Ferns Wild ID Guide

From hart’s tongue to hard fern, from oak fern to wall-rue, the FSC Ferns guide features the commonest 38 species of ferns found in Britain and Ireland.

Text on the reverse side includes a straightforward identification key, accompanied by a precise glossary of the technical terms. A visual guide to frond architecture and line drawings of key features are also included. Frond structure and shape are key to fern identification. In some species, the spore-bearing structures on the underside of the fronds are further useful clues.

Ferns and allied plants appeared 400 million years ago, around 250 million years before the flowering plants. Although ferns lack flowers and seeds, they are not primitive. Instead they spread through spores, a reproductive process shared with mosses and liverworts. The most visible parts are the spore-bearing leaves, or frond