1 00:00:34,540 --> 00:00:36,722 CLARA WOOLFORD: Ferns were considered to be safe because 2 00:00:36,723 --> 00:00:41,045 they were essentially asexual. So if your daughter or your wife 3 00:00:41,065 --> 00:00:44,528 was very into ferns, that was considered far less stimulating 4 00:00:44,568 --> 00:00:48,231 than if she was into something like orchids that Victorians 5 00:00:48,271 --> 00:00:50,473 felt looked particularly sensual. 6 00:00:53,075 --> 00:00:55,417 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Today we're travelling back to an age of 7 00:00:55,457 --> 00:00:59,500 discovery. It's the mid-1800s and Britain has succumbed to a 8 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,580 mania for collecting leafy green non-flowering plants, ferns. And 9 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:09,123 this new nature craze is about to be taken to the extreme. I'm 10 00:01:09,223 --> 00:01:13,926 Ranger Rosie Holdsworth. Welcome to Wild Tales, Pterodomania, 11 00:01:14,387 --> 00:01:16,368 when Fern Frenzy swept the UK. 12 00:01:23,093 --> 00:01:26,895 Are you a proud houseplant parent? I love putting my plants 13 00:01:26,915 --> 00:01:29,397 in the shower to water them and pretend that I live in a 14 00:01:29,437 --> 00:01:33,019 rainforest. I've got a lot of enthusiasm for all my plant 15 00:01:33,059 --> 00:01:36,141 babies, but I do get out of my depth caring for them. 16 00:01:36,662 --> 00:01:39,924 Houseplants are a huge trend amongst millennials and gen z. 17 00:01:40,604 --> 00:01:43,286 We largely owe our modern green-fingered habits to the 18 00:01:43,287 --> 00:01:47,909 Victorians' total obsession with botany. And pterodomania, or 19 00:01:48,049 --> 00:01:52,492 Fern Frenzy, was one of the biggest crazes of all time. So 20 00:01:52,572 --> 00:01:57,136 who were the pterodomaniacs? Why was Fern Frenzy really a lot 21 00:01:57,156 --> 00:02:00,578 about sex? And what can we learn about the conservation 22 00:02:00,658 --> 00:02:03,400 consequences when the craze went too far? 23 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,801 CLARA WOOLFORD: Pterodomaniacs or Fern hunters, they would 24 00:02:08,861 --> 00:02:13,302 really go to extremes to collect the best specimens and get quite 25 00:02:13,922 --> 00:02:15,183 competitive about it. 26 00:02:15,423 --> 00:02:19,184 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: This is Clara Walford, curator at Cragside in 27 00:02:19,224 --> 00:02:19,984 Northumberland. 28 00:02:20,584 --> 00:02:22,925 CLARA WOOLFORD: One of the people that we know a lot about 29 00:02:23,165 --> 00:02:27,906 is a gentleman called Charles Drury. He writes about how on 30 00:02:28,106 --> 00:02:32,968 one expedition in Devonshire, and Devonshire was the place to 31 00:02:32,988 --> 00:02:34,008 go fern hunting 32 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:40,123 he tries to dislodge what he calls a very desirable heart's 33 00:02:40,203 --> 00:02:44,626 tongue fern that's growing out the side of a bridge that's 34 00:02:44,706 --> 00:02:48,729 spanning a really fast flowing stream. 35 00:02:48,729 --> 00:02:51,571 Because he can't get to it he decides to lean over the side 36 00:02:51,631 --> 00:02:55,273 with a trowel, which he's lashed to a stick and then sort of 37 00:02:55,434 --> 00:03:00,957 pokes the fern out and catches it in an open umbrella that he 38 00:03:01,057 --> 00:03:04,580 suspended underneath the arch of the bridge with a piece of 39 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,103 string. And then has to wade into the river to retrieve this 40 00:03:09,163 --> 00:03:09,443 fern. 41 00:03:11,284 --> 00:03:14,146 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: So how exactly did the fern craze start? 42 00:03:17,689 --> 00:03:21,071 CLARA WOOLFORD: Pteridomania, which is really hard to say and 43 00:03:21,111 --> 00:03:23,893 it's even harder to spell because it has a silent P at the 44 00:03:23,953 --> 00:03:29,517 start, it basically means fern madness. And it was coined in 45 00:03:29,537 --> 00:03:35,352 1855 by a writer and a botanist called Charles Kingsley. He is 46 00:03:35,452 --> 00:03:38,715 most well known for his fairy tale, The Water Babies, but it 47 00:03:38,775 --> 00:03:42,577 really takes over the whole of Victorian society in a way that 48 00:03:42,657 --> 00:03:44,799 is quite unbelievable. 49 00:03:45,439 --> 00:03:47,601 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: For the Victorians, collecting and 50 00:03:47,661 --> 00:03:51,523 categorising things was an obsession and way of life. This 51 00:03:51,543 --> 00:03:54,646 was applied to lots of things and especially natural history. 52 00:03:56,227 --> 00:03:57,948 CLARA WOOLFORD: It's obviously the period of Charles Darwin. 53 00:03:58,708 --> 00:04:05,729 This is the era of taxonomy and working out family trees between 54 00:04:05,809 --> 00:04:09,793 different species. It's a period where they are discovering and 55 00:04:09,813 --> 00:04:11,054 exploring the world. 56 00:04:12,455 --> 00:04:14,597 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Ferns themselves are an ancient plant 57 00:04:14,697 --> 00:04:18,760 recognisable by their feathery leaves or fronds. The plant life 58 00:04:18,820 --> 00:04:22,503 first appeared around 400 million years ago before the 59 00:04:22,523 --> 00:04:23,945 time of the dinosaurs. 60 00:04:28,248 --> 00:04:32,252 Around 60 varieties grow in the UK. Bracken is the most common 61 00:04:32,332 --> 00:04:35,909 fern. And we have lots of other species with fun names like 62 00:04:35,969 --> 00:04:41,352 brittle bladder, scaly male and maidenhair. Maidenhair, by the 63 00:04:41,372 --> 00:04:43,993 way, is not named after the hair on your head. 64 00:04:45,514 --> 00:04:48,815 And in the 19th Century, a culmination of social conditions 65 00:04:48,915 --> 00:04:52,256 means it's suddenly easy for hobbies like fern hunting to go 66 00:04:52,477 --> 00:04:54,297 viral. 67 00:04:54,337 --> 00:04:57,799 CLARA WOOLFORD: It goes from that kind of intellectual elite 68 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,736 down to people in their own homes collecting. And I think 69 00:05:01,757 --> 00:05:06,318 it's also a sign of that period that there's mass media, there's 70 00:05:06,639 --> 00:05:09,560 journals for just about every hobby and interest. And that 71 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,521 actually is probably quite similar to us today with, you 72 00:05:12,522 --> 00:05:15,622 know, things like Pinterest and TikTok, and you can find your 73 00:05:15,822 --> 00:05:16,343 community. 74 00:05:17,083 --> 00:05:21,145 And thanks to things like the railway, so this brilliant new 75 00:05:21,205 --> 00:05:24,386 technology, the British countryside is suddenly far more 76 00:05:24,406 --> 00:05:28,348 accessible to ordinary people. There was all sorts of fern 77 00:05:28,428 --> 00:05:30,729 hunting paraphernalia that was marketed as well. 78 00:05:31,509 --> 00:05:35,590 So you could buy specialist trowels and little specimen pots 79 00:05:35,630 --> 00:05:38,671 to put your ferns in because you had to try and keep them alive 80 00:05:38,672 --> 00:05:42,712 on the journey home. Albums of specimens, special cases that 81 00:05:42,732 --> 00:05:45,913 they'd make, they'd make tiny museums in their homes. It's 82 00:05:45,914 --> 00:05:49,594 really encouraged and a real kind of fashionable thing to be 83 00:05:49,634 --> 00:05:49,914 doing. 84 00:05:50,394 --> 00:05:52,055 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: So who were these fashionable 85 00:05:52,075 --> 00:05:53,295 pterodomaniacs? 86 00:05:53,315 --> 00:05:58,133 CLARA WOOLFORD: The Victorian fern craze gets very associated 87 00:05:58,193 --> 00:06:01,355 with young women. Charles Kingsley, who coins the term, 88 00:06:02,135 --> 00:06:06,878 how he describes it is slightly patronising. So he says, Your 89 00:06:06,918 --> 00:06:09,339 daughters perhaps have been seized with the prevailing 90 00:06:09,779 --> 00:06:13,521 pteridomania, wrangling over unpronounceable names of species 91 00:06:13,702 --> 00:06:16,623 which seem different in every new fern book that they buy. 92 00:06:17,324 --> 00:06:20,125 And yet you cannot deny that they find enjoyment in it and 93 00:06:20,126 --> 00:06:23,547 are more active, more cheerful, more self-forgetful over it than 94 00:06:23,567 --> 00:06:26,633 they would have been over novels, gossip, crochet and 95 00:06:26,653 --> 00:06:27,293 Berlin wool. 96 00:06:28,213 --> 00:06:31,075 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Victorian society also wanted to associate 97 00:06:31,135 --> 00:06:34,817 young women with ferns for another reason. Ferns are 98 00:06:34,937 --> 00:06:38,039 asexual and so deemed appropriate plants for the 99 00:06:38,159 --> 00:06:39,840 sensitive female mind. 100 00:06:41,081 --> 00:06:43,782 CLARA WOOLFORD: It's considered a more wholesome activity 101 00:06:44,523 --> 00:06:48,505 because ferns don't flower. It wasn't really understood how 102 00:06:48,965 --> 00:06:52,067 ferns reproduced and around this period is when they start to 103 00:06:52,087 --> 00:06:53,548 understand the idea of spores. 104 00:06:54,716 --> 00:06:58,117 But essentially, unlike a flowering plant that has sexual 105 00:06:58,217 --> 00:07:01,938 organs, that idea that bees have to come and pollinate a 106 00:07:01,958 --> 00:07:06,339 flowering plant, the Victorians who saw sex everywhere, that had 107 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:09,040 connotations that they didn't want to associate with young 108 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:09,440 ladies. 109 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,901 Whereas ferns were considered to be safe in that regard because 110 00:07:13,902 --> 00:07:18,182 they were essentially asexual. So if your daughter or your wife 111 00:07:18,202 --> 00:07:21,663 was very into ferns, that was considered far less stimulating 112 00:07:21,703 --> 00:07:25,688 than if she was into something like orchids. That Victorians 113 00:07:25,728 --> 00:07:27,929 felt looked particularly sensual. 114 00:07:29,649 --> 00:07:32,010 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The Victorians might have wanted to stop young 115 00:07:32,110 --> 00:07:36,111 women botanists getting sex into their heads, but young women had 116 00:07:36,211 --> 00:07:37,572 something else in mind. 117 00:07:42,133 --> 00:07:46,074 CLARA WOOLFORD: Fern hunting was something that could be done as 118 00:07:46,214 --> 00:07:49,575 a group of men and women, which was quite unusual for the 119 00:07:49,615 --> 00:07:53,196 Victorian period. This is because young women very into 120 00:07:53,256 --> 00:07:57,197 ferns, if they wanted to go out into the British countryside, it 121 00:07:57,198 --> 00:07:59,318 would be highly inappropriate for them to do that 122 00:07:59,538 --> 00:08:03,900 unchaperoned. So it's also a very physical activity. So it 123 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,882 might not be something where they're taking along a more 124 00:08:07,962 --> 00:08:09,403 elderly female relative. 125 00:08:09,723 --> 00:08:13,764 So they're being accompanied by young men. But it was well 126 00:08:13,804 --> 00:08:17,806 acknowledged that these groups were often being used for more 127 00:08:17,826 --> 00:08:22,668 illicit assignations. Punch magazine was a really popular 128 00:08:22,708 --> 00:08:28,291 satirical magazine, they print in 1869 an article that suggests 129 00:08:28,351 --> 00:08:32,092 that botanising, which is the term they use, which I love, is 130 00:08:32,093 --> 00:08:36,474 a good way of exploring less frequented spots with what they 131 00:08:36,494 --> 00:08:38,355 refer to as a'blooming companion'. 132 00:08:40,036 --> 00:08:42,357 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It's not just young women who get in on fern 133 00:08:42,437 --> 00:08:47,639 frenzy. It's everywhere. At its peak in the mid-1800s, fern 134 00:08:47,739 --> 00:08:50,940 parties are so common they're competing for the same patches 135 00:08:50,941 --> 00:08:52,161 in the British countryside. 136 00:08:55,723 --> 00:08:59,305 As with many of our obsessions, people take the fern craze to 137 00:08:59,306 --> 00:09:03,728 the extreme, and there are very real consequences. There are 138 00:09:03,748 --> 00:09:07,270 stories from the era of unlucky fern collectors whose bodies are 139 00:09:07,290 --> 00:09:10,172 discovered at the bottom of cliffs after going too far to 140 00:09:10,212 --> 00:09:11,412 reach the best ferns. 141 00:09:12,673 --> 00:09:15,114 And then of course, there are the serious conservation 142 00:09:15,175 --> 00:09:19,156 consequences to the ferns themselves. Ferns play an 143 00:09:19,157 --> 00:09:23,338 important role in the ecosystem. Growing where very little else 144 00:09:23,378 --> 00:09:26,720 can, they provide shelter and shade for other species and 145 00:09:26,740 --> 00:09:30,762 their structure protects against soil erosion. So stripping them 146 00:09:30,782 --> 00:09:34,363 en masse from their habitats is a big environmental problem. 147 00:09:35,584 --> 00:09:38,185 CLARA WOOLFORD: So Edward Lowe, who was a very famous fern 148 00:09:38,265 --> 00:09:44,348 breeder in the 1890s, despairs of fern gangs. So there are 149 00:09:44,388 --> 00:09:48,476 literally gangs of raiders going out into the English countryside 150 00:09:48,957 --> 00:09:52,902 and stealing ferns, collecting ferns en masse to sell them on. 151 00:09:53,142 --> 00:09:55,646 They were also stealing them from private estates. And others 152 00:09:55,666 --> 00:09:59,511 were noting that ferns in Kent and Devon were becoming nearly 153 00:09:59,591 --> 00:10:03,117 extinct. Large areas of the British countryside are being 154 00:10:03,217 --> 00:10:07,099 stripped of ferns and they're not being able to reproduce fast 155 00:10:07,139 --> 00:10:07,379 enough. 156 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:09,620 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: And there was the complicated issue of 157 00:10:09,681 --> 00:10:13,603 colonial plant hunters taking ferns from other countries. This 158 00:10:13,623 --> 00:10:16,624 was often done without any consideration for conservation 159 00:10:16,984 --> 00:10:18,865 or permission from local communities. 160 00:10:19,366 --> 00:10:21,607 CLARA WOOLFORD: So people that are being tasked to bring these 161 00:10:21,627 --> 00:10:25,269 ferns back for nurseries to sell, they're just stripping out 162 00:10:25,329 --> 00:10:29,171 ferns and other plants from ecosystems without any 163 00:10:29,451 --> 00:10:33,713 consideration about what that impact might be. So there's not 164 00:10:35,374 --> 00:10:39,076 a thought given to what happens if you take away all of the 165 00:10:39,077 --> 00:10:40,737 breeding plants from an area in one go. 166 00:10:42,919 --> 00:10:45,500 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: By the end of the 19th century, fern frenzy 167 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,242 has got everywhere. Fern designs and patterns appear on 168 00:10:49,382 --> 00:10:53,805 everything from curtains to garden benches to crockery. And 169 00:10:53,806 --> 00:10:56,566 you might not have even noticed the ferns on one of the nation's 170 00:10:56,686 --> 00:10:57,627 favourite treats. 171 00:10:57,647 --> 00:11:02,097 CLARA WOOLFORD: That curly, swirly pattern on a custard 172 00:11:02,117 --> 00:11:05,479 cream, that's actually fern fronds so every time you're 173 00:11:05,499 --> 00:11:10,622 eating a custard cream you're part of that fern mania cult. 174 00:11:10,622 --> 00:11:13,303 ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Fern frenzy's legacy is still found in how we 175 00:11:13,343 --> 00:11:16,985 behave today. The Victorian's influence can be seen in our 176 00:11:17,085 --> 00:11:20,027 love of house plants and gardening. And like the 177 00:11:20,028 --> 00:11:23,549 pterodomaniacs lots of us get really into our hobbies and 178 00:11:23,669 --> 00:11:27,291 sharing and showing off our interests. But these days we 179 00:11:27,331 --> 00:11:31,533 understand a lot more about conservation. Thankfully, many 180 00:11:31,593 --> 00:11:34,555 common fern species are still a familiar sight in the British 181 00:11:34,595 --> 00:11:35,296 countryside. 182 00:11:35,896 --> 00:11:38,999 And we now know that the best way to enjoy ferns is to head 183 00:11:39,079 --> 00:11:42,101 out into the places where they can grow undisturbed in their 184 00:11:42,242 --> 00:11:43,443 ancient green glory. 185 00:11:46,485 --> 00:11:50,028 Thanks for listening to this episode of Wild Tales. If you 186 00:11:50,048 --> 00:11:53,190 want to explore the fern frenzy for yourself, Cragside in 187 00:11:53,230 --> 00:11:56,933 Northumberland is home to one of the UK's best collections. You 188 00:11:56,994 --> 00:12:01,076 can explore rockeries, grottoes and glasshouses in the expansive 189 00:12:01,116 --> 00:12:05,058 gardens. For more from Wild Tales, follow us on your 190 00:12:05,158 --> 00:12:10,101 favourite podcast app and find us on Instagram @wildtalesnt. 191 00:12:10,961 --> 00:12:13,142 Why not share your own tales with the hashtag 192 00:12:13,442 --> 00:12:16,904 wildtaleswednesdays? See you next time. 193 00:12:28,780 --> 00:12:32,582 Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside 194 00:12:32,622 --> 00:12:36,824 retailer and epic guides to adventure. Quick breathers, 195 00:12:37,004 --> 00:12:40,867 calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we 196 00:12:40,887 --> 00:12:41,567 get out more. 197 00:12:43,808 --> 00:12:47,930 Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, National 198 00:12:47,950 --> 00:12:52,033 Trust supporters get 15% off walking kit in-store and online. 199 00:12:52,733 --> 00:12:56,115 Feel in your element, in the elements at Cotswold Outdoor.