The Ferns and Allied Plants of New England
Alice F. Tryon and Robbin C. Moran
Massachusetts Audubon Society.
325 pp.
1997. Out of print.
There are numerous regional flora available in the literature and the
ferns of New England have been covered at least three times before this,
starting in 1897 with Raynal Dodge’s Fern and Fern Allies of New England.
However, this text is not only an excellent treatise of New England
pteridophytes, it is an excellent fern book.
Alice Tryon and Robbin Moran are each excellent taxonomists in their own
right. Dr. Tryon coauthored Ferns and Allied Plants with Special
Reference to Tropical America. Dr. Morran made large contributions to
Flora of North America, Volume 2 Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms and was
main author and editor of Flora Mesoamericana. Each author brings a
differing perspective to this book and we, the readers, profit from the
collaboration.
The book opens with useful introductory material. This includes:
- a list of the ferns categorized by family, genus, and species
- a key to the genera (there are species keys later)
- an explanation of how the authors handle species descriptions
Next, the authors present the ferns. First, the genus is characterized.
For each genus, the book provides a description of the characteristics,
the distribution, typical chromosome numbers, a spore description, and
general remarks about how genus grows and special characters for which
to look.
The genus presentation is followed by a key to the species of the genus
found in New England and a description of each of the species. The s
pecies description echoes the genus description for the specific plant.
Especially useful are a picture of the fern, a habitat description, and
a distribution map of New England showing where the ferns have been found.
For each plant, we also get one or more common names (some ferns have
several) and a list of the scientific names by which the plant has been
known. The authors sometimes disagree about more recent names, but we
get to see the entire list and can decide for ourselves.
There are a series of appendices. The first is a set of scanning
electron micrographs of spores. These are interesting to view and help
us to understand what the authors mean when they say a spore is
“trilobate, trilete, the surface with irregular tubercles.”
The second appendix, Geology and Climate, starts the history of New
England at 1.4 to 1.0 billion years ago and discusses in detail how New
England got to be the way it is.
The next appendix is the only material directed at cultivation of ferns.
I actually appreciate that we do not have to learn (again) about the
life cycle of ferns. This appendix, Ferns for the Garden provides some
very basic growing tips and subdivides New England ferns into Tall
Plants, Plants of Medium Size, and Small plants to help the gardener
plan. There is also a short section on references for growing ferns.
The final appendices are a glossary and literature references.
This book is intended as a reference book and a field guide. As such,
it is a superb addition to the fern literature.