Ferns - the Frond Line of the Forest!
With their characteristic pinnate fronds, ferns create a delicate tracery of feathery, lace-like patterns on the floor of the Caledonian Forest. The deciduous species turn brilliant shades of yellow in autumn, often outdoing the birch trees in the intensity of their colours.
 Fern fantasia! Golden-scaled male ferns, bracken and hard ferns in autumn in Glen Affric.  Underside of the frond of a common polypody fern (Polypodium vulgare), showing the sori (where the spores are produced).  Golden-scaled male fern (Dryopteris affinis) in early autumn, beside a cascading stream in Glen Affric. |
 Golden-scaled male ferns at the peak of their autumn colours.  Detail of a bracken frond (Pteridium aquilinum) in autumn.  Frond detail of a hard fern (Blechnum spicant) - this species is evergreen. |
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