I was recently talking to a naturalist/botanist here in Northeast Ohio. She gave me some advice about identifying ferns. And, she recommended a nice booklet for the ferns in the Cleveland Metroparks. She said it can be very difficult to identify a fern from just an overview photo. After reading tha…

Thank you for this! I love guides for how to take good photos of particular taxa like this. I’ve read a couple before and they help me next time I’m out, even if I’m not taking a photo, to better “see” those organisms. Reminds me of this journal post by sedgequeen: https://www.inaturalist.org/journa…

I made a Journal out out of this topic.

If you get all of that, it’s awesome, but it’s usually overkill. In most cases in your region, I’d say that a shot showing the overall shape of the leaf blade, and a close-up that shows the level of dissection and features such as scales/hairs/spinulose teeth (particularly showing the base of the bl…

I second the recommendation for Emily Sessa’s wonderful guide, which I’ve learned a lot from in the short six months I’ve had it. But I also agree the geographic scope can make it unnecessarily cumbersome to use, especially for those of us in the northern regions with far fewer ferns. I do appreci…

Thanks for this topic. I was thinking that most of my ferns go un-identified, but I see that most of them are RG (except for those tricky horsetails!) Which means there are more fern identifiers than I thought, so thanks to all! I generally only take 3 or 4 photos: one of the entire fern, one of a …

I think this is pretty good practice for most plants. After I first started making observations, I learned just how much tiny details matter. Bark texture, how branches join the main trunk, how leaves join to the branch and their stem, vein pattern in the leaves, top and bottom of the leaves, flower…

I do that because I am not familiar with a lot of plants/trees. A lot of times, it’s overkill for someone who will eventually identify it. But, I think it’s good for us because it makes us really look at a plant’s features. If you really like plants, you might like the short book, “In Defense of Pl…

[image] ken_ohio: “In Defense of Plants” by Matt Candeias. He has a YouTube channel, too. Thank you for the tip, Ken! I always appreciate [image] Who is your favourite nature host, in a video format? YouTube . . . shows about plants Your thread is about ferns, so I watched Matt Candeia…

Ferns observations and photos

Nature Talk

AdamWargon May 29, 2026, 10:00pm 11

Thank you for the tip, Ken! I always appreciate

Your thread is about ferns, so I watched Matt Candeias’ video about looking for Southern Adder’s-Tongue (Ophioglossum pycnostichum) in Illinois. It was a great video, and it gave me a new appreciation for how diverse ferns can be!

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Ferns observations and photos

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