Plant Guide > Ferns > Fine Leaved Gymnogramma Fern

Fine Leaved Gymnogramma Fern

FINE-LEAVED GYMNOGRAMMA

GYMNOGRAMMA LEPTOPHYLLA

The Fine-Leaved Gymnogramma Fern resembles at first sight very small specimens of the Curled Allosorus (Allosorus crispus). It belongs to a group of ferns, which are the pride of conservatories - the gold and silver ferns, as they are called. In this group a delicate orange or white powder covers the under side of the fronds and adds the charm of colour to their beautiful forms. The fronds are in little tufts, ovate, twice pinnate, fragile; the pinnae roundish, wedge-shaped, threelobed; the lobes cut and toothed, obtuse. The whole plant is from two to six inches high, with slender black stalks. The sori are oblong, nearly covering the under surface of the segments on which they are borne.

From the recent discovery of this little fern in the island of Jersey, it is now included in the British Flora, although there are but few localities where it is found in Great Britain. It is a native of the South of Europe and of the Atlantic Islands. A correspondent of ours says that it has lately been seen in Devonshire. A diligent search for it in warm sheltered places in our southern counties would, doubtless, repay a collector by its discovery. It is found in a light loamy soil, among mosses and Marchantia, near springs, and on shady banks. In the island of Jersey it is widely distributed, the principal localities being near St. Haule, St. Aubin's, and several places near St. Lawrence. In one spot, near the last-named place, it grows plentifully for a considerable distance along a hedgebank, extending as far as the bank is exposed, but ceasing exactly where the lane is shaded with trees.

Mons. Piquet, of St. Helier's, kindly forwarded to us a specimen of this fern taken from a bank with a south-western aspect near that place, not densely shaded by trees, but protected from the direct rays of the sun by dwarf vegetation.

The soil used for this fern should be a light sandy loam. It requires constant moisture, and does well in a closed case. Marchantia and mosses should be allowed to grow freely around it. It is strictly an annual fern, and springs up without further trouble after being once established.