REGIONAL MEETINGS - Natural History Museum

SCOTLAND
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh – 5 March Frank McGavigan
(Participants: Senga Bremner, Adrian Dyer, Andy Ensoll, Mary Gibby, Tim Godfrey, Pieter
Kastelein, Frank McGavigan, Heather McHaffie, Geoff Stevenson, Mike Taylor, Alastair Wardlaw.)
Andy Ensoll had apparently expressed surprise that we should want to visit the RBGE again
but his huge collection of ferns there is so magnificent that I suspect that some of us would
be happy to visit every week. He began by taking us on a tour of some of the exotic ferns
that had been risked outside. Cyathea dregei plants were well wrapped up against winter
cold and wet, and also, surprisingly, protected from the sun with white, reflective plastic
‘hats’. Lophosoria quadripinnata was happily surviving its sixth winter outdoors with no
protection at all. Even more astonishingly, Todea barbara was completely unscathed after
its first winter outside. Remember this is Edinburgh, not renowned for its balmy climate.
Under glass, where warmer temperatures are guaranteed, the collection of ferns is
breathtaking. Breathtaking indeed, for throughout our visit we were breathing in the
proliferation of spores as they floated down from the tree-ferns. Not just the usual
Dicksonia antarctica, D. squarrosa, D. fibrosa, Cyathea medullaris (now there’s a
breathtaking fern) and its fellow New Zealander C. dealbata, with Culcita macrocarpa
from nearer home in south-west Europe and Macaronesia, but rarities such as Dicksonia
arborescens with crispy fronds from St Helena (and in fact the type species of the genus),
Cyathea brownii (Sphaeropteris excelsa) from Norfolk Island, Sphaeropteris glauca
(Cyathea contaminans – aren’t these names a nuisance?) from South-East Asia, Cibotium
glaucum and C. chamissoi, both from Hawaii, Calochlaena villosa from South-East Asia,
Marattia fraxinea from Africa, Madagascar and other Palaeotropical areas, the giant
horsetail Equisetum myriochaetum from Central and South America, and that most
magnificent fern Thyrsopteris elegans from the Juan Fernandez Islands. And these are just
the ones that caught my eye.
The stipes and newly emerging
croziers of several specimens,
especially the cibotiums, were
covered with fine brown hairs so
thick and furry that inevitably we
were drawn to stroke them. We
always knew ferns were beautiful,
but cuddly as well – this was a new
experience. Protected under glass,
the ferns do not of course suffer all
the depredations they would
experience in their native habitats,
or so we thought. In fact Andy
and his team have to cope with a
photo: F. McGavigan
wide range of pests and diseases,
including cockroaches, of which I Crozier of Cibotium glaucum at RBGE
see no mention in my fern guide
books. It slowly dawned that this man’s genius is not down to some miracle but is the result
of knowledge and experience, dedication and hard work, and above all, attention to detail.
While we only saw beautiful ferns Andy saw faults – a little bit of dieback here, insect
attack there, damaging drips from a leaking roof, sloppy watering by the weekend staff.
This meticulousness was nowhere more evident than behind the scenes in the propagation
and growing-on areas. Here Andy explained his spore sowing techniques – two doses of
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