Well I just like to be helpful! I had a look at my prehistoric fern today, now I remember! The spores are only on the top 1/3 of the fronds, AND they go in pairs on some along the pinnae, on the narrow fronds they are mostly singular, one per frond near the midrib. They were still there, but at this time broken down and drying, some of the spore looks to be there still, fluffy, so I have taken them off and put in bags. I was going to remember to take it off, but too much and things get forgotten, I will have to use my calendar on the computer as a monthly reminder! Have to remember to put it in there first. I took a good look at the base of it, it might just be making a stem, but that is difficult to tell yet as a lot rise out of the ground a little. It must be around 5 years old, and it is only the last 2 years I have noticed these strange fronds. My other tree ferns have double rows of spore, Is this a link in tree fern evolution??? Ooooohhh wouldn't it be exciting to have found a thing like that! Anyway, I have taken pics of the spore, will post them later when downloaded. Do we have any fern expertd on DG?
My other mystery fern I am sure is a Cystopteris, I came across some on the British Fern Soc. site when I searched once, a mention of one being found in a Scottish cave, and I see Longacre plants now have them, C dickieana. C. montana is rhizomatous, will have to search it. Their pics don't look like it.
sstateham you are lucky to have them growing wild, they are a desirable plant here, I have come across web sites of the wild ones. We had orchids growing by the thousands where I grew up in Australia, in the hills south of Adelaide, they were always there after the first rains in spring, if I remember correctly! I only knew the common names, there were spiders, a green one and a larger one with red sepals; bulldogs, a brownish flower with 2 rounded ears at the top and bulldog cheeks; ladies slipper, small greenish with whitish pouch, possibly a cypripedium; cockatoos, a blue star shaped flower a bit like tritelea and strongly scented; belly buttons, a ball of yellow on top of a tall stem. One of the neighbours had a lot of scrub cleared where there were armfuls, they left the scrub at the top of the hill but the orchids grew where they cleared it. We had some in a bit of scrub at the back of our property. I went back in 1989 and it nearly made me cry to see the hills either side of the valley all cleared right over the tops, hardly a tree left insight. There were woodcutters clearing it for a living, I don't know why they were allowed to do that, in the South East of Sth Aus. they had to leave the scrub on tops of old sand dunes to stop erosion, they can't have been aware of what was happening. Australia now has strict laws in place for much conservation, but a lot has been lost. When the UK joined the European Union in 1972 they lost most of their trade, and farmers were going out of business. city businessmen often bought up the land. Typical isn't it, they establish a country to provide food, then dump it like a ton of bricks. There was also a lot of tall timber with wattle, it was a lovely sight when in flower, and the smell out of this world. Kookaburras and possums also inhabited the tall timber, I never saw a kookaburra but did hear them. Man is so stupid!
