Trichomanes speciosum Killarney Fern RR DDD N
I was given detailed instructions on how to get to this site and they were exactly what you'd expect for such a rarity. The footpath started from the side of a very minor road and disappeared completely only a few feet on the other side. Using a walkers map and clues from nearby landmarks I picked the path up again near a farm. Shortly after that the footpath led across a small field with nine bullocks and a very large dairy bull so that had to to be circumnavigated.
Unusually, the path became better defined the further up the hill and when I arrived near the site, the instructions were superb. The fern itself likes caves and waterfalls and this one, quite a healthy specimen, was in a small cave the entrance to which was protected by a curtain of drips. There were different species of ferns all around and a large one at the entrance (possibly Athyrium filix femina The Lady Fern) made me think I'd got the wrong site. But there at the back of the cave was a fern with the right shape, veins finishing before the ends of the leaf margins and above all I could see my hand through it so translucent and thin were the fronds.
The distribution of this plant is strange because what we know as the fern i.e. the sporophyte stage, is rare but the gametophyte stage is now known to be not so rare. What is peculiar is that sometimes the sites with gametophytes never seem to develop further.
T. speciosum is known from sites mostly in the west. Western Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all places where it can be found in either sporophyte or Gametophyte form. It is rare in central and eastern England, eastern Scotland and mid Ireland.
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| Trichomanes speciosum Killarney Fern |
Side of Moel Hebog, near Beddgelert, North Wales 8th September 2004
Added on Sept 8th 2004, amended on Feb 5th 2005, updated 28th Feb 2011, updated 16th Feb 2012, updated 19th Nov 2014