TO US, they look like ferns, but to a dinosaur, they might look like lunch! It is curious that the dinosaurs themselves became extinct millions of years ago, whereas many of the plants eaten by Jurassic herbivores have survived, and are still flourishing.

Some of these early plants, such as ferns and conifers, still grow wild in our woods and hedgerows. Gardeners regard some of them, such as horsetails, as nasty weeds.

But to get a glimpse of the pre-historic forests, a good place to visit is Wyld Court, near Newbury, where plants specialists have created a complete indoor rain forest, deep in the Berkshire countryside.

With carefully controlled temperature and humidity inside the giant glasshouses, huge tree ferns and cycads can be see in all their original splendour, as well as many of the smaller mosses and ferns, which would have been familiar to the dinosaurs of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Cycads are particularly fascinating plants. They look remarkably like small palm trees, with a woody stem or base. A number of beautiful cycads can be seen at Wyld Court, including a large Cycas revoluta.

Despite their delicate appearance, these ancient plants have a tough constitution and can tolerate changes in temperature and humidity, as well as some degree of air pollution.

No doubt their toughness has helped them to survive through the centuries - and it means they can also be cultivated as house plants, provided they are kept moist and not in direct sunlight. Ferns are also growing in profusion at Wyld Court, including massive bird's nest ferns (Asplenium nidus) and the strange stag's horn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum), which grows on tree trunks in its natural home in Australia. There are also many huge, feather, ferns - including trees ferns - which are thought to have been the main diet of many of the large, plant-eating dinosaurs.

The series, Walking with Dinosaurs, has shown the strange- peg-like teeth of these huge animals, which were perfectly designed for ripping the greenery off fern fonds and early coniferous trees.

Wyld Court Plant Curator Robert Smit is keen to maintain the indoor rain forest by natural methods, as far as possible.

"The idea is to have a sustainable population of plants - a small eco system," he said.

"Naturally, we sometimes have problems with insect pests, and we try to control these by using biological controls rather than by spraying. The aim is to keep pests at low levels, rather than eradicating them completely. It's a much more natural way of doing things."

The biological controls are actually other insects, which devour the pests in large numbers. For example, cryptolaemus beetles (and their larvae) eat quantities of mealy bugs, while a special wasp (Encarsia formosa) is used to control the dreaded whitefly.

There are many "modern" tropical plants and animals to be seen at Wyld Court, including a selection of reptiles, marmosets, toucans and piranha fish.

More ancient is the strange, prehistoric lung fish (Protopterus aethiopicus) sometimes referred to as a "living fossil".

Gardening enthusiasts will be interested to see sub-tropical plants in full bloom in mid-winter, such as brilliant blue morning glory and multi-coloured hibiscus.

Even these might have co-existed with some of the later dinosaurs, for the text books tell us that the first angiosperms (flowering plants) were appearing in the tropics towards the end of the Cretaceous period

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