This fern emerges from the ground with its fronds curled into a tiny ball. It unfurls first into separate smaller "fists" then into the leaves. These specimens are from a hillside in Flint where when botanising one day I met a fellow plant hunter. It turned out to be Tim Rich and the rest of the day was spent with him seeing about three times as many things as me including these ferns in an early stage of growth.

G. robertianum is found mostly in England around the Gloucestershire area, northern England and in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. It is dotted about otherwise with only a few sites in Scotland and Ireland.

Slopes of Limestone hills nr Maeshafn, Denbigh, 18th May 2004

Added on January 26th 2005, updated 2nd February 2009, updated 2nd April 2010