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Fern ID

micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
in Plants
Would love to know. It's very bristly, quite a deep colour green.


Posts

  • Paul B3Paul B3 Posts: 3,154
    Maybe a form of Dryopteris affinis ? The 'Golden Male-fern' has bristly fronds as they emerge .
  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    @Paul B3 looking at photos it seems different. I find plant identification from photos difficult at the best of times, but ferns are even trickier. That said, the bristles in the picture are really something. It could also possibly be Dryopteris wallichiana, which has upright stems and bristly foliage. It's my current best bet.
  • Paul B3Paul B3 Posts: 3,154
    You are correct about the difficulty identifying ferns ; I used to have D.wallichiana .
    Mine seemed more of a bluish-green as I recall .
  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    Although I don't rate my own identification skills at all, when I look at the pictures of affinis versus wallichiana the latter seem to be closer in terms of bristles, and also the uprightness of the leaves. The picture above is in my work place -- perhaps it is unlikely they would have that many wallichiana, but who knows (it is or was contracted to crocus). I have in fact young wallichiana in my own garden - and sometimes I wonder whether I got sent the right plant. Again the safe bet is that I was, and it is just that my specimens are young. Weirdly, I just googled Dryopteris wallichiana and the first hit in images is from crocus, with a similar bristly look. These are my wallichiana (looking a bit different from this photo:


  • Paul B3Paul B3 Posts: 3,154
    Whatever the criteria to differentiate species , yours look very healthy !
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