Text and photography: Patricia McCracken. This article is from the December 2011 issue Garden and Home Magazine.
Over 150 years ago ferns were the height of gardening fashion, says Neil Crouch – and with his new book he’s hoping to help spark new wave of enthusiasm.
It’s quite a stretch from being a dusty schoolboy on a traffic island in Bulawayo to being at the helm of the new landmark book Ferns of Southern Africa (Struik Nature). But that school field trip more than 30 years ago led Durban ethnobotanist Neil Crouch directly to this most comprehensive guide to ferns.
“Our teacher explained how plants fit into each ecological niche even though they were mostly weeds such as lantana and opuntia,” he says. “Everything suddenly fell into place for me and that moment really awakened me to plants — I still remember how everything smelled and looked.”
So, in addition to the usual teen social, sporting and fishing life, Neil headed off on his bicycle to excitedly explore Bulawayo’s deep kloofs, springs and granite outcrops for their remarkable aloes, resurrection plants and ferns. Then, at the age of 16, he got the chance of a lifetime. He won a scholarship for A-level studies at England’s Bristol Cathedral School.
“It really gave me the broader world view everybody promised,” he recalls. “But I felt absolutely unrooted and incomplete there. My heartbeat was in tune with Africa. I spent eight hours every Saturday and Sunday working in a general store to make sure I had enough money for a ticket back.”
Immediately after A-levels, Neil returned to study botany at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg; a special joy after the “limited” British flora. “I’d dipped academically in the UK but took to these studies like a duck to water,” he says. “I was thrilled to be back in Africa.”
Honours, Masters and a PhD later, Neil joined what’s now become the South African National Biodiversity Institute, where he is deputy director of ethnobotany. He’s contributed to many international publications and conferences and relishes “having fun as a scientist”. For him, that’s working across a broad spectrum of people-plant relationships, such as plant conservation, plant history and medicinal plants, including how plant chemistry affects people.
As a reflection of Neil’s wide-ranging interests, an aloe has recently been named after him — Aloe neilcrouchii. He has also co-authored a book on succulents. But it’s ferns that have really captured his heart.
“Their primeval associations connect us with a really profound side of botany and early evolutionary history,” he explains. “Many are extremely rare, so were found with a lot of luck and perseverance — and fun and elation.”
Speakers at the new book’s launch harked back to the fern glory days, a phase of the Victorian plant craze that swept the British Empire from the early 19th century onwards. Later, the fern frenzy invaded arts and crafts with ferns curving and curling on buildings, ceramics, metalwork, fabrics and in paintings.
“It’s interesting how many botanists have been fascinated by ferns at one stage,” Neil says. “This includes John Burrows who did great work on east and central African trees and shrubs before moving on to ferns.” John and his botanical artist wife Sandra created the authoritative 1990 coffee table book, Southern African Ferns and Fern Allies and are co-authors of the new book. The final co-author of this comprehensive fern guide is Ronell Kloppers, curator of the fern collection at Pretoria’s National Herbarium. Neil’s wife, entomologist and artist Dr Tanza Crouch, designed the user-friendly layout for the book, which contains almost 2 000 pictures.
Neil is proud that they saw each of South Africa’s 321 fern taxa in the field, except one that’s extinct and the elusive Ophioglossum gracile, despite several ascents of its Table Mountain home. However, they were rewarded with a sighting of its tiny cousin, O. bergianum.
Ferns of Southern Africa includes four new fern species discovered during the compilation of the book and the first descriptions of five more species – not excluding aliens.
The thrill of chasing plants and the knowledge exemplified by Neil and his co-authors could soon have us enjoying a 21st-century spin on the fern craze.
Source:
Ferns of Southern Africa:
A Comprehensive Guide (Struik Nature) by Neil R Crouch • Ronell R Klopper John E Burrows • Sandra M Burrows
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