Collecting ferns

Unfurling fern by oom_endro

 As with any group you choose for this assignment, you will have to learn a bit of technical descriptive language. The BPS have produced this booklet for beginners which illustrates the basic terms in conjunction with photos and descriptions of the country's most common species. It seems like a good (and free) place to start - and pragmatically, will help you decide if you're likely to be able to visit the sort of places where they live (woodlands and streambanks are good hunting grounds, as well as walls, rocky outcrops and uplands). Having said that, I know of at least three species which are only a few hundred yards' walk from my office. But lots of the distinguishing features of ferns can be quite small... you'll really have to progress to one of the dichotomous keys to be sure.

When you go out collecting, you'll need to make a note of  exactly where you've found your fern and some details about its habitat. You might like to take a photo of it growing in situ - the growth form of a fern can be usefully diagnostic. Some species grow up in a tuft like a shuttlecock, whereas other fronds are more solitary. Some ferns prefer more acid conditions, some more alkaline.

When you take a sample of it (and you don't want to decimate the entire plant of course, as happened regrettably as part of 'Pteridomania') - you need to include the entire stipe (the 'stem') right down to the ground, because it may have scales that will help you identify the species. Likewise, you should look on the back of the fronds and choose one that shows sori (where spores develop) as the shape of sori can also be very useful. Try to choose a frond that isn't nibbled or otherwise damaged.

I've found it fine to collect ferns in plastic bags, popping in a piece of paper as a label. However, you could also use a jeweller's tag method for labelling (something like this), enabling different specimens to share a bag!  If you can't attend to them immediately on returning home, they will be ok for day or two sealed in their bag in the fridge. Ideally though, you want to get them pressing as soon as possible. You can even take your press into the field with you.

Read on for advice about identification.

and about botanical presses and pressing your specimens for display.

Basket made in C19th California by a Washoe craftsperson - of willow and fern stipes.