Woodsia ilvensis

The leaves are typically 6 inches long and 1 inch wide, with stiff, erected pointed tips and cut into 12 nearly opposite stemless leaflets. The underside of the leaves are covered in white woolly fibres, which later turn rusty brown. ==Taxonomy==

The plant was first identified as a separate species from specimens collected in Scotland in Bolton's 1785 publication ''. Bolton distinguished between Acrostichum ilvense and Acrostichum alpina, now Woodsia ilvensis and Woodsia alpina'' respectively, which had previously been conflated. ==Distribution==

Its distribution is circumpolar. It is most abundant in Scandinavia, the Ural and Altai mountains and the eastern United States. There are fewer than 90 wild clumps in the whole of the UK, where it is on the edge of its natural range and is considered to be "Endangered". For this reason it became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act. ==Victorian collectors and modern conservation==

Oblong woodsia came under severe threat from Victorian fern collectors in the mid 19th century in Scotland, especially in the Moffat Hills. These hills once had the most extensive UK populations of the species but there now remain only a few small colonies whose future is under threat. This period of collecting became known as pteridomania (or "fern-fever"). The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh plan to use cultivated specimens and a spore bank to restore depleted wild populations. ==References==