Polystichum setiferum
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| Polystichum setiferum (Forssk.) Woynar |
Polystichum aculeatum (Soft Shield Fern) is an evergreen or semi-evergreen fern native to southern and western Europe. It is most abundant in Ireland, southwestern Great Britain, western France and northwest Iberia, where it benefits from the combination of mild winters and moist summers, but also occurs more locally north to northern Scotland and east to the Crimea and Turkey; in the Mediterranean region it usually grows at high altitudes. It grows in woodlands, often but not always on steep slopes.
The bright green fronds are 30-120 cm long, usually drooping downslope, with typically 4-10 fronds on a mature plant. The fronds are soft-textured, bipinnate (single-pinnate on small, young plants), with the pinnae opposite on the stalk. Each pinna is 4-14 cm long, with a large upward-pointing pinnule at the base, and the other pinnules decreasing in size toward the pinna tip; the pinnules have softly bristly tips. Individual fronds live for 0.8-1.5 years and remain attached to the rhizome after withering. The round sori occupy two rows on either side of the midrib of each pinnule and are covered by a centrally-attached, umbrella-like indusium with fringed edges. They produce light yellow spores.
It is frequently grown as an ornamental plant in gardens, with several cultivars available.
[edit] References
- Flora Europaea: Polystichum setiferum
- Hyde, H. A., Wade, A. E., & Harrison, S. G. (1978). Welsh Ferns. National Museum of Wales.
