nichepoetryandprose

November is an odd time to think about identifying ferns, I admit.  But identification of the evergreen ferns is still possible, as they hang on to their identity in the frosty air and even beneath the snow.  Also, ferns are so beautiful, it is fun just to look over the field guides and reminisce about the days of summer.

a pressed Long Beech Fern in my copy of Boughton Cobb’s ‘Field Guide to the Ferns’

Ferns belong to the group of vascular plants known as the Pteridophytes.  They have stems, roots and leaves but no seeds.  Instead, they reproduce by spores and have complicated life cycles.

Ferns grow in many habitats.  In our area they are found in moist and shaded woodlands.  They are also inhabitants of fields, cliffs, wetlands and cityscapes.   I have even seen ferns growing deep within the Howe Caverns of New York State where they have taken advantage of the scant habitat provided by artificial lighting.

The uniform ‘greenness’ of ferns and their highly patterned leaves make them popular as a motif, especially for home decorating and at Christmastime.

In New Brunswick, fiddleheads, the tightly coiled new leaves of the Ostrich fern (Matteuccia Struthiopteris (L.) Todaro), are collected for food every spring along the banks of rivers and their tributaries.

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waking from a dream

                        Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia Struthiopteris(L.) Todaro)

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bottom-land thicket

naked in spring

a rumpled bed

the throws of hibernation

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new growth cocooned

in dry leaves, bent skeletons

of last summer’s fern

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sun surge

an insult

between curtains

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green fiddlehead

uncoils

head down

fist thrust

between pillows and down

fingers stretched

filigreed shadow

new blocking of sun

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brown coverlet

kicked

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new green bedspread

new green canopy

green shade

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© Jane Tims 2011