New Atlas of Ferns & Allied Plants of Britain & Ireland BPS Special Publication No. 8 Edited by A.C. Wardlaw & A. Leonard This handbook entitled New Atlas of the Ferns & Allied Plants of the Britain & Ireland was produced by The British Pteridological Society in a limited edition of 300 copies. The distribution maps and accompanying texts in this handbook were originally published in New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora by C.D. Preston, D.A. Pearman & T.D. Dines (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002). Permission to reproduce in this handbook the maps and accompanying texts from the New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora, by Preston et al. (2002) was obtained from the Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO, as License No. 1234567 Copyright © 2005 The 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. ISBN 0-9509806-7-6 Editor of BPS Special Publications: B.A. Thomas Published by THE BRITISH PTERIDOLOGICAL SOCIETY, c/o Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK The British Pteridological Society is a Registered Charity, No. 1092399 Printed by Purple Edge Graphics Ltd, 130a Drymen Road, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 3RB, UK 1 Introduction The ancestor of this book was Atlas of Ferns of the British Isles (1978), edited by A.C. Jermy, H.R. Arnold, L. Farrell & F.H. Perring, and published jointly by the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) and the British Pteridological Society (BPS). In the intervening years since 1978, members of both Societies have been active in recording the distribution of the pteridophytes of the British Isles and Ireland. However, only the BSBI had a formal role in producing the New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora, edited by C.D. Preston, D.A. Pearman & T.D. Dines, and published by Oxford University Press in 2002. This monumental book of 910 pages, in a format 20% larger than A4, and weighing nearly 10 lbs, presents distribution maps of 2412 taxa, of which the ferns and fern allies comprise only 93, or less than 4%. The purpose of the present handbook was therefore to make available in a compact form only the 93 distribution maps of ferns and fern allies, so that those field naturalists with a primary interest in pteridophytes would have a conveniently portable source for reference. Again for reasons of convenient access, we decided to list the taxa in alphabetical order of genus and species, rather than systematically within families. Thus the entries start with Adiantum capillus-veneris and end with Woodsia ilvensis, as in a dictionary. There is therefore no need to look in the index to find a Polystichum, which is no longer near to Dryopteris, despite both being in the Dryopteridaceae. Adherence to this principle means that the fern allies take their alphabetical place in the series, instead of being segregated in groups separate from the ferns. Likewise the neophytes, such as Dicksonia antarctica and Onoclea sensibilis, are in their alphabetical position among the native species. Nevertheless to allow rapid overview of contents, we provide on the back cover a list of all the 93 maps in the present compilation. At the end of the handbook are the References cited in the texts that accompany each map, while the inside back cover has an Index of Common Names. The New Atlas has a few maps of native taxa that were not in the 1978 Atlas of Ferns. Thus the gametophyte stages of Trichomanes speciosum is now included, as is the subspecies pachyrachis of Asplenium trichomanes. There are now maps of several neophytes: Blechnum chilense, Cyrtomium falcatum, Dicksonia antarctica, Matteuccia struthiopteris, Onoclea sensibilis, Phymatosorus diversifolius, Polystichum munitum and Pteris cretica Because some of these neophyte maps were only available on CD-ROM, the format is different from those in the New Atlas, It is notable that not all the taxa in the 1978 Atlas of Ferns were carried forward into the 2002 New Atlas. Thus in the latter, the only pteridophyte hybrids are: Dryopteris x complexa, Dryopteris x deweveri, Equisetum x trachyodon (E. hyemale x E. variegatum), Equisetum x litorale (E. arvense x E. fluviatile), Polypodium x mantoniae and Polystichum x bicknellii. By contrast, the 1978 Atlas had maps of all 6 of the above hybrids plus (remarkably!) maps of the following 25 others: Asplenium x alternifolium, Asplenium x clermontiae, Asplenium x confluens, Asplenium x contrei, Asplenium x jacksonii, Asplenium x microdon, Asplenium x murbeckii, Asplenium x sarniense, Asplenium x ticinense, Diphasiastrum x issleri, Dryopteris x ambrosiae, Dryopteris x brathaica, Dryopteris x. mantoniae, Dryopteris x pseudoabbreviata, Dryopteris x tavelii, Dryopteris x uliginosa, , Equisetum fluviatile x palustre, Equisetum x font-queri, Equisetum x litorale, Equisetum x moorei, Equisetum x 2 rothmaleri, Polypodium x font-queri, Polypodium x shivasiae, Polystichum x illyricum and Polystichum x lonchitiforme. It is therefore a challenge, particularly for members of the BPS, to update the distribution information on the pteridophyte hybrids in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland. For that purpose the distribution maps from the 1978 Atlas of Ferns of the British Isles would be the starting point. This also emphasises that mapping of plant distribution, by its nature, is an on-going process and the information published in this handbook is only a snapshot of what had been reported in time for inclusion in the 2002 New Atlas. For later information, readers should also consult the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) website at http://www.searchnbn.net/ In the quarter-century since the 1978 Atlas there have been some significant changes in nomenclature . For example, Dryopteris affinis was not a listed species in 1978, let alone having the morphotypes which have been recognized in recent decades. Readers will also find Asplenium cuneifolium, the species associated with serpentine rocks in Continental Europe, as no longer on the list of current pteridophytes for Great Britain and Ireland For the most part we have used the same names as in the 2002 New Atlas, which in turn are based on those of Stace (1997) in the New Flora of the British Isles, edn 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). However, we have changed Ceterach officinarum to Asplenium ceterach, and Phyllitis scolopendrium to Asplenium scolopendrium. We have kept Athyrium flexile as a species, despite the recent work (McHaffie, 1999) that places it as a variety of Athyrium distentifolium. We have also followed the style of the 2002 New Atlas in not citing authorities for the specific names, believing that in so doing we are not allowing ambiguities. We also believe that little of relevance to species distribution is lost by our not including the pteridophyte family in the information with each taxon. The 93 maps that make up the main part of this handbook reflect an enormous amount of dedicated and expert work by individuals too numerous to list here. The reader is therefore referred to the 2002 New Atlas itself for information on how the distribution maps were compiled, who did the work in the field and at the computer, and the rationale for the underlying organization of the whole enterprise. Such perusal of the main source will also allow the pteridophytes to be placed within the context of the other 96% of vascular plant taxa. The texts that accompany each of the pteridophyte maps follow a standard pattern of four paragraphs. 1. Habitat and altitudinal range; 2. Trends in the distribution of the species; 3. The wider distribution of the species; and 4. Key references. In a few instances we have inserted minor corrections or comments. The production of this handbook would not have been possible without friendly permission being given by the copyright holder to reproduce the maps and accompanying text from the New Atlas and its accompanying CD-ROM. We are therefore extremely grateful to Her Majesty’s Stationery Office for granting a license to the BPS to reproduce the maps and texts for this handbook. We also offer sincere thanks to Oxford University Press for providing the original electronic files for reproduction of the distribution maps. Finally, we see this handbook as furthering the Objects of the BPS, as stated in the Society’s Constitution, viz: to promote and encourage the cultivation of ferns and other pteridophytes and to further the study of their taxonomy, distribution, conservation and ecology through publications, meetings and grants. BAT, ACW & AL (Editors) Adiantum capillus-veneris 3 No. of 10 km2 occurrences Native GB IR 1987-99 C 25 17 1970-86 C 54 pre 1970 C 12 8 Alien 1987-99 C 59 7 1970-86 C 19 1 pre 1970 C 22 1 Maidenhair Fern A semi-evergreen fern found in areas with an native populations were jeopardised by oceanic climate on wet, calcareous cliffs where collectors; many pre-1970 sites were lost its rhizomes are protected in crevices; in the before 1930. There have been few recent Aran Islands (W. Donegal) and the Burren (Co. losses, however, and many more alien records. Clare) it grows in grikes in limestone Mediterranean-Atlantic element; also in C. and pavement. Many inland records in sheltered E. Asia and N. America. warm sites, such as damp mortared walls, References: Atlas (6d), Hultén & Fries (1986), railway sidings and canal locks, arise from Jalas & Suominen (1972), Jermy et al. (1978), spores derived from cultivated plants. Lowland. Page (1997), Stewart et al. (1994). Native (change +0.54). In the 19th century, A. C. JERMY 4 Anogramma leptophylla No. of 10 km2 occurrences Native GB IR 1987-99 C 20 1970-86 C 10 pre 1970 C 00 Alien 1987-99 C 00 1970-86 C 00 pre 1970 C 00 Jersey Fern A small fern found on moist but well-drained Native.