Identification guides for ferns

Fern sori. CC image by HEPrice

It may surprise you that there are over 60 native fern species in the UK. Some of those are admittedly quite rare. And some of them are surely invented by over-keen fern taxonomists creating several impossible-to-distinguish species from one. But there are enough that are common enough to find, and not too annoying to identify, that ferns can make you an interesting collection. (I will warn you that some are more annoying than others, though I think it's the case that the more ferns you see, the more you can pick out the important features of the difficult ones).

You may like to dip your toe in with this little booklet for beginners from the British Pteridological Society, which shows the features of a variety of the most common species.

But for this assignment you have to show you can use a dichotomous key, and James Merryweather's Fern Guide, published by the FSC, is a good next step. It's cheap to buy, and we do have some copies, and there are also some in the library. The book also includes the lovely horsetails (Equisetum). These are also Pteridophytes (so technically you could collect those too - though I would seek confirmation from Katy to be sure).

I do recommend Merryweather's book, but as I found out on a short course recently, for some species you are better off using a combination of identification sources - the books all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Jermy and Camus' 'Illustrated Guide to Ferns...' comes from the Natural History Museum and is useful in the field. It's got a key too. It's out of print and is always offputtingly expensive to buy, though there is a copy in the library. I've recently found it scanned in online at the Internet Archive (and contributed by the Natural History Museum itself, so no need to feel any anguish related to its illegal up- or down-loading). It has a consistent layout with one species per double page, and nice diagrams of the sori. It also includes some non-native interlopers, which you might find useful. It also has a key, so if you're struggling with Merryweather, you can try this one.

We do have some copies of Francis Rose's 'Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns'. It includes a key, and the illustrations of ferns are said to be very good. I've not tried it in earnest with ferns (although I can vouch for some success with the other groups using this book).

A baby sporophyte grows out of the gametophyte. Don't worry, you don't have to identify this. CC image by Peter Coxhead.

Chris Page's book 'The Ferns of Britain and Ireland' includes all the hybrid ferns. Yes, I forgot to say.... hybridisation is the bane of the pteridologist... you think it's one thing... perhaps it's another... no, actually it's a combination of both. It's therefore a very comprehensive book, and to be honest, probably too comprehensive for the neophyte trying to get their head around the common species. I'm not just saying this because it's absurdly expensive and we haven't got a copy at the moment - though getting one's not out of the question. I just think that this assignment is not worth losing your temper over. One has to accept with ferns that some are going to do everything to elude identification (unless you're Chris Page). But if you collect enough variety, then the really annoying ones can be conveniently left out of your collection with no harm done.

Truly Serious Botanists use Clive Stace's 'New Flora of the British Isles' and this does include ferns. It can strike fear into the casual user though as it has no pictures - you have to know your botanical terminology. However, Mr Stace does use reliable diagnostic features and good characteristics, so if you have a specimen that's driving you mad, bring it in and we can have a look at it together. It too has some non-native species.

A Stern Word: Sometimes I see ferns in student collections that seem to have come from the garden centre. Although pteridologists do love ferns from the world over, your collection should really be of native ferns you've collected yourself. Foreign and cultivated ferns will be noticed and frowned upon!

I aspire to having a Fern House. This one's at Dunvegan Castle. CC image by J Yardley.

When you eventually come to display and label them, check with the Natural History Museum's Dictionary of UK Species to make sure you've got the most up-to-date names. You can also see which families your species belong to - you should try to arrange them taxonomically.

For more information on what to include on the labels, read the what, where, when and who pages.