firmosses as a separate family from clubmosses is one of the recent changes. CLUBMOSSES Clubmosses (Lycopodiaceae) include terrestrial herbs and vines with small, scale-like leaves and creeping or highclimbing shoots. The reproductive leaves (i.e., those that produce the sporangia) differ from the vegetative leaves and are tightly aggregated Lycopodium dendroideum (prickly tree clubmoss) together into a spore cone. After the release of the spores, the reproductive leaves wilt. The spores of clubmosses are all of one size a condition called homospory. Recently, clubmosses have been studied intensely at the generic level. Data exist to recognize about 12 genera on a world-wide scale. Clubmosses have been used by magicians and early photographers for the bright flash of light created by igniting the spores. The intense flare of light is due to an oily, flammable compound in the spore wall. Genera in New England: Diphasiastrum, Lycopodiella, Lycopodium, Pseudolycopodiella SPIKEMOSSES Spikemosses (Selaginellaceae) are a group of herbaceous plants with a moss-like aspect. Spikemosses, similar to clubmosses, have small, scale-like leaves and spore cones. The spores of spikemosses, however, are of two different types megaspores and microspores (larger and smaller, respectively). The condition of two sizes of spores produced by the same plant is called heterospory. Spikemosses bear a tiny appendage at the base of each leaf, called a ligule, another feature lacking in clubmosses. Genera in New England: Huperzia Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 29

32 Spikemosses are most diverse in the tropical regions of the world. Only a few species are found in the northeastern United States and these are often overlooked due to their small stature. Genera in New England: Selaginella QUILLWORTS Quillworts (Isoetaceae) are aquatic or amphibious herbs with clusters of narrow, elongate leaves that arise from a inconspicuous, short stem. Quillworts are similar to spikemosses in that they are heterosporous plants and have ligules at the base of their leaves. Despite these similarities, however, the two families look very different. Quillworts do not have spore cones, rather, the sporangia are borne in excavations in the enlarged leaf bases. Quillworts are well-known for their taxonomic difficulty. Identification relies heavily on the exterior features of the megaspores, which require high magnification to view. Further, the species hybridize extensively, creating plants of intermediate appearance between the parents. This leads to difficulty determining what species are actually present at a given site. Genera in New England: Isoetes MOONWORTS AND GRAPEFERNS Due to the finely divided leaf blades possessed by many of the species, moonworts and grapeferns (Botrychiaceae) are often mistakenly classified as true ferns. Their sporangia, however, reveal their true affinity they are multiple Botrychium oneidense (blunt-lobed grape fern) cell layers thick and lack an annulus. Moonworts are, in fact, fern allies with relatively large and commonly divided leaf blades. The vegetative leaf is produced one per plant in most species and has forking veins. The reproductive leaf, often with many open branches, bears spherical sporangia that contain spores of one size. Moonworts and grapeferns were formerly placed in the adder s-tongue family (Ophioglossaceae). Numerous distinctions have, however, caused taxonomists to rethink this alignment. Consistent differences between these two groups include leaf type, vein patterns, sporangium morphology, and presence/absence of branching in the reproductive leaf. ADDER S-TONGUE FERNS Adder s-tongue ferns (Ophioglossaceae) have simple or palmately-lobed leaf blades with branching and rejoining veins that form a reticulate network. The petiole of the vegetative blade appears to be a common stalk from which it and the reproductive leaf arise. The reproductive leaf is unbranched and bears two rows of sporangia Ophioglossum pusillum embedded in the axis. (northern adder s-tongue) The adder s-tongue fern found in New England is very distinct, but rarely seen. Its small size and grass-green color causes it to blend well with grasses and sedges often found growing with it in moist to wet meadows. Changing land practices have caused this species to become exceedingly scarce in recent times. Genera in New England: Ophioglossum HORSETAILS AND SCOURING-RUSHES Horsetails are an unusual group of plants with green, photosynthetic stems. A few species also produce a pale, ephemeral, reproductive stem. At regular intervals along the stem (sometimes called joints), cycles of very small, non-photosynthetic leaves are produced that resemble a tiny Equisetum arvense crown of teeth. Some species produce (common horsetail) regular whorls of branches (horsetails), while other species do not (scouring-rushes). The spores of horsetails are produced from spore cones at the tips of the stems. The green spores are encircled by coils of four to six pale, strap-like structures called elators. Elators aid in dispersing the spores by rapidly straightening out, forcing the spores outside the sporangium. These species have an abundance of silica in the stems and were once used for scouring cookware. The abrasive properties earned some species their common name (scouring-rush). Genera in New England: Equisetum, Hippochaete Genera in New England: Botrychium, Botrypus, Sceptridium 30 New England Wild Flower

33 Fern Conservation in New England by Chris Mattrick, NEWFS Senior Conservation Programs Manager Of the 105 fern and fern ally species known to exist in New England, 48 are of conservation concern on either the national, regional, or state level. Some of these ferns may grow in your back woods, or you may intentionally grow them in your garden. Conserving these endangered ferns is as critical to the preservation of New England s flora as the conservation of orchids or lilies, but presents some unique challenges. Ferns are often lumped together and not recognized as distinct genera and species. This homogenization of ferns has hurt fern conservation. Regular monitoring of known endangered fern populations is imperative if we are to stem the decline of populations before they are lost entirely. The data collected through regular monitoring tracks a single population over time and reveals changes in the population s structure or age. If declines are noted through this process, management or augmentation projects can be planned and initiated. Ferns and fern ecology have previously been somewhat of a mystery. In some cases, we are just learning the ecological requirements of some of New England s rarest ferns. Understanding the ecological requirements of a species is necessary before any management activity can take place. Although the reproductive biology of ferns is fairly straightforward (not requiring any sort of specific pollinators or any pollination at all), habitat requirements light, Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 31

34 moisture, and substrate are critical to many species. Most of our endangered ferns prefer moist shaded environments, but there are significant exceptions. Several grape ferns (Botrychium spp.) are early successional, requiring habitat disturbance on a regular basis to maintain populations. If the disturbance is suspended and the forest matures, the ferns will disappear. Other ferns, such as the cliff brakes (Pellaea spp.), fragrant wood fern (Dryopteris fragrans), and some species of woodsia (Woodsia spp.) prefer a sunny, dry environment with very thin soils. Furthermore, the vast majority of fern species that occupy moist, shaded habitats are at risk from invasive plant species. This year, the New England Wild Flower Society is undertaking a project to remove Japanese honeysuckle from the cliff habitat of one of New England s rarest ferns, the hairy lip fern (Cheilanthes lanosa). Cheilanthes lanosa (hairy lip fern) Collection and storage of spores is critical to the protection of the genetic code of fern populations that are small, extremely rare, or occur on privately held land where other conservation measures may not be allowed. In the New England Plant Conservation Program (NEPCoP) seed bank, NEWFS holds spores of a number of regionally and globally rare species from around New England. Most seed in the seed bank are dried, packaged, and frozen, but fern spores are rarely dried or frozen as part of the storage protocol. Spores are often fragile, and the drying and freezing process would render them nonviable. They are typically placed in airtight, heat-sealed foil packages and stored in a refrigerator. Germination tests are conducted on the spores prior to storage and every three to five years while in storage. The plants that result from these germination tests are used as educational tools in the New England Garden of Rare and Endangered Plants. They may also be made available to researchers studying fern ecology or biology, and may be used for reintroduction or augmentation projects in the region. Ultimately, the best way to conserve our native and endangered ferns is through land protection. The protec- HOBBS FERN SANCTUARY Protecting land for ferns and ferns alone may seem an odd idea to some people, but this is the nature of the New England Wild Flower Society s eighth and most recent sanctuary acquisition. The Hobbs Fern Sanctuary in Lyman, New Hampshire, given to the Society by Christina and Sturtevant Hobbs in 2002, contains 248 acres of spruce/fir forest, northern hardwood forest, a bog and associated wetlands, and a very unique calcareous ledge community. The calcareous ledge contains a great diversity of species that, if not rare, are very uncommon in New Hampshire. The Sanctuary Committee first visited the site in the summer of 2000, and although the entire property is quite spectacular, it was the abundance and diversity of (Left to right) Sturtevant Hobbs, Christina Hobbs, David DeKing, Chris Mattrick, Libby Eustis and Bill Brumback, exchanging the deed for the Hobbs Fern Sanctuary. ferns that impressed us most. Following the committee s visit, Ray Abair and Don Lubin (see page 34) were asked to visit the site and identify as many of the fern and fernallies as possible. What resulted was a list of 33 species including a rare species, Goldie s wood fern (Dryopteris goldiana). Other ferns of note located on the property are silvery glade fern (Deparia acrostichoides), bulblet bladder fern (Cystopteris bulbifera), and mountain wood fern (Dryopteris campyloptera). The sanctuary is not yet open to the public, but once boundaries are marked, trails are created, and a parking lot can be cleared, the property will be open to limited use. Stay tuned to future NEWFS publications for more information on our newest sanctuary. 32 New England Wild Flower

35 tion of lands containing endangered fern species secures access to populations for research, ecological studies, and management of populations to ensure their continued success. Land protection can take several forms, from outright ownership to conservation easements or restrictions. The Trustees of Reservations have protected several of the key fern sites in Massachusetts including Bartholomew s Cobble in Sheffield and Questing in New Marlborough. The New England Wild Flower Society recently received a gift of land that was accepted based on the wonderful diversity of ferns that occur there (see Hobbs Fern Sanctuary sidebar on page 32). Fern conservation in New England has focused on ferns that are already at some risk; this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. Common species such as cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), marginal wood fern (Dyropteris marginalis), and fragile fern (Cystopteris fragilis) are widespread and common throughout the region. Therefore no efforts are currently in place to specifically monitor, manage, or protect populations of these and other common species. In 1996, when NEWFS published Flora Conservanda: New England, the regional list of plants in need of conservation, 19 fern and fern-related species were listed. Most of these species were considered Division 2, or regionally rare, meaning that outside of New England they may be somewhat common, but within New England they are quite rare, all with fewer than 20 populations. Some ferns included in Division 2 are Aleutian maidenhair fern (Adiantum aleuticum), moonwort (Botrychium lunaria), male fern (Dryopteris filixmas), and the fox-tail clubmoss (Lycopodiella alopecuroides). New England is home to only one fern species considered globally rare. Green Mountain maidenhair fern (Adiantum viridimontanum) is a true New England endemic, occurring in only seven locations in the world all in Vermont (see Plant Researcher on page 35). Three other fern species contained in Flora Conservanda are of local concern due to ecological, biological, or genetic significance. These species, although not yet critically imperiled regionally, do have populations that are at risk and appear to be declining. These are climbing fern (Lygodium palmatum), adder s-tongue fern (Ophioglossum pusillum), and slender rock brake (Cryptogramma stelleri). Still other ferns in New England are included on the regional list because we do not completely understand their current population status or their status as a true species. Mountain fir clubmoss (Huperzia appalachiana) and bluntlobed grape fern (Botrychium oneidense) fall into this category. The 19 ferns listed in Flora Conservanda have been the focus of NEWFS conservation efforts through NEPCoP. These species have been receiving concentrated monitoring, research, and management efforts over the past ten years. On a state by state basis, however, many more ferns are imperiled. Each state in New England produces a rare species list that includes ferns of state concern. Some of these ferns are also contained on the regional list, but many more are not. Some of these ferns are exceedingly common in some areas of New England, but rare in a single state. For example, ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) is a common plant throughout much of New England, especially in sweeter soils, but in Rhode Island, where sweet Lygodium palmatum (climbing fern) The 19 ferns and fern allies listed in Flora Conservanda have been the focus of NEWFS conservation efforts through NEPCoP. Adiantum aleuticum (western maidenhair) Adiantum viridimontanum (Green Mountain maidenhair) Asplenium montanum (mountain spleenwort) Asplenium trichomananes var. ramosum (green spleenwort) Botrychium lunaria (moonwort) Botrychium minganense (Mingan s moonwort) Botrychium oneidense (blunt-lobed grape fern) Botrychium rugulosum (rugulose grape fern) Cheilanthes lanosa (hairy lip Fern) Cryptogramma stelleri (slender rock brake) Diphasiastrum x sabinifolium (a clubmoss) Diphasiastrum x sitchense (sitka clubmoss) Dryopteris filix-mas (male fern) Equisetum x mackaii (a horsetail) Huperzia appalachiana (Appalachian clubmoss) Huperzia selago (northern clubmoss) Lycopodiella alopecuroides (foxtail clubmoss) Pseudolycopodiella caroliniana (slender bog clubmoss) Woodsia alpina (alpine cliff fern) Continued on page 35 Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 33

36 Fern Aficionados by Greg Lowenberg, NEWFS Education Director Don Lubin s fascination with ferns has grown with experience. Don explored shale beds of strip coal mines in Illinois, and was surprised to find mostly fern fossils. Memories of ferns and wildflower s in his mother s garden inspired him to foster 50 species and two hybrids of native and non-native ferns in his own Allston garden. He appreciates ferns as an attainable group to learn, and for the fern species in need of conservation. According to Don, It s fun to walk in the woods, but it s more fun if you can greet the plants you meet by name. With species extinction rates rivaling those of any other period in earth s history, it seems worthwhile to try to find and save rare plants, and monitor their persistence. Don shares his interest by teaching classes at NEWFS, through research into fern populations at the Wachusett Mountain Reservation, and through his web site ( which features many fern, clubmoss, horsetail, quillwort, and selaginella photos. Jennie Greeson s enchantment with ferns began at a young age, and her own garden is graced by many indigenous and exotic species. An artist whose works can be found in Boston s Museum of Fine Arts print collection, Jennie appreciates the varied patterns and the seasonal changes fern fronds lend to backyard and woodland gardens alike. Her expertise also includes extensive horticultural information about ferns. She frequently leads fern walks at Garden in the Woods and teaches Discovering Ferns, an introductory workshop. Ray Abair attended many courses on ferns on his way to attaining a NEWFS Certificate in Native Plant Studies. He finds ferns exciting and challenging to study, especially his favorite group, the wood ferns and their hybrids. Besides the excitement of finding a rare fern, what attracted Ray to studying ferns in the first place? I think it s because I like green things; that is, plants I can study almost year round. The majority are common and I don t have to go far to see them. Ray s colleagues in his plumbing and heating business report that they frequently find him (by cell phone) hunting ferns by the roadside between jobs. Ray notes that he often sees interesting ferns, including the hybrid Dryopteris uliginosa, disappearing from the landscape due to road-building and other development activities. Ray co-leads field walks and fern workshops with Don Lubin on a regular basis for NEWFS. He is especially excited about the new NEWFS fern sanctuary in Lyman, New Hampshire. Leslie Duthie has been propagating ferns for over 18 years. In her role as manager of the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Monson, Massachusetts, she has grown more than 40 species from spores. When asked how she got her start, she laughed and related how former Garden in the Woods Director David Longland, got me to try germinating fern spores on bricks only to find them difficult to transplant when they got big enough. Leslie has found it useful to learn how each species appears at the young sporophyte stage, so that she can distinguish each fern when her methods accidentally result in mixed lots of species. An avid botanist, she has led numerous workshops on propagation methods at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, and she leads field walks and teaches plant identification methods for NEWFS. Leslie has discovered certain species to be quite challenging to grow, especially Lygodium palmatum (virtually impossible to germinate) and Polystichum braunii (needs a coarse soil mix for drainage). Peter Hope is an instructor in the biology department at St. Michael s College in Colchester, Vermont. and lives in Jericho Center, Vermont. When asked how or why he got into ferns, he frequently replies apparently it is my destiny. My first three botanical mentors were all into ferns. For fun I used to go into Dryopteris swamps with my second mentor, Henry Potter, usually along with Frank and Libby Thorn, all ardent fern addicts, and we d seek out wood fern hybrids so we could argue/discuss what were the parental species. Peter believes ferns combine beautiful leaf architecture with interesting and challenging evolutionary histories and ecological relationships that make them great plants to investigate. 34 New England Wild Flower

37 Continued from page 33 soils are very uncommon, ostrich fern is very rare. Similarly, ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron) is a very common species in southern New England, but in Maine, where it reaches the northern edge of its range, it is quite uncommon. There are 29 species of fern not contained on the New England regional list that are of conservation concern in at least one New England state. Ferns are a wonderful part of the biodiversity of the New England region. They decorate our fields, forests, and wetlands with an artistic and diverse array of forms, colors, and patterns. The ferns of our region give New England its sense of place. Large numbers of these species are also at risk on a regional and state level. Despite the efforts of NEWFS and other conservation organizations, some of these species and populations continue to decline. You can help the conservation of the ferns of New England by familiarizing yourself with the identification and ecology of ferns, and learning which ferns are imperiled in your area. To date, there are only two ferns that were once documented from New England but are no longer found here: northern oak fern and Carolina clubmoss. With your help and the help of interested conservation organizations, we can successfully conserve the remaining ferns of our region. FERN RESEARCHER Catherine A. Paris, Ph.D. Lecturer in Botany University of Vermont cparis@zoo.uvm.edu At present, I am a faculty member at the University of Vermont, where I teach a variety of courses on plant diversity and evolution. For the past several years, I have been more focused on teaching than research. Nevertheless, I keep an oar in, mostly through my work with graduate students. The common thread that runs through all the research I have been involved with is the question: What plants grow where, and why? My dissertation research was an investigation of a north temperate group of maidenhair ferns, the Adiantum pedatum complex. The maidenhair ferns are an intriguing group to work on because they occur in a variety of habitat types across their range in North America and eastern Asia. That research resulted in the discovery of a new species, the Green Mountain maidenhair fern, endemic to Vermont and adjacent Canada. It is only fair to say that I did not discover the species in the sense that an explorer, say, discovers a new island chain. The Green Mountain maidenhair had in fact been collected at least several times before (including on a Vermont Botanical and Bird Club foray to Belvidere in 1922). What I did was to show a waiting world that the unusual maidenhair fern I encountered on the tailings of the old asbestos mine at Belvidere Mountain was something unique in the annals of natural history: a species that arose by hybridization between the common maidenhair of the deciduous woodlands (Adiantum pedatum) and the western maidenhair (Adiantum aleuticum). Combining the genetic information of both parent species, it has some of the characteristics of each. One thing it shares with Adiantum aleuticum is a restriction to soils derived from serpentine, an unusual rock type, rich in heavy metals, that arose deep beneath the earth s crust. What first attracted me to research the Green Mountain maidenhair and its relatives? This was an opportunity to combine my developing interests in both botany and geology. My research on the plants took me to some awe-inspiring places, from the New England woodlands to the Japanese Alps. The Green Mountain maidenhair fern is currently protected in both Vermont and Quebec, and has been the focus of a recent New England Plant Conservation Program Conservation and Research Plan. Recent projects that my students have taken up include an investigation of the evolutionary and migrational history of the beach grass and the beach pea, two species that are rare in Vermont but abundant on the dunes of the Atlantic Coast. Another student is using DNA sequence data to investigate a perplexing group of sedges, and a fourth is testing ideas about the relationship between landscape diversity and species diversity in the northern Green Mountains of Vermont. Adiantum viridimontanum (Green Mountain maidenhair fern) Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society 35

38 LEARN MORE Journals, Books and Articles: American Fern Journal, published quarterly by the American Fern Society. Kathleen M. Pryer, et al Horsetails and ferns are a monophyletic group and the closest living relatives to seed plants. Nature, volume 409, pages The latest findings, from genetic and morphological analyses on the relationships among ferns, their allies, and the angiosperms. Cobb, Boughton A Field Guide to the Ferns. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY. A compact field guide to the ferns of Northeast and Central United States with good descriptions and line drawings. Flora of North America Editorial Committee Flora of North America,Volume 2: Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms. Oxford University Press, New York. A comprehensive study of North American Ferns and their taxonomy. Holttum, R.E Studies in the family Thelypteridaceae III. A new system of genera in the Old World. Blumea 19: Hoshizaki, B., Moran, R Fern Growers Manual. Timber Press. Portland, OR. A comprehensive study of ferns from many regions of the world with horticultural techniques, botanical descriptions, line drawings, & black & white plates. Jones, David Encyclopedia of Ferns: An Introduction to Ferns, Their Structure, Biology, Economic Importance, Cultivation, and Propagation. Timber Press, Portland, OR. An excellent general botanical and horticultural guide to ferns world wide with extensive color plates. Lellinger, David B A Field Guide Manual of the Ferns and Fern-Allies of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, DC. Great color photographs of ferns and fern-allies in their natural habitat. Mickel, John Ferns for American Gardens. Macmillan Publishing Co. New York. A good guide to hardy ferns, well illustrated with design information and cultivar descriptions. Ogden, Eugene C Field Guide to Northeastern Ferns. The University of the State of New York, the State Education Department. Fabulous illustrations! Taylor,W. Carl Arkansas Ferns and Fern Allies. Milwaukee Public Museum. Milwaukee, IL. Smith, A.R., and R.B. Cranfill Intrafamilial relationships of the Thelypteroid ferns (Thelypteridaceae). American Fern Journal 92: Stern, Kingsley R Introductory Plant Biology. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Tryon, Alice and Robbin Moran, The Ferns and Allied Plants of New England. Massachusetts Audubon Society, Lincoln, MA 325 pp. Zimmer, B., and W. Greuter A proposal to reject the name Asplenium ramosum L. (Pteridophyta).Taxon 43: Web sites: University of California at Berkeley, Museum of Paleontology. Fabulous web site that will guide you through the rich history of life on earth, with clear writing and good geological context. amerfernsoc.org American Fern Society gives a great account of fern basics: anatomy, phylogeny, and importance. British Pteridological Society has a global view on fern biology and conservation, with many other useful links.

39 New England Wild Flower Conservation Notes of the New England Wild Flower Society Volume 6, No. 3, 2002 New England Wild Flower is published three times a year by the New England Wild Flower Society, an independent, nonprofit, member-supported organization whose purpose is to promote the conservation of temperate North American plants through education, research, horticulture, habitat preservation, and conservation advocacy. Subscriptions to New England Wild Flower are included in membership dues which start at $42/year for individuals. CREDITS Photography: John Lynch front cover, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 third from top, 13 second from top, 14 fourth from top, 15 second from top, 16 fourth from top, 18 top, 19 top and second from top, fourth from top, 23 first and fourth from left, 24 top, 31, 36, 37 Arieh Tal inside cover, 9 bottom, 10 top and second from top, 12 bottom, 13 top, 17 fourth from top, 18 second from top, back cover Elizabeth Farnsworth 2, 3 Frank Bramley 9 top, 11 top, third, and fourth from top, 12 third from top, 13 third from top, 16 third from top, 17 top and bottom, 21 right Lawrence Newcomb 9 second from top, 12 second from top, 19 third from top William Cullina 10 third from top, 14 second from top, 15 top, third from top and bottom, 18 bottom, 22 fourth from left, 23 third and fifth from left, 24 bottom, 35 bottom Walt/Louiseann Pietrowicz 10 bottom, 21 left Paul M. Brown 11 second from top William Larkin 12 top, 32 top Pam Thomas 13 bottom, 14 top, 16 second from top, 18 third from top, 19 bottom, 22 second and third from left Arthur Haines 14 third from top, 17 second from top, 22 first and fifth from left, 28, 29, 30 Scott Bailey 14 bottom, 23 second from left Jean Baxter 15 fourth from top, 20 left Dorothy S. Long 16 top and bottom, 17 third from top Hal Horwitz 18 fourth from top Blanch Derby 20 right Eric C. Hess 25 top Patrick Chassé 25 bottom John Kennard 26 top left Linda Cook 26 top right Dan Holmes 26 bottom left Wynne Wirth 26 bottom right, 27 top Robert Hannan 27 middle Bonnie Drexler 27 bottom Lisa Mattei 32 bottom Cheryl Lowe 34 top and third from top Greg Lowenberg 34 second from top Leslie Duthie 34 fourth from top Declan McCabe 34 bottom Illustration: McGraw-Hill 6 (fern life cycle) Fern Specimens: Jennie Greeson 1, 7, 8 19 backgrounds Editor: Lisa Mattei Officers President Elizabeth S. Eustis Vice President Susan Kearney Treasurer Lalor Burdick Assistant Treasurer Christopher Ely Clerk Frances H. Clark Assistant Clerk Thelma Hewitt Executive Director David L. DeKing Lee Albright Clara Batchelor Charles J. Beard Molly S. Beard Ruah Donnelly Jane Goedecke Barbara E. Gray Marjorie Greville Perry R. Hagenstein Rob Held Susanah B. Howland Christopher Leahy James Marzilli Kay McCahan Overseers Annemarie Altman Berta Atwater Clarita Bright Sally Cook Peter V. K. Doyle Corliss Knapp Engle Pam Herrick Christina Hobbs Patty Huston Joy Kuhn Leslie M. Leslie Emily S. Lewis Bill Loring Betsy Madsen Diane K. McGuire Michele Mittelman André J. Navez Alla O Brien Jessie Panek Karen Pierce Sarah Schwaegler Hatsy Shields Lisa Standley Jackie Stone Lucy Sur Marian Thornton Mercy Wheeler Robin Wilkerson Susan Winthrop Patty Wylde Board of Trustees George McCully Ellen McFarland David Mittelstadt Anne Moore Ruben D. Orduña Geri Payne Polly Pierce Brad Pruett Patsy Rabstejnek Claudia G.Thompson Gerard B.Townsend Patrick M.Tynan Tony Wain Joe Wiellette Honorary Trustees John D. Constable Edward N. Dane Susan Dumaine Catherine Farlow Marion Haffenreffer Jane Hallowell George C. Harrington Alice Jones Dana N. Jost Dunbar Lockwood Pennie Logemann Dorothy S. Long Ellen West Lovejoy John Lynch Helen Nowers Esther Grew Parker Adelaide M. Pratt Daphne Brooks Prout Beverly Ryburn Nan St. Goar Muriel Soule Galen Stone Bunny Traylor Mary M.Walker Richard Weinberg Vernon Westcott Photo captions: Front cover Thelypteris palustris (marsh fern) Inside front page Asplenium trichomanes (maidenhair spleenwort) Page 1 Lygodium palmatum (climbing fern) Page 4 & 5 Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern) Page 8 Deparia acrostichoides (silvery glade fern) Page 24 Dryopteris marginalis (marginal wood fern) Page 31 Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern) Page 37 Dryopteris goldiana (goldie s wood fern) New England Wild Flower Society 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, MA TTY newfs@newfs.org This publication was made possible through the generosity of Jackie and Tom Stone, The Millipore Foundation, and members and friends of the New England Wild Flower Society. Copyright 2002 New England Wild Flower Society. All rights reserved. No material in this publication may be reproduced or used in any way without written consent. For permission, contact Editor, New England Wild Flower, 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, MA

40 New England Wild Flower Society 180 Hemenway Road Framingham, MA ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 7 ASHLAND, MA