Woodsia ilvensis Oblong Woodsia RRR DDD N
This is one of the very few plants of Woodsia ilvensis known in North Wales and is on a single rock above Cwm Idwal at 2,400 feet. It is very difficult to find being only about 1 or 2 cm in length, even if you know where it is. The puzzle when seeing tiny rarities like this is to know how it was discovered in the first place. The fronds here are newly sprouted so it may be a little bigger towards the end of summer. Although it looks exactly like other photos of British plants it looks very unlike healthier and bigger specimens which grow on continental Europe and it is these healthier bigger plants which the authors have used to illustrate their books on fern identification. The underside of this tiny frond is covered in very long hairs. Like many of our national rarities it is astoundingly unimpressive.
Woodsia ilvensis occurs in Snowdonia, Cumbria and a few places in Scotland but other than thos every few sites it is absent from the rtest of the British Isels and Ireland.
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| Woodsia ilvensis Oblong Woodsia |
On a rock above Cwm Idwal, North Wales 21st May 2004
Added on February 5th 2005, updated 25th February 2012