Rare ferns found in southern Ohio
Around 390,000 plant species are known, worldwide. Of those, less than 3%, or 10,500 species, are ferns. Peak abundance occurs in tropical regions worldwide, and diversity dwindles northward. Only about 85 species of ferns and their allies have been recorded in Ohio.
Until “Pteridomania”, a Victorian Era craze for ferns that peaked from 1850-1900, widespread familiarity evaded ferns. Various ferns were engraved, stamped and printed on all manner of objects and artwork abounded. That fad etched ferns into
the public consciousness. Fern bars, popular during the disco era, were a kitschy modern fern promotion.
A fern expert is known as a pteridologist, and ferns in general are called pteridophytes. On Sept. 19, I had the good fortune to go afield with two of Ohio's finest young botanists and avid pteridologists. Shaun Pogacnik and Joshua Copen met during their studies at Hocking College, and both currently attend Ohio University.
We rendezvoused near the town of Rome in Lawrence County — about as far south as one can get in Ohio. Joining us was Pogacnik and Copen's friend Emmet Roberts. They pointed to a forested ridge high above the Ohio River, and indicated a circuitous route to the top.
After sealing the summits of our muck boots to our jeans with duct tape — to ward off legions of chiggers and ticks — off we went to see the only Ohio population of hairy lip fern (Myriopteris lanosa). Pogacnik and Copen had found this species on Sept. 12, for the first state record. Their find sent ripples through the botanical community, as new discoveries often do.
After an uphill mile trek, we came to some sandstone outcrops, and there was the lip fern. A small colony sprang from a crevice, the fronds only six inches or so long but elegantly cleft into multi-segmented divisions. True to its unflattering name, the attractive fern was beset with conspicuous hairs. The “lip” in the name stems from the curled leaf margins, which appear rather lip-like.
Botanists, the author included, have long suspected hairy lip fern could be in southern Ohio. The nearest site is in Wayne County, West Virginia — immediately across the Ohio River from Pogacnik and Copen's find. But none of us could find it on the Ohio side. Some botanists unwittingly came close. Pogacnik and Copen were in the area to see the only Ohio stand of false goldenrod (Solidago sphacelata), which grows within a short distance of the fern. A number of botanists had visited the goldenrod, but all missed the fern until Pogacnik and Copen came along.
The other notable aspect to the find — obvious to any visitor — is the effort required to reach the site. It isn't roadside botanizing, and even though the trek isn't particularly long there is bushwhacking and downed timber involved and the aforementioned annoying parasitic critters. Many people wouldn't have bothered.
After that mission, we headed 80 miles west along the Ohio River to another Rome, this burg in Adams County. Our destination was more cliffs overlooking the river, but these were limestone.
Following a short climb better-suited for mountain goats, we summited and clapped eyes on another amazing fern discovery dating from 2019. On March 10 of that year, Hannah Kopp, Pogacnik, Copen and Rachel Brooks rediscovered black-stemmed spleenwort (Asplenium resiliens).
Several plants sprang from rocky fissures, and it would have been easy to dismiss them as the common ebony spleenwort or perhaps maidenhair spleenwort. After Kopp brought the fern to the group's attention, Copen recognized its true identity.
Black-stemmed spleenwort had previously been known from only one Ohio collection, also in Adams County. It dated to November 7, 1900 — no one had seen it since. The group had found a species long considered extirpated, after an absence of 121 years. Blackstemmed spleenwort was back.
Kudos to these superb young botanists. Copen, 23, and Pogacnik, age 25, are just getting warmed up. Their knowledge of the vast botanical world is already encyclopedic and will only grow. I look forward to many more notable finds from them in the future.
Naturalist Jim Mccormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first, third and fifth Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.