REGIONAL MEETINGS - Natural History Museum

the plants. We entered the Pavilions at Asia, where a large banana tree towered over beds of
Blechnum revolutum and two unnamed cyatheas with black, spiny barbs along the basal
region of the stipe (Cyathea spinulosa?). Our journey continued through the Himalaya,
where we saw Adiantum hispidulum, Culcita macrocarpa and many more. Arriving in New
Zealand, as expected, tree-ferns dominated the scene: Cyathea cunninghamii, C. dealbata
and C. smithii. The star turns here had to be the C. medullaris (black tree-fern), their huge
fan-like fronds on glossy black stipes already, two years on from planting, pushing at the
glazing above. What a stunningly beautiful fern. A young Todea barbara and several
handsome looking plants of Pteris cretica ‘Albomarginata’ were admired. You wouldn’t
need to be a cactus enthusiast to find yourself lingering in the South America zone – what
amazing form and subtlety of colour these statuesque plants have. And finally, South Africa
– no ferns, but many attractive and interesting plants to see.
A short drive in the afternoon took us over to the Rivelin valley (parking at 43/290872) to
walk a three-mile stretch of the river Rivelin, a site of historical importance concerning
Sheffield’s early cutlery industry. With the construction of weirs, leets and dams, the early
industrialists built their water mills here; one weir is known to date back to the early
sixteenth century. Nature has now reclaimed this stretch of river and forged a good habitat
for wildlife, and ferns. A car-share enabled us to do the walk without having to retrace our
steps (parking at 43/321883). Shortly after setting off we passed a stone wall on which
could be seen several cristate Asplenium scolopendrium and close by the river Polypodium
interjectum. Our walk alternated between the riverbank and old mill dams – a number of
which are now drained, silted and populated with alder trees – and the derelict stone wheelhousings
and leets. Many of these structures supported Asplenium scolopendrium,
Blechnum spicant, Dryopteris dilatata, D. filix-mas, D. affinis subsp. borreri and Athyrium
filix-femina. On the riverbank we spotted some occasional Dryopteris affinis subsp. affinis
and a possible D. affinis subsp. borreri ‘insolens’. Extensive colonies of some tall and wellbranched
Equisetum fluviatile were seen in the mill dams that were only partially silted.
E. arvense was also seen around the margins.
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photo: P.I. Ruston
In the car park in the Rivelin valley
Bruce Brown, Ann Robbins, Alison Evans, Bridget Laue, Paul Sharp, Barry Wright