Reading Out Loud
Focused Elements:
You can have these explanations read out loud by clicking on 'Speak Explanation' (access key 'a')
These controls are to provide alternative means of accessing the information on this page. Two main facilities are provided: adjusting the text size and listening to the text on the page.
1) Adjusting Text Size:
You can increase the text size by clicking on 'Larger' (access key '+'), and reduce it by clicking on 'Smaller' (access key '-'). You can reset the size back to its original value by clicking on 'Reset' (access key 'j')
2) Listening to the Text
You can adjust the pitch of the spoken word, the rate or speed of delivery and the volume. You can also choose the voice to use by clicking on the drop-down list. The default voice is whatever is the standard for the computer and browser you are using.
To set your default, please refer to the description in the Accessibility Statement.
There are normally three sections of text on the page that you can listen to: the headings, the main text and a selection. Click on 'Speak Headings to speak the page headings (access key 'l'). Click on 'Speak Main Text' (access key 'q') to listen to the main text.
You can also select an area of text in the page using standard select methods and click on 'Speak Selection' (access key 'w') to read the selection aloud.
You can enable the reading out loud of the element that currently has focus by clicking on 'Start Focus Speaking' (access key 'f') and you can stop this by clicking on 'Stop Focus Speaking' (access key 'd').
You can pause the audio by clicking on 'Pause' (access key 'r') and resume by clicking on 'Resume' (access key 't').
To cancel or stop the audio click on 'Cancel' (access key 'y'). To restart the current audio from the beginning, click on 'Restart' (access key 'k').
To hide the accessibility controls click on 'Hide Panel' (access key 'h')
To hide this explanation click on 'Hide Explanation' (access key 'x')
Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Widecombe Things New and Old
This is the twenty-fourth item from Robert Dymond's book: "Things New and Old Concerning the Parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor and its Neighbourhood" (1876)
DARTMOOR FERNS.
THE many fern-hunters amongst our readers will thank us for reproducing the following from Cassell’s Magazine :—The common kinds of ferns—common only in the sense of being plentiful—are to be found almost everywhere; but the home of our native ferns is Devonshire-—“ the Garden of England.”
“Amidst all our English counties, Devonshire, indeed, stands unrivalled for the exquisite loveliness of its scenery. Few of those who have climbed its bold heights, crossed its rugged moorlands, and wandered through its shady woods and its delightful green lanes, will be inclined to dispute this assertion, however familiar they may be with English landscapes. It is the marvellous variety of its scenery which constitutes the peculiar charm of this country, the rugged boldness of its many hills contrasting with the soft grace of its valleys. I believe that thousands of tourists who annually visit the western “Garden of England,”--for Devonshire well deserves that name—whilst deeply impressed with the general loveliness of the county, nevertheless find it difficult to explain what it is that lends the peculiar character of softness and grace to the scenery. The whole county is richly and luxuriantly clothed with ferns. The number and the variety of the most exquisite of these beautiful plants to be found in Devonshire are equalled by those of no other county in the United Kingdom. Devonshire is emphatically the paradise of British ferns. There they are in very truth at home. The soil and the air are adapted to them, and they adapt themselves to the whole aspect of the place. They clothe the hill-side and the hill-top; they grow in the moist depths of the valleys ; they fringe the banks of the streams; they are to be found in the recesses of the woods ; they hang from rocks, walls, and trees, and crowd into the towns and villages, fastening themselves with sweet familiarity even to the houses.”
Subjoined is a list of a few ferns of Widecombe and its neighbourhood, kindly furnished by Mr. Amery, of Druid.
NAME. | COMMON NAME/CHARACTERISTICS. | HABITAT |
---|---|---|
Polypodium vulgare | Common polypody | Everywhere |
,, var serratum | In hedges | |
,, var semilacerum | Near Ashburton | |
,, phegopteris | Beech fern | Holne Moor |
,, a. small var | Walls, Dartmoor | |
Allosorus crispus | Parsley fern | nr. Chagford, very rare |
Polystichum lonchitis (?) | Holly fern | Chagford? |
,, aculeatum | Hard prickly shield | Common in hedges |
,, var ,, lobatum | Pseudo-holly fern | Hedges nr. Ashburton |
Polystichum angulare | Soft prickly shield | Very common in valleys |
,, ,, many varieties | ||
Lastrea, Oreopteris | Lemon scented fern | By all small streams |
,, Filix-mas | Male fern | Everywhere |
,, ,, many varieties | ||
Lastrea cristata? | Crested fern | in deep woods |
,, dilatata | Broadbuckler fern | On rocks and in woods |
,, ,, many varieties | ||
Lastrea. oemula | Hay scented | On some high tors |
Athyrium Filix-foemina | Lady fern | Everywhere |
,, ,, var rhoeticum | By mountain streams | |
,, ,, var purpurea | In bogs | |
Asplenium ruta.-muraria | Wall rue | Old sheltered walls |
,, Trichomanes | Common maidenhair | All rocks |
,, ,, var ramosum | Branched maidenhair | Buckland Woods |
,, ,, var digitatum | Buckland Woods | |
,, lanceolatum | Lanceolate spleenwort | Spitchwick |
,, adiantum-nigrum | Black spleenwort | Everywhere |
Scolopendrium vulgare | Hart’s tongue | Everywhere |
,, ,, many varieties | In valleys | |
Blechnum spicant | Hard fern | Woods and rocks |
,, ,, var ramosum | Buckland Woods | |
Pteris aquilina | Common brake | Everywhere |
,, var multifida | Chagford | |
Hymenophyllum | Film fern | HoundTor & Becky Fall |
,, tunbridgense | ||
,, Wilsoni | Chagford | |
Osmunda regalis | Royal Fern | Banks of Webburn |
Botrychium lunaria | Moonwort | Near Twobridges |
The information on this page was last modified on July 20 2017 22:32:14.