Continuing our year long walk in New England Wood - January

The footpath brought me to the meadows through which one descends to the wood. The view from here is attractive at all seasons of the year. How much we must all reflect and be thankful that the foresight of a few and the support of many has assured us of this natural changing vista season by season.

On reaching the wood, I turned southwards and walked along its boundary. A wood is seen as consisting of four layers, one above the other, like a building.

First the bottom story, which is “the ground layer”, with mosses and small plants. The next storey is formed by taller flowering plants and ferns, this is the field layer. Then come bushes and young trees, the “shrub layer”. Highest of all, the canopy formed by the crowns of mature trees, the tree later. How much there is to observe at all times of the year.

Today I decided that I would give some attention to ferns, those flowerless plants with a particular beauty. There are more than 50 varieties of ferns in the British Isles, so it is not surprising that the wood has a number of varieties.

Fossilised ferns have been found and dated as old as 300 million years and the prehistoric forebears of today's plants actually formed our earliest forests and, when they died, laid down the foundation of present-day coal seams. These ancient growths exceeded, often, 100 feet in height, but were still primitive plants and even now are amongst the most primitive on earth.

Ferns reproduced by means of spores, carried on the underside of the fronds, there being no flowering stalks. The spore containers reach a certain degree of dryness when they straighten out and the containers are torn, flinging the spores into the air. The spore must first of all absorb water, swell and burst, thus allowing the growing tissues to break through. The spore cells then divide into two, the one part grows into a large slender thread, the other part grows vigorously and photosynthesises. Independent rhizoids develop and the plant continues to grow.

Entering the wood at the south-eastern edge and following the stream, one can see many ferns.

The male fern, Dryopteris filix-mas forms large clumps in such situations. It has stiff funnel shaped growth and kidney shaped spores. The stalks have pale brown scales and each main lobe is divided into smaller lobes which are toothed at the margins all the way round.

Then there is borrers fern, which is very much like the male fern. It has chopped off ends and is cut along the edges as if with a razor – Dryopteris pseudomas

There are many varieties of buckler fern, but the clear identification is the spine at the end of each serration which is best seen with a lens. The fruiting bodies are not kidney shaped.

Broad buckler fern, Dryopteris austriaca, is quite common, fronds being broader and longer than the narrow buckler fern.

Scales on the stem have a dark brown streak in the centre. Then hayscented buckler fern is present. Dryopteris aemula, being distinguishable by the large leaflet at the bottom and the scent of new mown hay when crushed. The margins of the lobes are upturned, giving an attractive crisp appearance.

Amongst the leaf litter, growing on a dead branch, the yellow brain fungus, Tremella mesenteric, added colour.

It forms an orange yellow gelatinous mass which is thrown into wavy folds. Nearby, and in contrast, bachelor’s or Pope’s buttons – Bulgaria inquinans – were growing on a dead oak branch. These are also gelatinous, but of a rubbery consistency and are black, gathered together like thick buttons.

Crab balls or King Alfred’s cakes, Daldinia concentric, were growing on an ash tree. The name cramp balls refers to an old country custom of carrying the fruit bodies in a pocket to ward off cramp. Its presence in ash trees affected the timber, causing a condition known as “Calico wood”. It is interesting to cut them in half and see them concentrically zoned.

The oak trees, in particular, have some attractive lichens growing on them, especially Usnea subfloridana, with its grey green tangle of hair-like threads, and Evernia prunastri with its flattened forking branches, known in France as Mousse de chene (oak moss). This plant is used by perfumiers and a fixative for other ingredients in their recipes. In Poland the plant is protected by law and may only be gathered from felled trees.