Editing Fern (section)

=== Other applications ===

[[File:Barnsley fern plotted with VisSim.PNG|thumb|right|[[Barnsley fern]] created using a [[chaos game]], through an [[Iterated function system]]<ref name=Fractals/>]]

The '''Barnsley fern''' is a [[fractal]] named after the British [[mathematician]] [[Michael Barnsley]] who first described it in his book ''Fractals Everywhere''. A [[Self-similarity|self-similar]] structure is described by a mathematical function, applied repeatedly at different scales to create a frond pattern.<ref name=Fractals>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oh7NoePgmOIC Fractals Everywhere], Boston, MA: Academic Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-12-079062-9}}</ref>

The dried form of ferns was used in other arts, such as a stencil or directly inked for use in a design. The botanical work, ''[[The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland]]'', is a notable example of this type of [[nature printing]]. The process, patented by the artist and publisher Henry Bradbury, impressed a specimen on to a soft lead plate. The first publication to demonstrate this was [[Alois Auer]]'s ''The Discovery of the Nature Printing-Process''.

[[Fern bar]]s were popular in America in the 1970s and 80s.