| Description | A hardy tough evergreen fern preferring the shaded areas of the garden. |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | (pol-IS-tick-um) (ak-ruh-stik-OH-id-eez) |
| Plant Type | All Plants, Ferns - Hardy |
| Hardiness Zone | 5 |
| Sunlight | Found growing in shaded or semi-shaded sites. |
| Moisture | prefers moist |
| Soil & Site | Found growing along rocky shaded slopes, wooded stream banks, in ravines, open thickets etc. Prefers rich limey soils but very tolerant of others. |
| Flowers | Ferns are non flowering plants that reproduce by spores. The spores are found on fertile fronds that are taller and more rigid than the sterile fronds. |
| Leaves | The sterile fronds are evergreen but in zone #5 they become prostrate in the winter from the frost and snow. The fronds are lance-shaped tapering to a point from the center. The pinnea (leaflets) are lance-shaped, short stemmed, with a bristle tip and 20-40 pairs are possible per frond. The leaf stalk is short with a dense covering of light brown scales. |
| Stems | short rhizomes |
| Dimensions | Can each 1-3 feet tall and 2-4 feet wide spreading at a moderate rate forming an asymmetrical clump. I have used this fern and in zone #5 it seems to stay on the lower end of the size range. |
| Maintenance | The plant's prostrate frond give the plant a bedraggled look in the winter. The pressed fronds can be removed in the spring when new growth commences. |
| Propagation | division, spores |
| Native Site | Native North American fern. |
| Misc Facts | The name comes from the fact that the evergreen fronds where used as Christmas decorations. |
| Notes & Reference | #69-Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada ( Gleason, Cronquist), #80-A Field Guide to Ferns (Boughton Cobb) |
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