Fougères

I have just returned from one of my regular visits with M to the Limousin region of France (where my father-in-law has retired). On this trip we went to visit the Arboretum de la Sédelle in Crozant. This turned out to be a really excellent arboretum as well as a very interesting fern (fougère) site. Most of the planted ferns were fairly ordinary, with Dryopteris dilatata, D. filix-mas, and Athyrium filix-femina in considerable abundance. However, tucked away near a bridge over a small stream, was a mossy bank on which I'm pretty sure Hymenophyllum was also present. I don't often get to see them, and so I wasn't completely sure, particularly from their relatively small size (the fronds were about the size of the top joint of my thumb) and from the fact that I'm not familiar with continental flora so I may have mistaken them for something else, perhaps a large moss. Also of interest were Polypodium spp. on granite outcrops near the river. The first plants I encountered were quite small (10-15 cm) and seemed to have abbortive sori, but no other Polypodium plants were around, which made me think hybrids unlikely. However, further down there was an abundance. Again, I wasn't sufficiently confident to hazard a guess at the species, particularly off of British soil, but the stands were impressive to say the least.

Well worth a visit if you are in the area. My recommendation would be to take (a) a camera (why oh why have I never got one with me?)  (b) a hand lens (that was a careless oversight) and (c) a continental fern flora (if you need one).

Happy ferning.