Plant and a Fern for ID please.

Johnny81 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-11-2010, 11:02 AM

Found in an old quarried area I have been surveying for a project. Not much to go on with the fern, had no sori on the under side, rather small and delicate.
1. Seen this before but can't put a name to it.

2.

Many Thanks.

Dorts · #2 (**permalink**) 11-11-2010, 11:40 AM

Johnny.
I. is Bog Pimpernel - Anagallis tenella .
2. Looks like a Dryopteris sp. difficult to be more definite than that with just one frond of possibly a young plant.
Dorts.

Johnny81 · #3 (**permalink**) 11-11-2010, 11:44 AM

Thanks Dorts. I knew the fern would be rather difficult and there really wasn't much to go on, I shall be regularly visiting this site as I am constructing a management plan for it, if I can get more pics of the fern I will post on this thread.

Dorts · #4 (**permalink**) 11-11-2010, 11:55 AM

I was told by the many years ago by Francis Rose that you shouldn't try to identify a fern until it was over five years old. Problem is some ferns look young when mature and then you have to make up your mind which it is; a single frond of a young fern or of a mature one. Even more difficut from a pic.
Plants in a 'starved' habitat, such as among rocks like yours, can also take on a different look .

So have a look around the site and see if there is anything similar but obviously more mature. Then if possible get a pic of the spores and a close-up of frond along with a general shot of the whole plant.
Thanks
Dorts.