A Wallflower in the Wind

This article was written by Wilma Chou and published by the Taiwan Review on November 1, 2005. It reports that ferns used to be considered as "background plants" in Taiwan, as they neither bloom nor bear fruit. They are the kind of "supporting characters" one often finds on the stage of the plant world. They do not catch the attention of general spectators.

However, things are changing now. In recent years plant lovers in Taiwan are increasingly falling in love with ferns. As the public's interests in ferns grow, these amazing plants are slowly revealing their remarkable personalities. In the admiring words of one poet: "You are Taiwan's treasure, the elder in the global village. You are a fern, the one who draws the question mark."

More than 600 species from 37 fern families grow in Taiwan. Indeed, ferns can easily adapt to various environments and conditions, including misty forests, barren lands of limestone, salt swamps, and even inhospitable volcanoes. Taiwan also has tremendously varied geography. Mountain climbers and fern hunters have discovered that different species thrive in dramatically different climatic zones, from the steamy subtropical lowlands to the chilly heights of the inland mountains.

According to academic studies, native species account for about 9 or 10 percent of Taiwan's fern species. The rest arrived by aerial migration, brought by seasonal winds from China, Japan and the Philippines.

British official Robert Swinhoe was the first fern expert who cataloged Taiwan's fern species. Dispatched to Taiwan in 1856, he studied Taiwan's plants and later published List of Plants of the Island of Formosa. This book recorded 246 Taiwanese plants, including 33 species of the fern family.

The Japanese also studied Taiwan's fern species. During their colonial occupation of the island, from 1895 to 1945, they conducted a thorough investigation on Taiwan's plant life. By 1928 they had cataloged 81 percent of Taiwan's fern species.

The article introduces Taiwan's current research projects on ferns. Researchers from academic institutes such as the National Taiwan University and the National Chung Hsing University have conducted various major studies, while the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute also plays a major role in studying and cataloging the island's fern species.

The article also points out that plant lovers in Taiwan began to pay attention to ferns in recent years for three reasons. Firstly, people now have a prosperous and steady life and can have more time for leisure and environmental interests. Secondly, getting to know ferns provides people with a sense of exploration, as these plants are beyond their familiar world of flowers or butterflies. Finally, environmental education has taken root in Taiwan and contributed to an increase in the number of volunteers devoting themselves to study ferns and introduce them to the public.

The article also reviews several significant fern species in Taiwan and examines how to further protect the island's ferns from illegal commercialization. The fern garden of the Endemic Species Research Institute in central Taiwan's Taichung County and the annual Green Expo in northern Taiwan's Ilan County are two good examples of promoting environmental education and conservation.