Fern Gazette
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ISSN 0308-0838 THE FERN GAZETTE VOLUME TWELVE PART TWO 1980 THE JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH PTERIOOLOGICAL SOCIETY THE FERN GAZETTE VOLUME12 PART2 1980 CONTENTS Page MAIN ARTICLES Historical notes on Wo odsia ilvensis in the Moffat Hills, southern Scotland - J. Mitche/1 65 Polypodium macaronesicum and P. australe; a morphological comparison - R.H. Roberts 69 Studies in the plant sociology of fern-dominated wall communities on the island of Corfu - D.W. Shimwe/1 75 Ferns of Nainital (Western Himalayasl : an updated list - S.C. Verma & S.P. Khu/lar 83 The fern flora of oilpalm plantations in West Malaysia- A. G. Piggott 93 On the reported occurrence of Asplenium cuneifolium and A. adiantum-nigrum in the British Isles -An ne Sleep 103 SHORT NOTES Additional field characters separating the subspecies of Asplenium trichomanes in Britain -A.C. Jermy and C. N. Page 112 A new find of Equisetum x trachyodon in north-west Scotland- R.E.C. Ferreira 113 Pteris cretica and Selaginella kraussiana naturalised in Scotland -E. M. Signal/ 114 New records of Asplenium and Equisetum hybrids in France - F. Badre and R. Prelli 115 Equisetum x rothmaleri new to Japan - C.N. Page 117 Ma c;othelypteris,a fern genus new to mainland Africa - B.S. Parris 117 New combinations in south-east Asian ferns - B.S. Parris 118 The first symposium on Chinese Pteridology - K.S. Shing · 119 REVIEWS 74, 82, 102, 107-111 (THE FERN GAZETTE Volume 12 Part 1 was published 31 August 1979) Published by THE BRITISH PTERIDOLOGICAL SOCIETY, c/o Department of Botany, British Museum (Natural History). London SW7 5BD. FERN GAZ. 12(2) 1980 65 HISTORICAL NOTES ON WOODSIA ILVENSIS IN THE MOFFAT HILLS, SOUTHERN SCOTLAND J. MITCHELL 22 Muirpark Way, Drymen, by Glasgow. ABSTRACT The main part of the account, which is based on literature sources, traces the historical background to the discovery and subsequent virtual extirpation of the rare fern Woodsia ilvensis in the Moffat Hills, Southern Scotland, during the second half of the 19th century. In 1977, an investigation was carried out by the author on behalf of the Nature Conservancy Council into the past and present status of Wo odsia ilvensis (L.) R.Br. in the Moffat Hills, Southern Scotland. lt was found that the initial examination of literature sources gave not only the required list of published records, but also a fascinating insight into the background to the fern's virtual extirpation from its former principal station in the British Isles. The discovery of a rare plant or animal species occuring abundantly at a hitherto unknown locality, only to be brought to the brink of extinction within a few years by over-collecting is an only too familiar story. Britain's native ferns have been no exception to this form of wanton destruction, and the few scattered populations of W. ilvensis suffered worse than most. The beginning of what was almost the end for this rare fern in the north-eastern portion of Dumfriesshire (v-c. 72) can be precisely, dated to 1848, the year of completion of the Caledonian Railway linking Beatock (2 miles from Moffat) with Edinburgh, Glasgow and Carlisle. Moffat's hotel proprietors vied with one another for the immediate influx of visitors, many of who came seeking relief from their aches and pains at the famous but up to then rather remote local mineral wells, meeting each incoming train with horse-drawn omnibuses to convey prospective guests to their respective establishments (Turnbull, 1871 ). lt was one such visitor to the area, a botanist named Stevens, who chanced upon W. ilvensis 'in considerable abundance' at White Coomb in the nearby Moffatdale Hills (Stevens, 1849). In the following year (1849) a second station for the Woodsia was found just north of Moffat at the Devil's Beef Tub (Oiiver, 1850). With several additional localities being discovered in the district during the next few years, including a ravine near Loch Skene (Newman, 1854), Hartfell (Balfour, 1858) and the head of the Carrifran Burn (Sadler, 1857), the Moffat Hills became recognised as the headquarters for W. ilvensis in the British Isles. Steven's disclosure that W. ilvensis was apparently to be found in some quantity at Moffat could not have been more unfortunately timed, coinciding as it did with an impending wave of 'Pteridomania' or 'Fern fever' that was to grip Victorian Britain for at least two decades from the late 1840s. The middle-class's obsession with obtaining and cultivating hardy native ferns proved insatiable, the unprecedented demand resulting in the emergence of a new type of fern dealer/nurseryman who scoured the countryside for much of his stock (Alien, 1969). In the Moffat area, the effect of the more selective trade in wild ferns was felt first at the Devil's Beef Tub, for, within three to four years, professional collectors had completely eradicated all the Wo odsia plants from this readily accessable site (Keddie, 1854). Fern dealers' activities in the district evidently continued, shown by an article that appeared in the Moffat Register and Annandale Observer on 6th October 1860 accusing York nurseryman James Backhouse (not mentioned by name, but see Backhouse, 1860) of unscrupulously 66 FERN GAZETTE: VO LUME 12 PART 2 (1980) uprooting a number of W ilvensis plants and disposingof them to his clients at half-a guinea a time (Sadler, 1860). lt is probable this indignant outburst drawing attention to the high monetary value being placed on the fern did not have quite the effect intended, for Hope (1929) states that the local hill shepherds (seemingly not slow in sensing a remunerative side-line). joined in the gathering of Wo odsia plants for sale. Despite the inclusion in the fern nurserymen's catalogues of W. ilvensis imported from abroad, plants of British origin continued to sell at relatively high prices throughout the 1860s. Collecting W ilvensis from the wild may have been profitable but was not without its dangers, for several lives were apparently lost in its pursuit on the precipitious cliffs of Glyder Fawr in North Wales (Step, 1908). In the Moffat Hills, the treacherous broken rocks above the Carrifran falls almost claimed a future Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, as he unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a tuft of W ilvensis just beyond his reach (Sadler, 1860). Nurserymen and gardeners were not alone in casting covetous eyes on this attractive mifiiature fern, for good specimens were much in demand for private and institutional herbaria. Such was the appeal of the rare W. ilvensis to collectors, it was to hold a permanent place in the Botanical Exchange Club's 'List of Desiderata' from the 1850s right up to the turn of the century, contributors to the scheme being encouraged to submit a minimum of ten specimens for distribution to other club members. To judge from the few surviving sheets of W ilvensis housed in University and Museum herbaria (see Rickard, 1972). the peak period of collecting from the Moffat Hills for 'scientific purposes' occured in the 1850s. Visiting botanical parties were often extremely large, ·and it is recorded that one such well attended excursion led by Professor J. H. Balfour in July 1856 gathered W. ilvensis 'in considerable quantity' (Balfour, 1858). Amongst the proliferation of books on British ferns that appeared in the 1850s and 1860s was a fairly recent innovation popularly known as a 'Fern Album'. These albums consisted of annotated sets of pressed ferns from named localities in various parts of Britain and elsewhere. The 'Moffat Fern Album' (Carruthers, 1863), or under its correct bibliographical title The Ferns of Moffat, first made its appearance in 1863. Written by Dr. W. Carruthers, a native of Moffat employed at that time as Assistant Keeper in the Department of Botany at the British Museum, this unsigned descriptive work appears to have been issued with the specimen pages left blank for the visiting fern enthusiasts to insert their own self-collected examples. lt is likely however, that enterprising local entrepreneurs would take on the task of filling-in the blank spaces with specimens, in order to re-sell the completed or part-completed album at a suitably increased price to the less energetic or invalid visitor. Of five copies of the Moffat Fern Album examined by the present writer, two contained pressed specimens of W ilvensis on the appropriate page. Under intense collecting pressure from locals and visitors alike, Moffat's once thriving population of W ilvensis - estimated at 'hundreds of plants' in 1856 (Scott· Elliot, 1896) - was eventually reduced to just one known solitary tuft by 189 1 (Johnstone, 1893). Recriminations inevitably followed, and in Th e Flora of Dumfriesshire (Scott-EIIiot, 1896) the author firmly places the blame on 'the ravages of the I nnerleithen Alpine Club'. On the face of it this accusation seems a little unjust, as the club was not formed until 1889, long after most of the damage is known to have been done. lt is possible however that the members were responsible for administering the coup de grace to a remnant colony of W. ilvensis at the head of the Mid law Burn, near Loch Skene, when the lnnerleithen Alpine Club visited the upper glen in strength in 1889 and again in 1894, returning with 'vasculum crammed' and 'stuffed vascula, MITCHELL: WOODSIA ILVENSIS HISTORICAL NOTES 67 quite pleased if not happy with the spoils' (Todd & Young, 1895). What appears to have been the last recorded incident in the whole sorry story involved G. Claridge Druce, a leading field-botanist of the period, when in August 1909 he was shown the supposed one remaining tuft of W.