A note recently received, referring to Northamptonshire, probably in the 1960s, states:

Stems of ferns were used as pegs, and [I] heard that gypsies made pegs with them too.

Has anyone come across this use of ‘ferns’, presumably bracken (Pteridium aquilinum)? How were pegs, presumably clothes pegs, made from fern stems?

Please send any memories or comments to roy@plant-lore.com

Edited 7 November 2022.