NATURAL WORLD / FIELD NOTES
The common fern
A patient lesson in unfurling.
Ferns make a quiet kind of architecture. A frond begins as a compact curve and slowly opens into a repeating arrangement of smaller shapes.
Habitat
Many ferns favor sheltered, damp places. A shaded wall, a woodland edge or the space beside a stream can hold an entire miniature landscape.
A small observation
Look at the pattern before the individual leaf. Repetition, spacing and the direction of light tell a story that is easy to miss at first glance.
EDITOR'S NOTE
Original illustrative prose for a wiki layout demonstration. Do not use it to identify or consume plants.