Deer Fern

It would be fun to be a botanist, to specialize in something like ferns, and to be able to walk through the forest and say, "This is a Bracken Fern, and this is a Deer Fern, and this is a Sword Fern, and this is a Lady Fern and this is a Spiny Wood Fern, an Oak Fern, a Narrow Beech Fern, a Goldenback Fern, a Licorice Fern, a Maidenhair Fern, a Parsley Fern, a Fragile Fern, a Leathery Grape Fern, and a Common Moonwort--which is classified as a fern even if it isn't called one."

I like to know things, to understand things. Up to a certain point, I think that's a gift of God, but I also know that the "original sin" was to want to know and understand everything. There's a fuzzy line somewhere between those two characteristics that I haven't figured out yet--just one more thing I'd like to know and understand!


In the meantime, I'm pretty sure these are Deer Ferns; at least they match the photo in our "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast" book. Above these ferns tower the huge coast Redwoods, which provide the required habitat for this lush greenery.

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