PTERIDOLOGIST the Fern Magazine 2014 Edition [Volume 6, Part 1]
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PTERIDOLOGIST The Fern Magazine 2014 Edition [Volume 6, Part 1] EDITED BY A.E. GREENING ISSN 0266-1640 Editorial Preview It would appear that if you want to grow ferns from spores successfully, then you need to drink plenty of milk! Not only that, the milk should be bought in plastic 4 pint bottles and from the same retail outlet each time so that they are all the same size and shape. You don’t believe me? Check out page 10 and see what Fiona Layton manages to do with hers. There are some amazing articles in this issue. They range from ferns in far flung places to those nearer home. The Carribean islands 39 of Antigua and Barbuda have had an incredible resurgance amongst the fern world, thanks to Kevel Lindsay. He has managed to find 109 species since the last major survey in 1993 which only listed 45. That’s an increase of nearly 250%! His work continues and there is a book about to be published later this year. Please read his article starting on page 14. We had hoped to review his book in this issue but it has been slightly delayed and will hopefully be published very soon. A little bit nearer home, the island of Madeira has prompted 2 articles from Neil Timm that tell of the local tradition of using ferns in Christmas decorations (Page 20) as well as those that survive underground. (Page 33) We also have a very interesting article about a fern raised from detritus from an Antarctic glacier. Have a look at Page 58 and see what Ron Lewis-Smith has done. Our very own Martin Rickard has visited Ecuador for the second time.This trip was with fellow fern enthusiasts and they managed to cover a lot of ground. (See 45 page 24) Furthest away in Australia, Mark Longley takes us through the Blue Mountains as well as reviewing his Ebook about Tree Ferns (Pages 55 and 76). He has also agreed to restart the Tree Fern Newsletter section of the Pteridologist so watch this space. Nearer home, the amazing Bryan Yorke tells of his epic 2 year search for Polystichum lonchitis on Hutton Roof which hadn’t been seen there since 1957. He eventually found not one, but two, plants of this species and also rediscovered Asplenium viride which hadn’t been seen for at least 15 years and located a new record of Asplenium adiantum-nigrum for that area. Please turn to page 38 and marvel at his determination and diligence. 57 There are several major articles in this edition. On page 1 we see how complex hardiness in ferns can be. Adrian Dyer has been very busy and has produced, firstly, an article about Patrick Neill Fraser, a Victorian fern enthusiast (Page 48) and secondly a very detailed study of Athyrium filix-femina ‘Victoriae’ (Page 64). It would appear that it is a strong possibility that I have an origional clone in my garden, thanks to Robert Crawford. My proof reading team has now been joined by Chris Evans which was very fortunate when my main proof reader had to go into hospital for an operation. Thank you Chris. Are there any more volunteers out there? For the next edition of the Pteridologist the deadline for copy has been moved 60 forward to 31st December. I have a long trip ‘down-under’ in March/April and would like to have the magazine nearly finished before I go. Alec Greening e-mail: [email protected] Notes for contributors Ideally I would like contributions by e-mail or on disc or USB stick (which will be returned), with high resolution images.If this is not possible I will not rule out typed or hand-written copy. In general please follow the style of material in this issue. 74 Printed by: MTP Media(2008) Ltd. Kendal. Cumbria PTERIDOLOGIST 2014 Contents: Volume 6 Part 1, 2014 Hardiness as a component of both horticultural success and wild-plant range-determination in pteridophyta. Chris Page and Irena Gureyeva 1 The Fern Gazette is Evolving Adrian Dyer and Bridget Laue 8 Raising Ferns From Spores Using Plastic Milk Bottles. Fiona Lanyon 10 The Ferns of Antigua and Barbuda: A Case of Resurgence and Resilience Kevel C. Lindsay 14 A fan of Jamaican ferns Michael Hayward 19 Davallia as traditional decorations. Neil Timm 20 Ticks, Borrelia and Lyme disease. Peter Blake 22 Fern exploration in the High Andes Martin Rickard 24 Underneath the arches – an urban fern odyssey Fred Rumsey 31 Cave ferns of Madeira Neil Timm 33 Starting in Ferns Patrick Acock 34 A gemmiferous form of Asplenium lobatum Pappe & Rawson found in South Africa. Tim Pyner 36 Finding the Holly Fern (Polystichum lonchitis) on Hutton Roof. Bryan Yorke 38 Artificial Hybrids of Asplenium. Rolf Thiemann 42 The Dead of Winter? Keeping Tree Ferns Alive in the U.K. Pt 3. Mike Fletcher 46 Patrick Neill Fraser – Victorian fern enthusiast Adrian Dyer 48 A Trip to the Blue Mountains near Sydney, NSW, Australia Mark Longley 55 A fern cultured from Antarctic glacier detritus. R.I. Lewis-Smith 58 Dryopteris Labordei 'Golden Mist' Tim Pyner 61 Book Review: Flora of Birmingham and the Black Country Martin Rickard 63 The Buchanan Fern, Athyrium filix-femina ‘Victoriae’- Adrian Dyer 64 West Dean Gardens. Julian Reed 74 Book Review: Tree Ferns For Your Garden. Mark Longley 76 Sticheris simplex A frond in read is a frond indeed! Jeremy Pellatt 77 found in the Andes near Lago Llaviucu. The BPS Photographic Competition 2014 79 Photo: Martin Rickard. Book Review: Fougères Rustiques Alastair Wardlaw 80 (Left) Cover Picture: Front. This magnificant British cultivar is a member of the Athyrium filix-femina "Percristatum Group" as denoted by the cresting on the pinnule tips. Photo: Julian Reed. (Right) Cover Picture: Back. The back cover is based on this image of a Polystyichum setiferum 'Plumoso- divisilobum Group' recently found by BPS member Peter Clare in a lane in Kent. Photo: Julian Reed 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 © 2014 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 6.1 2014 1 HARDINESS AS A COMPONENT OF BOTH HORTICULTURAL SUCCESS AND WILD-PLANT RANGE-DETERMINATION IN PTERIDOPHYTA Christopher N. Page Irina I. Gureyeva Geobiology and Environment Krylov Herbarium, Camborme School of Mines, Tomsk State University, Siberia, University of Exeter, Cornwall, UK Russia e-mail:[email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Hardiness in ferns is an important recent (October 2013) visit by a large issue often regarded as of particular contingent of BPS members to Cornwall. significance to horticulture. The hardiness Our observations also including ones of a species is also a critical component made by the other author (IIG) of wild in the establishment of natural range fern-species survival in Siberia, under distributions of species in the wild. This what must clearly be some of the brief overview shows some of the links most temperature-challenging climatic between these two aspects, and how conditions for fern growth anywhere on in many ways those in one area can this planet (Gureyeva 2001, 2002). learn from the other. It also shows how Long-term averages and accumulated complex a field such study can actually temperature influence be, and how much yet we have to learn. Fern hardiness is not always just the Fern hardiness - the issue experience on the part of the plant at Hardiness, whether of horticultural Multi-decadal hardiness monitor: Dicksonia just one moment. Temperature influence plants or to its impact on wild ones, is a antarctica. A planted 6-year old specimen, on ferns can be both the existence of field which is always difficult to quantify repositioned from self-set spores. extremes and (especially often) the This species of tree-fern also now successfully in total, because it is a response to so self-sets by spores in appropriately sheltered experience of sustained conditions over a many separate factors, most of which habitats in West Cornwall. It is one of our best long period of time. For example, survival are largely ‘unseen’. Some are also biomonitors for future climate change. Leaves by ferns of a temperature-low may well experienced not necessarily just at one naturally-fallen into the crown help to add extra be possible for a species if average, or moment, but over time. winter-protection. better-still, accumulated temperatures The study of hardiness is, however, surround a particular cold-extreme, of immense importance in understanding allowing recovery to be successfully- the inter-related issues of the ecology supported, compared with other sites of species conservation, wild plant in which these favourable conditions do ranges, and the use of ferns as terrestrial not apply. For example, for the ferns of biomonitors of climate change. (eg. Page Britain and Ireland, one of the authors 1979-2006, Gureyeva 1990-2002, Page was able to construct such accumulated & McHaffie 1991, Murphy et al 2012). temperature maps with the support of The facility to use ferns as biomonitors both the British and Irish Meteorological results from the combined high general Offices (Page 1997). Additionally, much ecological sensitivity of fern species wider and more generalised ‘hardiness to climatic subtleties, plus the innate zones’ for horticultural plants have also great dispersal-capabilities shown by been mapped for Europe and North ferns as a whole, which enables them America.