Prestigious Plants - Ferns

 ( Plant Index )

POLYPODIOPSIDA
Ferns, Framiz [Lingua Ignota]

Because ferns constitute an entire class, we will eschew the standard organizational system for the sake of this compiler’s sanity. We will limit our resolution to those “notable” ferns in the main wiki article. Yes, we know this is lazy. No, we don’t plan on expanding this. We’ve been on this for over four years now; we want this done.

Culcita macrocarpa, UK.
Ashley Basil.

Distribution: Wide number of habitats across the world.

Physical Description
A class of primitive vascular plants with complex leaves that reproduce via spores, having neither seeds nor flowers. Their leaves start as coiled croziers or fiddleheads that expand out into fronds.
Ferns rarely have woody growth, but when they do produce wood, it is found in the stem.

Symbolism
In modern flower language, ferns mean sincerity, humility, bonds of love, fascination, and have magical associations.
“Fern” is derived from the Old English “fear,” which means “fern.” There’s probably a lot that could be done with this archaic homonym.

Magic

Flowers and Seeds
In folklore, the (non-existent) flowers and seeds of ferns are potent magical phenomena. They bloom on a special night, the summer solstice (St. John’s Night/Kupala Night). This dark red bloom produces only a single seed, like molten gold, that sinks into the earth before the sun rises. 
Other traditions hold that the seed can only be harvested on Christmas, right before the clock strikes midnight. The seeker should be careful during this time, as the Devil guards the fern seed. [See Sorcery].

Wealth
Slavic folklore holds that they bloom once a year on the Ivan Kupala night (summer solstice), and in other traditions, they bloom on St. John’s Night and sometimes Easter. According to Skinner, this bloom is dark red, and anyone who beholds it shall be wealthy and happy for the rest of their lives. Scatter the seed and make a wish, and the earth will open its treasures to you, and you can see them glowing in dim blue light as though the earth beneath your feet were glass.
Finnish tradition holds that finding a fern seed in bloom on a Midsummer night can travel invisibly to the locations where the Will o’Wisps mark hidden treasure. Only the holder of the seed may find and enter this place.
In a tradition that holds that the fern seed may only be harvested before the clock strikes midnight before Christmas, the seeker must stand at a crossroads that a corpse has passed recently. At this location, invisible spirits flit about. You must remain silent, pick a direction, and walk. The spirits may cuff your ears, knock off your hat, or provoke an utterance from you by mischief in surrounding shrubs or whispering fantastic notions in your ear. You must ignore them and keep your lips shut lest the spirits turn you to stone or tear you apart. 
The frozen earth shall be covered in writhing serpents. Make no sounds and fear them not. Follow them, as they are the guide. You will become entangled in ferns that will confuse your sense of direction. To quote Skinner, you will “become entangled in that fern which causes one to lose his way and sense of distance, change your shoes, putting that of the left foot on the right, and vice versa…” Persist, and you will find the path again.
Eventually, you will find the fern seeds glowing in the soil. Take the chalice cloth for the eucharist, and lay it upon the ground, so that when you place the seeds upon it, the Devil cannot reach his hands up from Hell and grab them back, and collect as many as you can until sun-up.

Eternal Youth
Drinking the sap of the fern in bloom is supposed to confer eternal youth.

Abjuration
In Wiccan practice, the smoke of the fern is thought to drive away evil spirits and venomous creatures such as snakes (synonymous in this context).

Faeries
According to Skinner, all ferns are home to faeries. He relays that the Cornwall tradition holds all faeries are the souls of those who died before the coming of Christ and are punished for their lack of faith with short stature and strange life in the woods.

Compiler Notes

• Fern fiddleheads are sometimes called “croziers,” like the ecclesiastic staff. Exploit.
• Fern “seeds” and “flowers” feature in some folkloric magic. Ferns reproduce by spores, hence the mystery of where they came from and the fabrication of the notion of fern seed. This is worth exploiting, and “fern seed” and “fern flower” may be an idiom for something impossible to find.
• The fern seed seems to produce sensory properties similar to “detect” spells in various fantasy video games or scanner effects from sci-fi games. It is worth exploring and exploiting further.
• Consuming the sap of the blooming fern is supposed to confer eternal youth. There must be a way to twist this into something horrific.
• There is a fern that causes one to lose their way. Exploit.
• When one is lost in a magical fog or similar state, one can switch which feet one's shoes are on and walk out of it.
• Finding the fern seed can easily be reconfigured into a more profound spiritual journey.
• According to the Cornwall tradition of faeries, as relayed by Skinner, the Fae are functionally undead, and all Ferns are abode to such spirits.
• The immortality conferred by fern sap might stem from its role as faerie food or vice-versa. Exploit.

Image Refs

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culcita_macrocarpa#/media/File:Culcita_macrocarpa_(15265013273).jpg )

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FERNS OF CONSEQUENCE
    Our fern research has covered a few select sets of ferns. The orders, families, and genera of interest to us are listed here.

• Equisetales
• Equisetaceae
• Equisetum (Horsetail)
• Ophioglossales
• Ophioglossaceae
• Botrychium (Moonwort)
• Ophioglossum (Adder’s Tongue)
• Osmundales
• Osmundaceae
• Osmunda (Royal Fern)
• Polypodiales
• Athyriaceae
• Athyrium (Lady Fern)
• Dennstaedtiaceae
• Pteridium (Bracken)
• Dryopteridaceae
• Dryopteris (Wood Fern)
• Onocleaceae
• Onoclea (Ostrich Fern)
• Pteridaceae
• Adiantum (Maidenhair Fern)
• Pteris (Brake)

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See Also:

Prestigious Plants

• Plants
• Flowers
• Trees
• Moss and Lichen [Pending]
• Fungi [Pending]
• Cladistic Index
• Herbal Medicine [Pending]
• Resin, Incense, Balsam, and Lacquer [Pending]

Clear Cosmology

• Fire [Pending]

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Sources: 

-Drury, N. (2004). The dictionary of the esoteric: 3000 entries on the mystical and occult traditions. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. 

-Drury, N. (2005). The Watkins Dictionary of Magic: 3000 entries on the magical traditions. Watkins. 

-Greenaway, Kate. Language of Flowers. George Routleage and Sons. 

-Skinner, Charles M. “Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants : In All Ages and in All Climes : Skinner, Charles M. (Charles Montgomery), 1852-1907 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott Co., 1 Jan. 1970, https://archive.org/details/mythslegendsoffl00skin. 

-Tresidder, J. (2008). The Watkins Dictionary of Symbols. Watkins. 

( https://www.secretflowerlanguage.com/ )
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern )
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmunda_regalis )