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which_chick) wrote2021-06-28 12:17 pm
which_chick) wrote2021-06-28 12:17 pm
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All About Ferns
So a while ago I signed up for a Fern Seminar via Zoom because we're in the Plague Eighteen Months or whatever. Still. With vaccines, we're still in the plague. Ugh. But since I am the sort of person who signs up for a twenty-five dollar Fern Seminar via Zoom, I am going to get full value out of my money. So are you! To wit: All About Ferns!
Ferns That We Have and Where To Find Them and How To Tell Them Apart!
1. Eastern Bracken Fern. This is a fern of triangles. It's triangularly shaped, with a non-fuzzy stem that has a groove down the front side. The triangle frond thing is kind of flat, so that it makes an umbrella shape. Bracken grows, about waist-high, in powerline cuts and can be seen fairly easily throughout the valley. There's a nice patch between Cogswells and the clearing on the other side of the powerline cut. This fern does not require wet and does not clump. This picture was taken with frond flat on the ground, stem toward viewer. It does not photograph for a good triangle view from the top.
2. Sensitive Fern. This fern looks like a fern drawn by a child. It is usually below-knee-height, light green in color, and has leafy bits going up the central rib as well as coming out from the central rib. These are plentiful in shady spots. Does not clump, does not require SOAKING wet. There are some by the little pond beside the lodge as well as in numerous other locations.
3. Cinnamon Fern. This is a VERY LARGE fern that has a cinnamon brown spore tower in the middle of it during fruiting season. It likes very wet conditions and will get over 4' tall in such situations. The stems are kind of hairy, especially when the fern is young. Along with Royal Fern (see below) this is the most common fern in the swamp. It grows in definite circular clumps.
4. Royal Fern. This is a fern that is more leafy than frond-y. It has oval rounded leaflets that look kind of like black locust leaves or crown vetch leaves. Spore structures poke up on separate stems in middle of plant, kind of candleabra-y and green when fresh, turning brown later. Royal ferns get large but do not, generally, get bigger than cinnamon ferns at least around here. (The fern guy said that they would break 5' but ours do not do that.) This fern is found with Cinnamon Fern in the swamp and also down below the dam. It likes the wet quite a bit so if you are looking at it you probably have wet feet. It kind of clumps but not the massive dedicated clumps like cinnamon fern.
Frond:
5. Interrupted Fern. This fern looks a lot like Cinnamon Fern except instead of having separate spore structures, the spore structures are on the regular fronds, about halfway up, so that it looks like the frond got "sick" or something for like two to four pairs of leaflet things in the middle of the frond. The easiest place to see these is in the sunlit clearing along the powerline cut between my house and Cogswell's. I have seen them other places, but they mostly just stealth along looking like smallish cinnamon ferns with some kind of funk halfway up the fronds. Grows in distinct clumps.
6. Hay Scented Fern. This forms mats or colonies, frequently with our other knee-height-or-smaller fern that resembles it, the New York Fern. They look pretty similar. Hay Scented Fern fronds are shaped like a triangle with the narrowest frondlets at the top of the frond and the widest frondlets (that is not a technical term but I bet you know what I mean) at the bottom of the frond. Does not require wet. The Hay Scented Fern has very ferny frondlets. They are cut and cut again to make a very ferny shape.
7. New York Fern. Forms mats or colonies, often found with Hay Scented Fern. New York Fern is narrower at the top AND the bottom than it is in the middle. The frond outline resembles that of a football, kinda. Pointy on both ends, fat in the middle. It's also kind of knee-high or smaller and can grow in not-entirely-wet areas. Frondlets for New York Fern are not nearly as ferny as Hay Scented Fern.
I have some comparison shots in which New York Fern is on the LEFT and Hay Scented Fern is on the right. Look at the comparison shots.
Again, New York Fern on LEFT and Hay Scented on Right. Here's an extreme close-up.
8. Christmas Fern. This fern is evergreen and grows in small isolated clumps. It's not super common and you have to look for it a bit. Gets about a foot and a half, maybe two feet tall. Not huge, does not require extreme wetness. There are a few clumps behind my house along the creek. The somewhat leathery evergreen-ish frondlets have a TOOTH pointing up on the top side of each frondlet.
Frond detail:
9. Rock Polypody. This fern is more or less evergreenish and grows on rocks and logs. It doesn't very often grow in dirt. It is not very big, maybe six inches? It does more of a mat thing than a clump thing. Rock Polypody looks a bit like Christmas Fern but is smaller and does not have the tooth thing on the frondlets. Also the spores look different if you can find a spore-frond. The best place to find this is coming down the road, shortly after the clump of mean signs. There's a big rock on the left side of the road (inbound) after the clump of mean signs and it's a big crevasse-y rock that looks like it might harbor snakes. That rock there has Rock Polypody on it.
Comparison of Christmas Fern and Rock Polypody. Look at size, frondlets. Christmas Fern is the big one.
Spore detail, the little dots one is Rock Polypody:
And now you know All About Ferns from the $25 fern seminar. (We do not have maidenhair fern that I've seen but it's over at Trysta and Matt's house and I kind of think we SHOULD have it. Maybe I can make that happen...)
Ferns That We Have and Where To Find Them and How To Tell Them Apart!
1. Eastern Bracken Fern. This is a fern of triangles. It's triangularly shaped, with a non-fuzzy stem that has a groove down the front side. The triangle frond thing is kind of flat, so that it makes an umbrella shape. Bracken grows, about waist-high, in powerline cuts and can be seen fairly easily throughout the valley. There's a nice patch between Cogswells and the clearing on the other side of the powerline cut. This fern does not require wet and does not clump. This picture was taken with frond flat on the ground, stem toward viewer. It does not photograph for a good triangle view from the top.
2. Sensitive Fern. This fern looks like a fern drawn by a child. It is usually below-knee-height, light green in color, and has leafy bits going up the central rib as well as coming out from the central rib. These are plentiful in shady spots. Does not clump, does not require SOAKING wet. There are some by the little pond beside the lodge as well as in numerous other locations.
3. Cinnamon Fern. This is a VERY LARGE fern that has a cinnamon brown spore tower in the middle of it during fruiting season. It likes very wet conditions and will get over 4' tall in such situations. The stems are kind of hairy, especially when the fern is young. Along with Royal Fern (see below) this is the most common fern in the swamp. It grows in definite circular clumps.
4. Royal Fern. This is a fern that is more leafy than frond-y. It has oval rounded leaflets that look kind of like black locust leaves or crown vetch leaves. Spore structures poke up on separate stems in middle of plant, kind of candleabra-y and green when fresh, turning brown later. Royal ferns get large but do not, generally, get bigger than cinnamon ferns at least around here. (The fern guy said that they would break 5' but ours do not do that.) This fern is found with Cinnamon Fern in the swamp and also down below the dam. It likes the wet quite a bit so if you are looking at it you probably have wet feet. It kind of clumps but not the massive dedicated clumps like cinnamon fern.
Frond:
5. Interrupted Fern. This fern looks a lot like Cinnamon Fern except instead of having separate spore structures, the spore structures are on the regular fronds, about halfway up, so that it looks like the frond got "sick" or something for like two to four pairs of leaflet things in the middle of the frond. The easiest place to see these is in the sunlit clearing along the powerline cut between my house and Cogswell's. I have seen them other places, but they mostly just stealth along looking like smallish cinnamon ferns with some kind of funk halfway up the fronds. Grows in distinct clumps.
6. Hay Scented Fern. This forms mats or colonies, frequently with our other knee-height-or-smaller fern that resembles it, the New York Fern. They look pretty similar. Hay Scented Fern fronds are shaped like a triangle with the narrowest frondlets at the top of the frond and the widest frondlets (that is not a technical term but I bet you know what I mean) at the bottom of the frond. Does not require wet. The Hay Scented Fern has very ferny frondlets. They are cut and cut again to make a very ferny shape.
7. New York Fern. Forms mats or colonies, often found with Hay Scented Fern. New York Fern is narrower at the top AND the bottom than it is in the middle. The frond outline resembles that of a football, kinda. Pointy on both ends, fat in the middle. It's also kind of knee-high or smaller and can grow in not-entirely-wet areas. Frondlets for New York Fern are not nearly as ferny as Hay Scented Fern.
I have some comparison shots in which New York Fern is on the LEFT and Hay Scented Fern is on the right. Look at the comparison shots.
Again, New York Fern on LEFT and Hay Scented on Right. Here's an extreme close-up.
8. Christmas Fern. This fern is evergreen and grows in small isolated clumps. It's not super common and you have to look for it a bit. Gets about a foot and a half, maybe two feet tall. Not huge, does not require extreme wetness. There are a few clumps behind my house along the creek. The somewhat leathery evergreen-ish frondlets have a TOOTH pointing up on the top side of each frondlet.
Frond detail:
9. Rock Polypody. This fern is more or less evergreenish and grows on rocks and logs. It doesn't very often grow in dirt. It is not very big, maybe six inches? It does more of a mat thing than a clump thing. Rock Polypody looks a bit like Christmas Fern but is smaller and does not have the tooth thing on the frondlets. Also the spores look different if you can find a spore-frond. The best place to find this is coming down the road, shortly after the clump of mean signs. There's a big rock on the left side of the road (inbound) after the clump of mean signs and it's a big crevasse-y rock that looks like it might harbor snakes. That rock there has Rock Polypody on it.
Comparison of Christmas Fern and Rock Polypody. Look at size, frondlets. Christmas Fern is the big one.
Spore detail, the little dots one is Rock Polypody:
And now you know All About Ferns from the $25 fern seminar. (We do not have maidenhair fern that I've seen but it's over at Trysta and Matt's house and I kind of think we SHOULD have it. Maybe I can make that happen...)