Ferns

Joseph Watts, charged with stealing nine ferns from a garden. ❋ Unknown (2010)

They all seem like good travellers, linked by their enthusiasm and their shared interest in ferns, yet open to new experiences and sights. ❋ Unknown (2002)

Feathered stars, roses set in ferns, rayed trefoils, seaweed-like fronds full of little suns, they have all the same angles and are made hexagonally. ❋ Unknown (1917)

Maidenhair, the most beautiful of the hardy ferns, is to be found in quantities in many of our woods, particularly those covering hillsides. ❋ Unknown (1903)

At stylish dinner-parties, an ornamented card, tastefully designed with flowers in water-colors, or a wreath of green ferns, is often laid upon each plate with the gentleman's or lady's name written upon it; and the host asks each gentleman to take the lady he designates down to dinner. ❋ Sophia Orne (1873)

Elless and his colleagues hope their ferns could be adapted to help purify water in these countries; the method is potentially very cheap, and the plants grow readily in warm, humid climates like those of south-east Asia. ❋ Unknown (2006)

He is also an amateur pteridologist, which is to say he's interested in ferns. ❋ Unknown (2002)

Twiggy bushes, bare of leaves, caught at their skirts and shawls, but Rache pushed gamely onward through sword ferns and dripping salal. ❋ Hobb, Robin (2000)

She would plant some sword ferns around the base of the tree to prevent intrusion by nocturnal predators; the fem would not grow any more by night, but wouldn't need to; any foot stepping on it would get slashed. ❋ Anthony, Piers (1983)

Most of the ferns belong to one of three groups, the sword ferns ❋ Unknown (1930)

Some of the plants ordinarily grown in the house, such as Rex begonias, rubber plants, sword ferns, are best increased by leaf cuttings, topping, layering or other methods differing from seed sowing or rooting cuttings. ❋ Unknown (1930)

The distinguishing feature of the sword ferns is their long pointed fronds; the maidenhairs command attention by their beautiful feathery foliage, in some varieties as delicate as the filmiest lace; and the spider ferns, seen usually in mixed varieties in dishes or fern pans, are attractive for their shades of green, gray, white and silver, and compact growth. ❋ Unknown (1930)

"Salamanders, worms and many plants like the giant sword ferns that are abundant in the shaded ground beneath the trees all depend on fog drip for their water, and we're concerned that if the loss of fog continues they will all be threatened too," he said. ❋ [email protected] (San Francisco Chronic (2010)

Sword ferns thrive in dry shade and the arching fronds will help hide the falling mess of old holly leaves. ❋ THE NEWS TRIBUNE (2010)