Royal Fern colony

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 1 Jul 2011

The ferns are growing high up on Brucehill Cliffs, which are part of a Local Nature Conservation Site; see Image for details (and for the context). The work that is cited there notes that the cliffs, which are of red sandstone, "are almost constantly wet, and the dripping water sustains an interesting floral community, most notably the locally rare royal fern – the largest colony in West Dunbartonshire. The ferns are rooted directly into the cliff faces." In "A Natural History of Britain's Ferns" (1988), Christopher N. Page devotes a section to "Cliff-face Royal Fern Communities"; he notes there that where the Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis) "is present in cliffside habitats it usually occurs mainly as very numerous but mostly juvenile plants ... Only occasional plants have fertile fronds ...", and he mentions that, although sometimes the ferns occur singly at such sites, "where the spread of run-off water creates fairly large areas of permanently damp rock, quite dense colonies with numerous plants may occur". That description fits this environment very well; no fertile fronds were apparent when I took this photograph (contrast Image and Image, where some typically narrow, upright, brownish fertile fronds can be seen in the centre of the clumps). Page also notes that acidic, peaty run-off water can provide a suitable cliffside habitat for Osmunda regalis (Royal Fern), while lime-rich run-off is suitable for Adiantum capillus-veneris (Maidenhair Fern).

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