Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: fern

I know absolutely nothing about ferns, but this one was so bright and delicate, with thin, black stems. Judging from a Google Image search, I wonder if this is Maidenhair Fern / Adiantum aleuticum. Sooner or later, I will hear the correct ID. It was found at the very last minute at Bertha Falls on the Bertha Lake Trail, which was great, as this fern was on a list of rare species to search for. I was so lucky to be invited to join friends Sandy and Heide on a three-day trip to Waterton Lakes National Park, from 19-21 (inclusive) June 2015. We met up with other members of the Alberta Native Plant Council (ANPC) for their annual Botany Alberta weekend. Most people who attended stayed at the Crooked Creek Campground, a 5.6 km drive east of the Waterton Park Gate on Highway 5, but my friends and I stayed at the Crandell Mountain Lodge on the edge of Waterton town. The ANPC people had a list of species that they hoped to find, and they were very successful. Our stay down south overlapped the annual Waterton Wildflower Festival, but we came across very few people on our various drives and hikes. Needless to say, I was extremely fortunate to spend three days with people who are very knowledgeable about plants and many other things. This meant that I got to see many wildflower species, including several that were new to me, such as the gorgeous Mariposa Lily. It was one of the flowers that was on my mental Wish List - and there were hundreds of them to be seen! I had also never seen the spectacular Bear Grass and I was so thrilled that there were still several plants in bloom. Absolutely made my day! Our two main hikes of the weekend were the Bertha Lake Trail as far as the Bertha Falls (on 20 June), and the Crandell Lake Trail (on 21 June). Makes me smile when a described "short, easy hike" in a book or on the Internet turns into a full day of exploration along the trail, taking hours to reach the destination, though returning to the cars in a much shorter time. Our walks/hikes are very slow-paced with endless stops to look at/for plants and to take photos. This makes it possible for me to go along. The wind made photographing plants a real challenge, including the beautiful Mariposa Lilies in the meadow along the Hay Barn road. Though I took plenty of photos, I wasn't sure that I would end up with any that were sharp enough. Trying to catch a quick shot when a flower is blowing in and out of the viewfinder is not easy! Unfortunately, I'm no longer able to get down and take macro shots (my lens needs to be about 4" away from the subject), so my photos have to be telemacro. I've just been trying to find a list of plant species in Waterton Park, but have so far been out of luck. I do have the book, "Wildflowers of Waterton Park" by Jacinthe Lavoie and Ian Wilson, which has an Index of Plant names, but I was hoping to find a list that I could print out. It's going to take me ages to type descriptions for the various photos I'll slowly be posting, and I will no doubt keep adding new bits and pieces over time. There is just so much information I want to add, and my descriptions are already far too long. Also, my photos of quite a few of the plants will be posted for the use of ANPC members and are, unfortunately, really poor images. Need them added to my Waterton Lakes album, so please bear with me : ) Luckily, you don't even need to look at them. Thank you so much, Sandy and Heide, for a great three-day trip in such spectacular scenery, surrounded by amazing nature. The wildflowers were top priority, but I was so happy to also see insects, scenery and even a bit of wildlife that included the very distant female Grizzly with a cub from last year and two Black Bears, one of which was along the Crandell Lake trail at the same time we were there. This was my very first time ever seeing the wildflowers of Waterton - such a great experience. Thanks, too, Sandy, for doing all the driving - so much appreciated by Heide and myself! Also have to thank you both for being so thoughtful as far as my limitations go and for your patience in allowing me to take lots of photos! Heide, thanks for all the reminders and insistence to keep hydrated while hiking. Two other people to mention - Arnold, it was so good to see you at the meeting place on the one evening. Been a long time since our paths crossed. Jerry, good to bump into you in Waterton, and thanks so much for telling us about various sightings and even taking us to several of the locations, despite the fact that you had just returned from a major mountain hike that day. Loved seeing the distant Loon lying in the grass at the edge of one of the wetlands. Great trip, great company! How lucky I am.

Not as sharp a photo as it should have been! Taken on 10 August 2013, when I went with a friend to Bow Lake in Banff National Park, along the Icefields Parkway. She showed me this small fern, growing on one of the huge rockslides near the edge of the lake, along the Bow Glacier trail. A great place for colourful lichens, too. This fern is also known as Steller's rock brake, Cliff Brake, and Slender Rock Brake. "Stems creeping, few branched, slender, 1--1.5 mm diam., succulent, brittle; scales colorless, sparse, transparent-reticulate, ovate, 0.4 × 0.3 mm; stems shriveling in 2d year following emergence of leaves. Leaves scattered along stems, ephemeral (dying by late summer), soon shed; sterile leaves erect, 3--15 cm; fertile leaves erect, 5--20 cm; petioles, costae, and costules glabrous. Petiole dark brown in proximal 1/2 or less, becoming greenish distally, ca. 1 mm wide when dry, only slightly furrowed, glabrous. Blade broadly lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, all pinnate-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate, herbaceous to membranous, thin; hydathodes superficial, often poorly developed or absent. Segments of sterile leaves ovate-lanceolate to fan-shaped, distal 1/2--1/3 shallowly lobed; segments of fertile leaves horizontal to ascending, often only partially differentiated from sterile leaves, lanceolate to linear, 8--25 × 2--4 mm; margins reflexed, forming continuous false indusia. Sporangia often in discrete sori. 2 n = 60. New growth produced in spring, dying by late summer. Sheltered calcareous cliff crevices and rock ledges, typically in coniferous forest or other boreal habitats; 0--3000 m; Alta., B.C., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Yukon; Alaska, Colo., Conn., Ill., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Oreg., Pa., Utah, Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Europe in ne former Soviet republics; Asia." www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=2...

Not as sharp a photo as it should have been! Taken on 10 August 2013, when I went with a friend to Bow Lake in Banff National Park, along the Icefields Parkway. She showed me this small fern, growing on one of the huge rockslides near the edge of the lake, along the Bow Glacier trail. A great place for colourful lichens, too. This fern is also known as Steller's rock brake, Cliff Brake, and Slender Rock Brake. "Stems creeping, few branched, slender, 1--1.5 mm diam., succulent, brittle; scales colorless, sparse, transparent-reticulate, ovate, 0.4 × 0.3 mm; stems shriveling in 2d year following emergence of leaves. Leaves scattered along stems, ephemeral (dying by late summer), soon shed; sterile leaves erect, 3--15 cm; fertile leaves erect, 5--20 cm; petioles, costae, and costules glabrous. Petiole dark brown in proximal 1/2 or less, becoming greenish distally, ca. 1 mm wide when dry, only slightly furrowed, glabrous. Blade broadly lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, all pinnate-pinnatifid to 2-pinnate, herbaceous to membranous, thin; hydathodes superficial, often poorly developed or absent. Segments of sterile leaves ovate-lanceolate to fan-shaped, distal 1/2--1/3 shallowly lobed; segments of fertile leaves horizontal to ascending, often only partially differentiated from sterile leaves, lanceolate to linear, 8--25 × 2--4 mm; margins reflexed, forming continuous false indusia. Sporangia often in discrete sori. 2 n = 60. New growth produced in spring, dying by late summer. Sheltered calcareous cliff crevices and rock ledges, typically in coniferous forest or other boreal habitats; 0--3000 m; Alta., B.C., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Yukon; Alaska, Colo., Conn., Ill., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Oreg., Pa., Utah, Vt., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Europe in ne former Soviet republics; Asia." www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=2...

These coils always fascinate me - so cleverly "designed". They grow right in the centre of the tall leaf stalks and can so easily be missed as one walks by.

Mother Nature doing what she does best!

I love seeing ferns, though I wish they didn't grow and multiply in my tiny garden!

A neat pattern from my garden.