A 3-hour walk through 400 million years of plant history

This event is co-sponsored by the Maryland Native Plant Society.

Spend the last day of spring getting to know the oldest plants in the park. On most walks we admire the flowering plants that arose in the age of the dinosaurs — but ferns go back much further. The first ferns appeared in the Devonian and Carsboniferous periods, when plants ruled the world and the great coal beds were being laid down. Join us to meet the living descendants of Earth's earliest vascular plants.

We expect to see 11 of the 13 fern species our resident naturalist Thayer Young has documented in the park, including New York, Christmas, Sensitive, Southern Lady, Broad Beech, Northern Maidenhair, and Ebony Spleenwort ferns, plus a patch of Field Horsetail. We've added an extra hour — three hours instead of the usual two — so we can see everything at a slow, relaxed botanizing pace.

Please register 

What to Expect

We'll stay mostly on trails, with a few short ventures off-trail to reach the ferns. One stretch is rocky, so please wear sturdy shoes with good ankle support. Ticks and biting insects are active this time of year, so dress accordingly. Portable toilets are available at the parking lot, and the flush restrooms at the Carrie Murray Nature Center may be open during our walk.

The Maryland Native Plant Society has a handy guide you can download before the hike. Key to the Common Ferns of Maryland

Your Guides

Judy Fulton is the founder of EcoPlant Consulting and Vice President of the Maryland Native Plant Society. A passionate advocate for healthy native landscapes, she co-authored *Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas* and helped create the Mid-Atlantic Invaders Tool.

Thayer Young is FOGFLP's resident naturalist. His day job is making maps and databases for small nonprofits, but he also loves to identify plants