Pteridologist 2013
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PTERIDOLOGIST 2013 Contents: Volume 5 Part 6, 2013 Polypody census Julian Reed 389 Artificial hybrids ofPolystichum Rolf Thiemann 390 Dichotomy in a Dwarf Tree Fern Alistair Urquhart 394 The Dead of Winter? Part Two. Mike Fletcher 395 William Farrow Askew 1857-1949 Barry A. Thomas 397 Botrychium Species in Greenland. Prof. Dr. Peter Struck 399 Fern Hybridization Rolf Thiemann 404 Habitats for Dicksonia antarctica at Logan Botanic Garden Alastair Wardlaw 409 Jamaican fern decorated doyleys and their origins. Michael Hayward 411 The fern that never gave up! Roger Amos 415 Ferns at the Philadelphia Flower Show. JackSchieber 416 Multi-trunking in Cyathea. Paul Spracklin 417 The Story of a National Collection of British Ferns. Alastair Wardlaw 419 Frond base propagation. Julian Reed 422 The Filmy-ferns of the Bewcastle Fells Jeremy Roberts 424 The Moss House at the University of Manchester Botanical Experimental Grounds. Yvonne Golding 429 Vandalistic Botanists Charles Druery 432 Orchid-root as growth medium in commercial Tree-fern cultivation in S.W. Rajasthan. C.J. Ferny-Jokings 433 Distribution of P.australe ‘Cambricum’ Martin Rickard 436 Introducing Cystopteris moupuensis. A. R. Busby 439 A multitude of hybrid Polystichums in a Hampshire lane. Ronnie Viane and Andrew Leonard 440 A new site for Polypodium australe ‘Cambricum’ Martin Rickard 441 Hybrid Aspleniums in Mallorca Alison Evans 443 A new hardy fern for the garden. Adrian Dyer 446 Pedigree of a word John Grue 447 ‘Breeches-Pocketum’ Tim Brock 449 399 Fern Hunting in Malaysia Valdy Pierozynski 451 Book review: The Pulham Legacy Martin Rickard 457 The Mingan Moonwort, A Bali Fishing Fern. Agung Sedayu 458 Botrychium minganense. Professor Eric Richard Holttum 1895-1990 Pat Acock 459 Found in Greenland in What is the natural life-span of a fern? Adrian Dyer 460 2011. Fern trees.The impacts of DNA sequencing on fern taxonomy Paul Sharp 465 Photo: Peter Struck Xerphytic ferns of California and Arizona Sophie Walwin 473 Cover picture: Front. The dessicated trunk of a tree fern, taken on the Queen Charlotte Track at the north end of South Island, New Zealand. Photo: John Grue. Cover picture: Back. Gymnocarpium robertianum. Photo: Adrian Dyer. Unless stated otherwise, photographs were supplied by the author of the articles in which they appear DISCLAIMER: Views expressed in the Pteridologist are not necessarily those of the British Pteridological Society. Copyright © 2013 British Pteridological Society. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means) without the permission of the British Pteridological Society. Pteridologist 5.6. 2013 388 Polypody Census Julian Reed 19a Northdown Road, Kemsing, Sevenoaks. Kent. TN15 6SD e-mail: [email protected] Last autumn I had the privilege of seeing Martin Rickard’s 1) to give the look of the whole plant. collection of pressed Polypodium fronds from the census 2) to give size of frond and vertical orientation. he did in the 1980s and this gave me the thought that it was It would be useful to have an idea of where they were time for another survey. We know of some new varieties growing, eg. under trees, against a shady fence, in a found in the wild and raised in gardens. It would be good to greenhouse , heavy shade or full sun, soil type etc., what document these and establish which of the older cultivars ever you feel appropriate. are still in cultivation. Maybe we can find some of the ones If you prefer, your details would be kept private if an we think have been lost, like P. australe ‘Omnilacerum article is published, but we would prefer to acknowledge Bennett’ and P.australe ‘Grandiceps Parker’. A survey members cooperating with the survey. You are unlikely to would be a useful tool for future identification and help be pestered by hoards of polypodium groupies. standardize the names of cultivars more widely grown. If known please name all specimens, where known So please send me or Martin pictures of your polypodies. please supply history, ie. where you bought it, or who gave As an example I have taken some pictures of one of my it to you, or from which cultivar it was raised. Even if you own: think the given name is wrong please let us know the name under which you received it – or even if you made it up yourself. At the very least please label your plants with a number so you will know which one we are talking about when we reply. The intention is to let you now personally what you have and confirm cultivar names and make a electronic BPS data base as reference. Please e-mail Martin on [email protected] I can be found at [email protected] If you prefer to send pressed fronds please send to the above address and I can do the rest. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Martin for his help and insight in setting this up. Ferns can be bad for you? The fern on the left was bought at a well known furniture warehouse. After you have wandered through the displays upstairs you descend to an assortment of sales areas and if you look carefully you will usually find a fern. The label starts with:- ORMBUNKE Phlebodium Blue Star £2.99 Everything in this store is given a swedish name and in this case ormbunke means fern. The price was good! The label continues:- Bright, not in direct sunlight. Keep moist, but remove remaining water from saucer/pot. Water on saucer/or in pot. Fertilise once a month. Mist leaves if air is dry. I stand the pot in water once a month! The last part of the label reads:- Only for decoration, not suitable for consumption. So now we know! We can use the fern for decoration - does that mean it can used as a paintbrush for the walls! However, it would appear that we are not allowed to eat it, shame - it often looks so edible! AEG 389 Pteridologist 5.6. 2013 Artificial Hybrids ofPolystichum. Rolf Thiemann Im Tuessenberg 10, Altena, D-58762 Germany e-mail: [email protected] When I started growing ferns, I came across two interesting fern hybrids. The first was in the show garden of the German fern-nurseryman Johann Lintner in Niederoffleiden near Marburg. There I saw a very large specimen of P. x bicknellii (P. aculeatum x P. setiferum). This was my first contact with a Polystichum hybrid and I was very impressed by its magnificence. My second sighting took place in a forest gorge in southern Austria. Here I found P. x luerssenii, (P. aculeatum x P. braunii) which was also a very impressive plant. I dreamt of having such wonderful plants in the garden and the idea of synthesizing hybrids began to develop in my mind. Some years later I found one plant of P. x illyricum (P. aculeatum x P. lonchitis) in the Bavarian Alps. I counted the plants of the parent species in the neighbourhood and found 25 plants of P. lonchitis and Fig.1. Fronds from very young plants of:- 40 plants of P. aculeatum. I calculated that the chance of Polystichum aculeatum (left), P. aculeatum x acrostichoides (middle) producing a hybrid plant would be in the order of nearly 1 in and P. acrostichoides (right) in 2001. 65. Surely this could not be an insurmountable obstacle for an amateur like me. I hoped to get one hybrid if I sowed the spores of the parents together and cultivated one hundred plants. That was my initiation into the fern hybridizing work that I began in 1998. For my first experiment I wanted to makePolystichum x bicknellii. This hybrid had a special interest for me because it is a very fine plant. From a German point of view it is a little exotic because the one parent, P. setiferum, is very rare in Germany and therefore the hybrid with P. aculeatum is also extremely rare. P. setiferum only occurs in Germany in a few places, mostly west of the Rhine. The cross was successful and I grew five hybrid plants, but I could have spared myself the work because during the creation of the plants a P. x bicknellii arose by itself in a wall in my garden. A little later I had this experience again. My attempt to hybridize Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’ with A. filix-femina ‘Cristatum’ was not successful, but later this hybrid arrived by itself in the garden in a mossy place near A. niponicum. I continued my work for a couple of years and then in the year 2000 I modified my method and sowed the spores separately, pricking out the prothalli. This technique is described in an article on page 404. Since I started, I have created 30 different hybrids mainly in the genera Polystichum and Asplenium. Some of the Polystichum hybrids I have developed are described and featured below. Polystichum aculeatum x P acrostichoides Fig.2. Fronds from young plants of:- Polystichum aculeatum (left), P. aculeatum x acrostichoides (middle) Allthough probably triploid, all five plants synthesized show and P. acrostichoides (right) one year later from Fig. 1. no hybrid vigour. They are a little larger than P. acrostichoides and a little smaller than P. aculeatum. All plants have a similar habit to P. aculeatum and mostly resemble this parent (Fig.2). This is understandable because the hybrids have two genomes from the tetraploid P. aculeatum and only one from the diploid P. acrostichoides. If you look carefully some differences are easily observed. The hybrids are a slightly bluish green while P.