The Iris family or Iridaceae, according to Stace has 15 genera but several genera are clearly escaped garden plants and not yet widely spread in the wild so will mainly mention the real natives and/or the more common introduced ones which are also described in the Wildflower Key.

They are more difficult to identify without flower as of course all have similar, strap-like leaves in various shades of green!

I use colour coding for easy reading! Blue background is general interesting info (although I hope you find it all interesting!!). Green is about all the uses except for medicinal uses or if there is a warning in which case I use a pink background. Pictures by Matt Summers (MS), Mike Poulton (MP) of Ecorecord and Wikipedia Commons

Please use Jump-links in contents to easily get to the various species on next page!

Contents:

Blue-eyed-grass (Sisyrinchium bermudiana)

Yellow Flag (Iris pseudoacorus)

Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima)

Bearded Iris (Iris x germanica)

Wild Gladiolus (Gladiolus ilyricus)

Eastern Gladiolus (Gladiolus communis ssp. byzantinus)

Montbretia (Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora)

Sand Crocus (Romulea columnea)

Crocuses

Crocus chrysanthus, C. sieboldii and C. tommasinianus

in Part 2 we continue with the:

‘TRUE’ or LEPTOSPORANGIATE FERNS

This has 16 families described in Stace, and on the next page, we continue with family 10 to the last family 21, which all grow in the British Isles in various habitats.

I use colour coding for easy reading! Blue background is general interesting info (although I hope you find it all interesting!!). Green is about all the uses except for medicinal uses or if there is a warning in which case I use a pink background. Pictures by Matt Summers unless stated.

I added contents where you can jump to the correct fern family or genus on next page.

See for Part 1 here:

Classification of fern families in Stace:

Contents:

10 DICKSONIACEAE –Tree fern Family

11 DENNSTAEDTIACEAE – Bracken family

Pteridium aquilinum or Bracken

12 PTERIDACEAE – Ribbon Fern family

• Cryptogramma crispa or Parsley Fern
• Anogramma leptophylla or Jersey Fern
• Adianthum capillus-venerisor Maidenhair Fern
• Pteris vittata and P. cretica or Ribbon Fern

13 CYSTOPTERIDACEAE

Gymnocarpium

• Gymnocarpium dryopteris or Oak Fern
• G. robertianum or Limestone Fern

Cystopteris

• Cystopteris fragilis or Brittle Bladder-fern
• C. diaphana or Diaphanous Bladder-fern
• C. alpina or Alpine Bladder-fern
• C. dickieana or Dickie’s Bladder-fern
• C. montana or Mountain Bladder-fern

14 ASPLENIACEAE –Spleenwort family

• Asplenium scolopendrium (Syn. Phyllitis scolopendrium) or Hart’s-tongue Fern
• A. adiantum-nigrum or Black Spleenwort
• A. marinum or Sea Spleenwort
• A. trichomanes or Maidenhair Spleenwort
• A. ruta-muraria or Wall-rue
• A. ceterach (syn. Ceterach officinarum) or Rustyback

15 THELYPTERIDACEAE – Marsh Fern family

• Thelypteris palustris or Marsh Fern
• Phegopteris connectilis or Beech Fern
• Oreopteris limbosperma or Lemon-scented Fern

16 WOODSIACEAE  or Woodsia family

• Woodsia ilvensis or Oblong Woodsia
• Woodsia alpina or Alpine Woodsia

17 ATHYRIACEAE – Lady-ferns and allies

• Athyrium filix-femina or Lady-fern
• Athyrium distentifolium or Alpine Lady-fern

18 BLECHNACEAE – Hard-fern family

• Blechnum spicant or Hard-fern
• Blechnum penna-marina or Little Hard-fern
• Blechnum cordatum or Greater Hard-fern

19 ONOCLEACEAE – Ostrich fern family

19A DAVALLIACEAE (for ornamental Davallia canariensis)

20 DRYOPTERIDACEAE – Buckler-fern family

• Cyrtomium falcatum or House Holly-fern

Polystichum

• Polystichum setiferum or Soft Shield-fern
• P. aculeatum or Hard Shield-fern
• P. lonchitis or Holly-fern

Dryopteris or Buckler-ferns

• Dryopteris oreades or Mountain Male-fern
• D. filix-mas or Male-fern
• D. affinis or Golden-scaled Male-fern
• D. affinis ssp. cambrensis
• D. affinis ssp. borreri
• D. affinis ‘Cristata’
• D. remota or Scaly Buckler-fern
• D. aemula or Hay-scented Buckler-fern
• D. submontana or Rigid Buckler-fern
• D. carthusiana or Narrow Buckler-fern
• D. dilatata or Broad Buckler-fern
• D. expansa or Northern Buckler-fern

21 POLYPODIACEAE – Polypody family

• Polypodium vulgare or Polypody
• P. interjectum or Intermediate Polypody
• P. cambricum or Southern Polypody

This is part 1 of all those ferns and fern- allies growing on the British Isles as well as many other countries in the temperate or even tropical world!

Ferns flourished before all the flowering plants came on earth and still thrive in many niche areas all over the world.

It is a large and divers group and a short account of their classification follows on the next page. For each group there may be one or two important species which have some story to tell or ethnobotanical use!

Below is a lovely short poem about the Ferns, written for the former students of and by Ian Trueman, Emeritus Professor in Plant Ecology, University of Wolverhampton many years ago.

Ferns

When the green weeds rose from the sea

We, the great-leaved plants, were the last to raise our heads.

But we soon became perfect in the horsetail forests,

When the coal was being made in sun and steam.

And there, quiet under the bristle-leaved trees

We became perfect, as you see us now.

And quiet, and secret, and everlasting

We still unfold our ancient dance

Under the proud stems of our seed-borne sons.

Links are provided from various websites for you to look into each group or plant a bit further. Such as the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora, where you can find out exactly where it grows in the B.I. This time I used copies of prints of ‘The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland’ as well as pictures sourced through Wikipedia Common. Medicinal uses from ‘The Medicinal Flora of Britain and Northwestern Europe’ by Julian Barker. But please note this is an educational blog only and going out harvesting rare plants is not advisable for use as medicine and should be left to a qualified herbalist! Pictures by Matt Summers unless stated.

You can listen to this radio play by Brett Westwood called Natural Histories: Ferns: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000b80h

General information and classification of Ferns:

The PTERIDOPHYTES or Ferns & Fern-allies have varied habit and leaf structure but are distinctive from the flowering plants in that they do not bare flowers but have spores and spore structures, which are an important identification feature.

The life cycle of the fern has two different stages;

• sporophyte, which releases spores, and
• gametophyte, which releases gametes.

Gametophyte plants are haploid, sporophyte plants diploid. This type of life cycle is called alternation of generations. To follow the life cycle of the fern, begin at number one in the diagram of this link.

Stace divides all the ferns and fern-allies into 4 informal large groups:

• Lycophytes with 1) Lycopodiaceae – Clubmoss family 2) Selaginellaceae -Lesser clubmoss family and 3) Isoetaceae – Quillwort family
• Eusporangiate ferns with 4) Ophioglossaceae- Adder’s tongue family
• Calamophytes with 5) Equisetaceae – Horsetail family AND
• Leptosporangiate ferns or True ferns with 16 families (see with entry there)

Please use the jump-links provided in the Contents to quickly get to the family you want on the next page.

Contents:

The LYCOPHYTES

1 LYCOPODIACEAE – Clubmoss family

Lycopodium clavatum or Stag’s-horn Clubmoss

2 SELAGINELLACEAE – Lesser clubmoss family

Selaginella selaginoides or Lesser Clubmoss

3 ISOETACEAE – Quillwort family

Isoetes lacustris or (Lake) Quillwort

The EUSPORANGIATE FERNS

4 OPHIOGLOSSACEAE – Adder’s-tongue family

Ophioglossum vulgatum or Adder’s-tongue

CALAMOPHYTES   or Horsetails

5 EQUISETACEAE – Horsetail family

The TRUE FERNS or LEPTOSPORANGIATE FERNS

6 OSMUNDACEAE or Royal Fern family

Osmunda regalis or Royal Fern

7 HYMENOPHYLLACEAE – Filmy-fern family

• Hymenophyllum tunbrigense or Tunbridge Filmy-fern
• H. wilsonii or Wilson’s Filmy-fern
• Trichomanes speciosum or Killarney Fern

8 MARSILEACEAE – Pillwort family

Pillularia globulifera or Pillwort

9 SALVINIACEAE – Water fern family

Azolla filiculoides or Water Fern

9A CYATHEACEAE