Fern Seeds; their Uses in Discovering Buried Treasure

From The Gentleman's Magazine (collected volumes of 1907) comes an entertaining overview of European superstitions associated with fern seeds, including a daunting ritual for gathering them. For the really, er, practical uses of the seeds, make sure to click through.

Image of a treasure-hunter via Wikipedia

A belief lingers in most parts of Europe regarding the virtues of fern-seed gathered on Midsummer Eve. Our ancestors thought it could only be found on that night, and said that, as it was so small as to be almost imperceptible, it gave the power of becoming invisible, a superstition mentioned by Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists. For instance, Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Fair Maid of the Inn, mention " the herb that gives invisibility." The custom of going to gather fern-seed at midnight on Midsummer Eve is not quite extinct yet in some parts of our Isles, but nowadays it is rather observed as a bit of fun than from any faith in its mystic powers. Those who go to seek the seed are to start alone, and time themselves so as to arrive at the ferns by twelve o'clock. They must on no account turn their heads, no matter what they may see or hear en route, and the spirits of the wood and heath were formerly said to do all in their power to induce them to turn, placing obstacles in their path, and whisking round their heads, as Aubrey asserted that the elves did to a person who went to gather fern-seed in the West Country in his time.

Reaching the cluster of fronds from which they mean to gather the seed, they should hold a white napkin, paper, plate or box, under the fronds till midnight tolls out from the village belfry, and at that moment the seed is said to fall of its own accord into the plate or cloth, but the frond must not be shaken or even touched. On the way home the fairies will try to throw the bold mortal down, so that the treasure may be lost. And often when he has reached home in safety, it has been found that the packet was empty—not very surprising, when we think how minute the fern-seed is!

One story is that, precisely at midnight on Midsummer Eve, the ferns put forth a blue flower, which ripens at once into the magic seed, and the mortal who sees this event may obtain his heart's desire, and have the power of finding buried treasure and precious minerals. In the Tyrol fern seed is said to shine like gold on St. John's Eve, and those who gather it can discover treasure by scattering the seed on the ground, when fiery lines, will mark the spot where the precious ore lies. In Russia, too, people go on St. John's Eve to look for the azure blossom of the Paparot, or fern, for the finder can ever afterwards do exactly as he likes. Grimm says that at Thiers the fern gathered at midnight on St. John's Eve is thought to bring luck at play, a superstition connected in Ireland with a four-leaved shamrock gathered on St. Patrick's Day. In England, Wales, and the Isle of Man the fern which produced this marvellous seed was said to be the common male or shield fern, but in the Green Isle the magic species is "the fairy-fern," the pretty asplenium tricomanes, which is thought to be a special favourite with "the good people."

Labels: 1900s, England, folklore