Ferns and Fiddleheads

 

A Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) in spring. The 
fronds of this fern sprout from the underground rhizome.
Rowan County, North Carolina.  

Ferns are members of an ancient and distinguished lineage. Even today ferns remain significant members of the world’s flora.  Ancient, fern-like plants appeared in the fossil record over 300 million years ago during the Devonian Period. This was when the first land animals and plants emerged, including the ancestors of today’s ferns.  Ferns saw the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and the ascendance of mammals including humans. There are over 10,000 ferns species alive today, most of them living in the tropics.  North America is home to about 380 fern species. 

Most ferns have compound leaves, called fronds.  Compound leaves resemble bird feathers (pinnae) and are thus said to be pinnately compound.  The central vein of the leaf, the rachis, supports the many leaflets.  Ferns reproduce by making spores and certain fronds bear sporangia, the spore producing structures.  The stems of many ferns grow below ground and are called rhizomes.  Rhizomes make the fronds that erupt from the soil.  New fern leaves are tightly coiled when they emerge.  This coiling protects the frond’s delicate, developing leaflets.  As the coil unrolls the leaflets at the base of the frond emerge first and the tip of the leaf unrolls last. These young coiled fern leaves are called fiddleheads because they resemble the scrollwork at the end of a violin’s neck. 

Leaflets of Christmas Fern. The base of each
leaflet has a "thumb" that makes it resemble a Christmas stocking.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

A fiddlehead of Christmas Fern.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Perhaps the most common fern in our area is Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).  Christmas Ferns are found throughout eastern North America and grow in the forest understory.  Their name refers to the fact that the fronds are still green at Christmastime.  Christmas Ferns have pinnately compound leaves that can be over a foot long and may have 20-30 leaflets.  The base of each leaflet has a triangular lobe that is said to resemble a Christmas stocking, further reinforcing the name.  In early spring fiddleheads emerge from the underground stems.  Some fronds have leaflets with brown sporangia on their lower surface.  These spore-bearing leaves are called fertile fronds.  Spores are released into the air and float away, hopefully to establish new Christmas Ferns.  

A fertile frond of Christmas Fern. The dark brown
underside of the terminal leaflets are producing spores.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Another common fern of Piedmont North Carolina is Rattlesnake Fern (Botrychium viginianum). This fern has compound leaves and a fertile frond of compact leaflets bearing sporangia.  The common name for this plant comes from the resemblance of its fertile fronds to the rattles on their namesake pit viper.  The genus of Rattlesnake Fern, Botrychium, also includes Grape Ferns. These ferns get their name because the fertile fronds look like little bunches of grapes.  

Rattlesnake Fern (Botrychium virginianum) with a spore bearing 
fertile frond. Rowan County, North Carolina.

Ophioglossum pyncnostichum goes by the common name of Southern Adder’s Tongue.   This small fern is in the same family as Rattlesnake Fern but has a single, simple leaf rather than compound leaves.  The Southern Adder’s Tongue leaf has an upright segment that bears the spores.  The people who named this fern thought this spore making structure looked like the tongue of a snake.  

Southern Adder's Tongue (Ophioglossum pyncnostichum) with its simple 
leaf that is just starting to produce the spore bearing segment.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Southern Adder's Tongue with a mature fertile spike.
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Detail of Southern Adder's Tongue spore producing structure.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

A delicate fern with a delicate name is Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum).  Its fronds extend in a horizontal, circular arrangement.  Northern Maidenhair Fern grows in the rich woods of the mountains and Piedmont.

Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum) fronds.  
Davidson County, North Carolina.

Southern Lady Fern (Athyrium asplenioides) and Netted Chain Fern (Woodwardia areolata) both make fairly large fronds and are common in moist woods in the Southeast.  Southern Lady Fern has twice-pinnately compound fronds, that is each leaf has leaflets each of which in turn also bears leaflets.  Netted Chain Fern has compound leaves with leaflets whose blades run along the rachis.

 

Southern Lady Fern (Athyrium asplenioides) fronds.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Netted Chain Fern (Woodwardia areolata) frond.
The blades of the leaflets extend onto the rachis in this fern.
Rowan County, North Carolina. 

A very odd fern, Shoestring Fern (Vittaria lineata), is found in south Florida, on Caribbean Islands and in Central and South America. The fronds of Shoestring Fern are simple rather than compound and look like green shoestrings.  Shoestring fern grows as an epiphyte, usually on Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto) trunks. 

Shoestring Fern (Vittaria lineata) growing on the 
trunk of Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto).
Palm Beach County, Florida.

Another unusual South Florida fern is Acrostichum danaeifolium, the Giant Leather Fern.  It is indeed a giant with fronds reaching over six feet in length.  This fern grows in swamps and marshes throughout southern Florida and into the American tropics.  Fertile fronds bear leaflets with brown sporangia on the underside.  Giant Leather Fern cannot tolerate frost and its northern distribution is limited by freezing weather. 

Giant Leather Fern (Acrostichum danaeifolium) growing in a marsh.
Palm Beach County, Florida.

Giant Leather Fern with sporangia.
Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Hawaii hosts several giant ferns, one of which is the Hawaiian Tree Fern, Cibotium menziessi.  These ferns are truly trees and can reach over thirty feet in height.  They grow on the rainy, windward side of the Hawaiian Islands and are a major trees of the rainforests there.  Hawaiian Tree Ferns have a starchy pith and are eaten by invasive feral pigs and are also threatened by over-harvesting. 

Hawaiian Tree Fern (Cibotium menziessi).
This fern can reach 30 feet in height. 
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii.

Fiddle head of Hawaiian Tree Fern.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii.

Ferns are found on all continents except Antarctic and they are survivors from deep time.  Ferns range in size from tiny to tree, but all have a distinctive and elegant appearance that is quite appealing.

 

 

One Tree in the Keys

 

Faithful Beauty (Composia fidelissima) sipping nectar from the small green
flowers of Devil's Claw (Pisonia aculeata). This colorful, day-flying moth is found
in the West Indies and South Florida, including the Keys.
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. 

The flora of Florida has a decidedly tropical feel.  The further south you go the more tropical it gets.  By the time you get to the Keys the plants are those of the West Indies.  On a recent visit to the Keys we visited several hardwood hammocks and got to see these trees close up.  One particular tree caught our attentions on several islands.  It was Devil’s Claw (Pisonia aculeata).  This small tree has a pantropical distribution but in the United States it is only found in South Florida and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. 

Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) on Devil's Claw.  The bees have
collected pollen on their hind legs in pollen baskets. 
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida.

Devil’s Claw was in full flower in April.  This tree produces abundant, tiny green flowers and attracts many pollinators.  At the Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge on Big Pine Key we walked up on a Devil’s Claw and the first thing we noticed was the hum of dozens of Honey Bees (Apia mellifera). It is likely these bees were the Africanized Honey Bees (aka “Killer Bees”) since there are many colonies of these insects in Florida. 

Honey Bees collecting nectar and pollen on Devil's Claw.
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. 

Other insects were pollinating Devil’s Claw too.  Two butterflies, the Florida Duskywing (Ephyriades brunnea) and the Hammock Skipper (Polygonus leo) were visiting the flowers.  Florida Duskywings are small butterflies with the males a silky black and females mottled brown.  Both sexes have tiny white spots on their forewings.  These butterflies are found only in southern-most Florida, from the Everglades to Key West.  

A male Florida Duskywing (Ephyriades brunnea),
resting on a Cattail (Typha latifolia) leaf. 
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida.  

A female Florida Duskywing pollinating Devil's Claw.
Females have larger spots on the forewing than the males.
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. 

Hammock Skippers are larger than Florida Duskywings, also very dark with three large white spots and three tiny white spots on the forewing.  This butterfly is found across the southern tier of the United States.  

Hammock Skipper (Polygonus leo) on Devil's Claw.
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. 

Two odd, day-flying moths were also sipping nectar on Devil’s Claw. One was the Polka-dot Wasp Moth (Syntomeida epilais).  Despite appearances it was a moth not a wasp.   Its long wings and narrow waist do make it resemble a wasp and so scares off predators. In addition to looking like a wasp, this moth also has a graphic color pattern.  The Polka-dot Wasp Moth’s wings are black with white spots, the abdomen is metallic blue with white spots and the tip of the abdomen is bright red.  The bright colors shout a warning that this insect is chemically protected.  The larvae feed on poisonous Oleander (Nerium oleander) and other plants in the same family.  Polka-dot Wasp Moths concentrate the toxic cardiac glycosides of Oleander in the tissues of both the larvae and the adult.  

Polka-dot Wasp Moth (Syntomeida epilais) visiting
Devil's Claw. The feathered antennae show this mimic is a moth and not a wasp. 
 Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. 

The second interesting moth we found on Devil’s Claw has a wonderful name, Faithful Beauty (Composia fidelissima).  This spectacular native of the West Indies and southern-most Florida has black wings with large white spots, the fore-wings are edged by bright red spots and the top of the abdomen and part of the hindwings are iridescent blue.   The black body of these moths is striped with white. As you would expect by the colors, these moths bear a load of noxious chemicals.  Faithful Beauty caterpillars feed on some of the same plants as the Polka-dot Wasp Moth and the adults retain the toxic chemicals that protect them from bird predators.  

Faithful Beauty and Honey Bee sharing an inflorescence of  Devil's Claw.
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. 

It was great to see this one native tree feeding a host of pollinating insects including some spectacular ones that are rarely seen outside the Florida Keys.  With all the invasive plants and animals in South Florida it was heartening to find an intact piece of this ancient ecosystem.

Faithful Beauty and Honey Bees on Devil's Claw. The bold colors and pattern
of this moth advertise that it is chemically protected. 
Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. 

1000 Birds

 

Bridled Terns (Onychoprion anaethetus) in the Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida.

I saw my thousandth bird species, Bridled Terns (Onychoprion anaethetus), on April 22, 2021. Diane and I went to an isolated island, Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas, Florida.  These keys can only be reached by boat or seaplane and this isolation makes it a favorable nesting location for Bridled Terns.  These tropical terns are found in warm oceans around the world, but in the United States, Bridled Terns nest only in the Florida Keys.  

My first bird list from December 1979. 

One of my goals, when I retired two years ago, was to see 10% of the birds in the world.  There are about 10,000 described species so my plan was to see 1000 of them.  I have been watching birds most of my life and have been writing bird lists down for over forty years.  

Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major), Palm Beach County, Florida. 
The next few pictures are of birds I recorded on my first lists in Florida.
(A note on images:. Most of the first sightings of birds on my lists were before
I started using digital photography. I have included recent pictures
of birds from the same general area, when possible)

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), Palm Beach County, Florida.

My first recorded birds were in the late 1970s in South Florida, where I grew up.  I was in graduate school in Georgia at the time and would return home to visit my family several times a year. I would usually take some time to visit the beaches, lakes and swamps I frequented when I was a kid to look for birds.  On these lists, I recorded common birds in the area.  During this early period, I went birding in Georgia and the nearby mountains of North Carolina and saw more species.    

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura),
Palm Beach County, Florida.

Rock Pigeon (Columba livia), Palm Beach County, Florida.

Bird number 100 on my life list was a Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis) on Key Largo, Florida in September, 1980.  This large flycatcher sits conspicuously on wires throughout the Keys. 

It took until February, 1982 to find bird number 200, an Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata) in Athens, Georgia. Orange-crowned Warblers breed in the far north and winter in the southern states.  These tiny birds are famous for being plain and some people say they have no field marks.    

Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata).  A tiny patch of orange is visible
on the top of this bird's head. Horry County, South Carolina.

Our first trip to the west coast was to Alaska.  Bird 300 was a Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) seen from a boat in Kenai Fjords National Park on July 5, 1988.  This boat trip also yielded a number of other northern seabirds including a second species of puffin, two different murres and several species of auklets and murrelets.  

Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), Kachemak Bay, Alaska.

Bird 400 on the list was an introduced species in my old neighborhood in Pompano Beach, Florida.  A group of Eurasian Collared Doves (Streptopelia decaocto) were hanging around the 7-11 on January 1, 1997.  The next day I found my first bird using the internet, a Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis).  This bird of the far north was behind the dunes at Canaveral National Seashore, Florida.  In the 1990s news about rare birds was usually given on telephone hotlines.  Then people began putting transcripts of the recorded rare bird alerts out as emails.  I got the email that said a single Snow Bunting was hanging around parking area Number 2 at Playalinda Beach. Diane and I stopped there with our two young children in tow and immediately saw the bunting.  

Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto), Palm Beach County, Florida.

Number 500 was an Andean Gull (Chroicocephalus serranus) high on the slopes of Volcano Cotapaxi in Ecuador.  This trip in May 1998 was my second to the tropics and included a cruise in the Galapagos Islands.  There I saw many of the birds that inspired Charles Darwin in his development of the Theory of Natural Selection. 

May 2000 found me in the Monteverde Cloud Forest of Costa Rica where a Tufted Flycatcher (Mitrephanes phaeocercus) clocked in as bird 600.  We have since seen this tiny flycatcher in Arizona and Mexico. 

Tufted Flycatcher (Mitrephanes phaeocercus).
Carr Canyon, Cochise County, Arizona

Bird number 700 came on my first European trip in March 2003.  Several beautiful European Robins (Erithacus rubecula) were on Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.  European Robins bear a superficial resemblance to American Robins (Turdus migratorius), both have red breasts, but American Robins are thrushes while European Robins are flycatchers.

In 2008 I started to use eBird, a service of the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.  This fantastic website has many features that allow birders to enter their lists, submit photos and audio recordings, get information on birds and find rarities.  I have used eBird extensively in my quest for 1000 birds. 

The Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) was bird 800.  This beauty was in the village of Llanystumdwy, Wales in March 2014.  That same day we saw the exceedingly rare Red Kite (Milvus milvus) along the Welsh coast south of Aberystwyth.    

Rufous-browed Peppershrike (Cyclarhis gujanensis). 
Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Diane and I found bird number 900 in Costa Rica at Monteverde.  A striking Rufous-browed Peppershrike (Cyclarhis gujanensis) sat on a low limb and gave us a good view in June 2018. 

A screenshot from eBird showing my 1000th bird.

And finally, bird number 1000 was the Bridled Terns on the Dry Tortugas in April 2021.  What is the next goal after 1000 birds?  Why 2000 birds, of course. 

 

                  Bridled Terns.  Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida.

 

Life on the Rock

 

A granite rock outcrop showing a variety of plant types during an April visit. 
Clover Community Park, Clover, South Carolina.

The granite rock outcrops of the Southeastern Piedmont host an impressive array of rare and beautiful plants.  Spring is the best season the enjoy these unique ecosystems and experience this wonderful flora. 

 

A large solution pool with Diamorpha smallii, Minutartia sp.
and Isoetes sp. 40 Acre Rock, Lancaster County, South Carolina.

Granite rock outcrops are ancient in origin.  Hundreds of millions of years ago the area that is now the Piedmont experienced extreme vulcanism. In some cases, the magma never reached the surface but cooled and crystalized underground to form granite.  Tectonic uplift and erosion exposed portions of this granite.  In some places the outcrops are mountains rising above the surrounding country.  Stone Mountain, Georgia is the most dramatic of these.  In other places, the outcrop is a flat rock surrounded by forest. 

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia humifusa) is adapted to dry conditions
and thrives on the Piedmont granite rock outcrops.
Dunn's Mountain Park, Rowan County, North Carolina.

Outcrops are impermeable stone and the plants that grow on them are adapted for a desert-like life.  Rainfall is typically the only source of water for the plants that call outcrops home.  Many of these plants reproduce quickly before the water on the outcrop dries up.

 

Peppered Rock-shield Lichen (Xanthoparmelia conspera) on granite.

Clover Community Park, Clover, Lancaster County, South Carolina.  

The first plants to colonize outcrops are lichens and mosses.  These hardy pioneers grow directly on the rock surface.  Lichens and mosses release acids that start converting stone to soil. Grimmia laevigata, Dry Rock Moss, is one of the species that live on bare rock.  When dry, this moss looks almost black but greens up when wet.  The action of erosion and pioneer plants make small depressions, called solution pools.  Over time, soil accumulates and herbaceous plants can take root.  When plants in the pools die they add organic matter to the thin, rocky soil.  As more soil builds up, hardy trees like pines and junipers colonize the outcrop. 

Light gray Reindeer lichen Cladonia sp. growing among various mosses.
Dunn's Mountain Park, Rowan County, North Carolina.

A single red plant of Elf Orpine, the black moss
Grimmia laevigata and the lichen Cladonia sp. grow at
Dunn's Mountain Park, Rowan County, North Carolina. 

In early April, granite rock outcrops in erupt with color.  Three tiny plants, Diamorpha smallii (Elf Orpine),  Minuartia uniflora (Piedmont Sandwort) and Minuartia glabra (Appalachian Stitchwort) burst out red and white in the solution pools.  Diamorpha smallii stands about three inches tall.  It makes bright red, succulent leaves that store water, which is in short supply on the rock.  Elf Orpine has flowers with four white petals and each petal is decorated with a red spot.   Diamorpha smallii is endemic to the Southeastern United States and limited to the rock outcrop habitat. 

 

A solution pool filled with Elf Orpine (Diamorpha smallii).
40 Acre Rock, Lancaster County, South Carolina.

Closeup of Diamorpha smallii.
Clover Community Park, Clover, South Carolina.

Piedmont Sandwort and Appalachian Stitchwort are also granite rock outcrop specialists. Appalachian Stitchwort is about twice as tall as Piedmont Sandwort and both have green leaves and five-petaled, white flowers.  Diamorpha and the two species of Minuartia often occur in the same solution pools and light it up with red and white.  

Piedmont Sandwort (Minuartia uniflora) flowering in a small solution pool.
40 Acre Rock, Lancaster County, South Carolina. 

Appalachian Stitchwort and the moss Grimmia laevegata.
40 Acre Rock, Lancaster County, South Carolina. 

Woolly Ragwort (Packera tomentosa) is a member of the sunflower family and grows mainly in the sandy soil of the Coastal Plain of the Southeast.  When it does occur on the Piedmont it is on rock outcrops.  This attractive plant has hairy, green leaves and an inflorescence of yellow ray and disk flowers.  Wooly Ragwort is much taller than Elf Orpine and Piedmont Sandwort that grow in the same area.  

Wooly Ragwort (Packera tomentosa) flowering in a 
bed of the moss (Polytrichum sp.) 
Clover Community Park, Clover, South Carolina.

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) is a relative of onion and garlic.  Like Wooly Ragwort, it is common on the Coastal Plain but also grows on Piedmont granite rock outcrops.  False Garlic makes star-shaped, white flowers and lacks the strong odor onion or garlic.    

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve).
40 Acre Rock, Lancaster County, South Carolina.

Quillworts are members of the genus Isoetes, and dominate some of the solution pools on outcrops.  Quillworts look like grass in the shallow water but are more closely related to ferns.  Isoetes makes no flowers or fruits but reproduces by spores produced at the base of its leaves.  Identification of Quillworts is difficult because different species can hybridize and spontaneously double their chromosome number. 

 

Quillworts (Isoetes sp.) growing in a solution pool.  
Clover Community Park, Clover, South Carolina.

A single plant of Isoetes sp. This plant was collected 
by a researcher studying this rare plant.
40 Acre Rock, Lancaster County, South Carolina.

Granite rock outcrops have been used and abused by people for centuries.  Outcrops are natural sites to quarry the granite for construction and headstones.  Some flat outcrops have been turned into parking areas.  Recreation is also a threat to the rare and threated species that call outcrops home.  All-terrain vehicle drivers, motorcyclists, bikers and hikers plow through solution pools killing plants.  Broken glass litters some outcrops and graffiti is an issue in many areas.  Despite these problems, granite rock outcrops, particularly in spring, can be magical places. 

Diamorpha smallii flowering in a field of shattered glass.
Clover Community Park, Clover, South Carolina.