Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Wild Tales | Nature Podcast
Episode: Pteridomania | When Fern Frenzy Swept the UK
Description: It’s the mid-1800s and pteridomania – or fern frenzy – is the new big craze.  Across the UK, plant enthusiasts are heading into the countryside to pick all the prized specimens they can find.  And fern fans far and wide are avidly creating collections and displays of the leafy green plants to show off.  Uncover the truth about this Victorian phenomenon and how it influenced our love of house plants.  But who were the pteridomaniacs? What did ferns secretly symbolise about young women and sex? And how can we learn from the conservati...