I really enjoy the autumn sunlight. It is less harsh and more gentle on the eye and the landscape it illuminates. The light was a at the back of these faded Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) fronds when I took the image.
The Colours of Autumn
Category: Ferns & Horsetails
Into The Marsh
You may be wondering what this is a photograph of, huh? Well it looks kind of like very fine green barbed wire, but no. It’s not a kind of grass, either. It is does not have any Photoshop jiggery pokery either, this is as I had taken it near the shore of Derwentwater. It was difficult to get at because of a dense screen of trees, so I used my extended zoom. Any ideas, yet?
Well I know it is a Horsetail, and I think it is the Water Horsetail (Equisetum fluviatile).
Click once to expand view, click again to get that little bit closer
July 2018, Derwentwater, Keswick, Cumbria, England. © Pete Hillman.
Of Rock And Sea
Spleenwort, mosses and grasses growing out of rock built sea wall, Great Orme, Llandudno, Wales. April 2017.
Holding Beauty
Photograph taken December 2016, local woodland margin, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Of Form And of Light
Photograph taken December 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Beautiful Bracken
Photograph of Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) taken November 2016, local wood, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 18-55mm lens.
About Ferns And Horsetails
Ferns and horsetails are living fossils in that they are from the earliest forms of plant life on earth. They are vascular plants which prefer moist, shady environments, and reproduce via airborne spores or underground rhizomes. Ferns and horsetails are a monophyletic group, and the closest living relatives to seed bearing plants.
Class: Polypodiopsida (Ferns)
Ferns are a very ancient family of plants, and have been around for some 360 million years, since the Mesozoic Era.They existed on the planet some 200 million years before the evolution of flowering plants. Ferns are vascular plants which mainly grow in moist, shady environments under the protective canopy of trees, such as in woods and forests, or near streams or in ditches. They do not have seeds or flowers, but reproduce by spores, and go through an intermediate stage called a gametophyte.
Class: Equisetopsida (Horsetails)
The horsetails are now represented by only one genus Equisetum, and are amongst the oldest plants on earth. Fossils have been discovered in coal beds of tree-sized horsetails which grew in great and vast forests dating back to the Paleozoic Era, some hundreds of millions of years ago. It is from these ancient forests that coal was formed, and is mined today as fossil fuel.
Horsetails produce spores in cone-like structures. The spores develop into underground prothalli which produce new plants in the same manner as fern prothalli do. They also spread via tuber-like rhizomes beneath the earth.They are unwelcome in pastures due to their high levels of silica in their tissues, which are poisonous to cows and sheep, and other livestock.
They are called horsetails due to their branched structure which can resemble a horse’s tail.
Broad Buckler Fern
Dryopteris austriaca
The fronds of the Broad Buckler Fern are deep green, are ovate-triangular in shape, and are 3-times pinnately divided. The stalks have dark-centred scales. The fronds are broader and longer than the Narrow Buckler Fern (Dryopteris carthusiana). Frond length up to 1m.
Spore ripening time July to September. Found in hedgerows, scrub, damp woodland, heathland, shady rock ledges and amongst rocks. A native species which is common and widespread throughout Britain.
Photographs of Broad Buckler Fern (Dryopteris austriaca), taken May and December 2012, local river, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2012. Camera used Nikon Coolpix P500.
Male Fern
Dryopteris filix-mas
This is a large, clump-forming fern of which its fronds remain green throughout the winter months and is semi-evergreen. The fronds are of an upright, slender nature, and bipinnately (2-times) divided. The pinnules have rounded tips and have serrated margins. The stalks have brownish scales. Frond length up to 1.2m. Plant height 1.2m. Plant spread 1m.
Spore ripening time August to November. Found in woodland, ditches, and on banks, favouring damp and shady areas. It is a common and widespread species throughout Britain.
Photographs of Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas), taken May and December 2012, local river, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2012. Camera used Nikon Coolpix P500.
Hart’s-tongue Fern
Asplenium scolopendrium
This evergreen fern is a fresh green with undivided fronds which form clumps. Dark brown spore cases are borne in rows on the underside of the fronds. Frond length 60cm.
They inhabit damp and shady habitats, like woodland and river banks, also rocks and walls. Common and widespread.
Photographs of Hart’s-tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium), taken August 2011 on coastal pathway, Saundersfoot, Wales. © Pete Hillman 2011. Camera used Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38.
Wall-rue Spleenwort
Asplenium ruta-muraria
A delicate little evergreen fern with blueish-green or olive-green, club-shaped leaflets with toothed margins. Brown spores can be seen beneath the bipinnate (twice divided) fronds. Frond length up to 12cm.
Found growing in the crevices of old walls or rocks, mainly where there is limestone. Widespread but commonest in W Britain and Ireland.
Photographs of Wall-rue Spleenwort (Asplenium ruta-muraria), taken December 2012, local canal bridge, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2012. Camera used Nikon Coolpix P500.
Maidenhair Spleenwort
Asplenium trichomanes
This little fern grows in tufts and has dark brownish to blackish-stemmed, pinnate fronds with pairs of small, oval leaflets. Frond length up to 15cm.
Found growing in the crevices of old walls or rocks. A native species which is widespread but commonest in the west of Britain.
Photographs of Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes), taken August 2015, Torquay, Devon. © Pete Hillman 2015. Camera used Nikon D3200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Rustyback
Asplenium ceterach
The thick, leathery fronds are pinnately divided into rounded lobes and form clumps. The back of the frond is covered in rusty-coloured scales. Frond length up to 20cm.
Found growing in the crevices of lime-rich stone walls or rocks, especially in the mortar of old walls. It can withstand drought and will curl itself up. A native species which is widespread but common only in the south-west of England, west Wales and Ireland.
Photographs of Rustyback (Asplenium ceterach), taken August 2015, Torquay, Devon. © Pete Hillman 2015. Camera used Nikon D3200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Common Polypody
Polypodium vulgare
The fronds are flat and oblong, with lobes fairly equal in size. They are dark green and are 1-pinnate. The sori are circular. Frond length 10 to 40cm.
Found on walls, rocks and trees. Also found in damp, shady places like woodland banks and gorges. Common and widespread throughout, although mostly found in Western Britain and Ireland.
Photographs of Common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare), taken April 2013, Llandudno, Wales. © Pete Hillman 2013. Camera used Nikon Coolpix P500.
Great Horsetail
Equisetum telmateia
This is Britain’s largest horsetail, with pinkish-brown fertile stems, and the sterile stems are whitish with 20 to 40 fine grooves. The sterile stems are heavily branched with between 20 to 40 emerging from each node. It can grow up to 2m tall.
Fertile stems ripen in April, and sterile stems appear soon afterwards and remain throughout the summer until they die down in late autumn. Found in damp shady places, like pool edges, ditches and marshes in woodland. A native species, and fairly frequent and widespread in England and Wales, and less so in the north.
Photographs of Great Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia), taken June 2013, nature reserve, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2013. Camera used Nikon Coolpix P500.
Wood Horsetail
Equisetum sylvaticum
The stem branches of this horsetail are branched themselves giving it a distinctive, elegant droop. It can grow up to 8cm tall.
Fertile stems ripen April to May, and it is found in damp woods and moors. Widespread but more common in northern Britain.
Photographs of Wood Horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), taken June 2013, nature reserve, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2013. Camera used Nikon Coolpix P500.
In The Garden Jungle
There is even beauty in the colour and texture of a fading fern frond.
Unfurling
Common Bracken
Pteridium aquilinum
Also called ‘Brake Fern’, this is a common and easily recognised fern. The stiff, triangular fronds are 3-times pinnate. They sprout individually straight from the rhizomes which can have a far-reaching spread. The spore cases are borne around the leaf margins. In autumn the fronds turn reddish-brown and die back to ground over winter until in spring when new fronds grow back. Plant height 1.5m and over.
Spore ripening time July to August. Found in woodland, heathland, grassland and hillsides. It prefers slightly acidic soil and dappled shade, but can tolerate full sun. A native species, and is common and widespread throughout Britain.
Bracken can be quite a serious problem in some areas because of its underground spreading nature via its rhizomes which can be as much as 400m in length. They can invade agricultural land and gardens where it can be hard to eradicate making it a noxious weed. The rhizomes can even survive fire. Bracken is poisonous to humans and livestock, and if ingested may cause oesophageal and stomach cancer.
Photographs taken June 2013 and December 2015, local woodland margin, Staffordshire.
Field Horsetail
Equisetum arvense
Also called the ‘Common Horsetail’, the first to be seen of this plant is the pinkish-brown fertile stems, resembling small asparagus sprouts, followed by the green sterile stems with jointed segments and whorls of side shoots forming spreading patches where they grow. Plant height 75cm.
Spore-bearing stems appear in March from tuber-bearing rhizomes, and spores ripen March to June. The sterile stems appear when the fertile stems die back, and are present throughout the summer months into late autumn when the first frosts arrive. Found commonly in damp fields, waste ground, roadsides and in gardens where it may become a troublesome weed. The rhizomes may grow down up to 2m into the ground where they are difficult to remove, and where they may spread into neighbouring properties. Britain’s commonest horsetail, native and widespread throughout.
The Field Horsetail is from a very ancient group of plants which has survived from the Carboniferous age, more than 230 million years ago. This plant, like all horsetails, contains high levels of silica which makes it toxic to livestock.
Photographs taken April 2009 and May 2013, local field near river, Staffordshire, and June 2013, nature reserve, Staffordshire.
Water Horsetail
Equisetum fluviatile
The stems of the Water Horsetail are smooth and may be sparsely covered whorls of narrow joined branches. Plant height 50 to 140cm.
Fertile stems ripen June to July. Found in marshes, on pond and lake margins, and ditches. Widespread and locally common in Britain and Ireland.
Photographs taken June 2013, nature reserve, Staffordshire.
Nature Journeys 