Dig into Plants: Christmas Fern

Christmas Fern

Other Common Names: Dagger Fern

Scientific Name: Polystichum acrostichoides

Native to Alabama: Yes

 
Monarch Butterfly
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center -Sally and Andy Wasowski
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 Learn more about...
 
Basic Information
Classification Button
Maintenance
Adaptations Button
Plant ID
Life Cycle


 


 
Basic Plant Information
 
  • I am a seedless vascular plant, so I am a fern.
  • I keep leaves year-round, so I am evergreen.
  • I die back in winter but regrow in spring for many seasons, so I am perennial.
  • I can grow 1.5 - 2 feet high and 1 - 2 feet wide.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Sally and Andy Wasowski
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Ecological Benefits
 
White-tailed deer browse leaves during summer; can provide significant cover for wildlife; provides groundcover in the winter; songbirds use plant parts for nest materials in the spring
 
  

   
Maintenance Notes
  • Not dormant in winter.
  • Fronds remain dark, glossy green during the winter.
  • When watering, hold hose to base of plant for a count of 5 seconds.  Water should reach all roots.
  • Avoid sprinkling water on the leaves.
  • Requires average amount of water.
Average watering: water two times per week during the summer and once per week during the rest of the year.
 

 

  
Habitat Requirements
 
This plant prefers:
Part Sun/Shade
(2-6 hours of sun per day)

Shade
(Less than 2 hours of sun per day)
   Average Watering
 Well-drained, Sandy, Loamy,
or Moist Soil
 
 

 

   

  
Leaf, Flower & Seed Identification

   
 
LEAF DESCRIPTION
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Stephanie Brundage
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Leaf Characteristics Chart (PDF)
       
Shape:
Lanceolate		 Margin:
Dentate		 Arrangement:
Whorled		 Form:
Pinnately Compund
       
Description:
Fronds (leaves) are dark green, appear glossy or leathery and have stocking-shaped leaflets; fiddleheads (young leaves) appear to have silvery scales when they emerge in spring; reproductive fronds are narrower at the tip and die in winter; sterile fronds remain evergreen; black spores on underside of leaf
         
 
FLOWER DESCRIPTION
Christmas Fern is not a flowering plant
 
 
SEED DESCRIPTION
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Stephanie Brundage
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Type:
Spores		 Description:
no fruit or seeds,
reproduces by spores;
spores are found in sori on the bottom of the sub leaflets		 Months in Seed:
Spores released summer-fall
     
Plant spreads by:
Rhizomes/Tubers/Roots & Shoots 
Underground rhizomes spread and create new clumps of plants; spores spread by air or animals passing by 
       
 
 
 
Plant Life Cycle

Plant Life Cycle:
  • Horsetail plants reproduce by spores rather than seeds.
  • Spores are contained in cone-like spore cases at the ends of the stems.
  • The spores are dispersed by the wind.
  • When the spores land on a damp surface, they grow into small male and female structures.
  • Finally, when fertilization takes place, the plant will grow to form the visible stems used to identify the horsetail plant.


 



ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS
 
Quick Fact Sheet
(Condensed Species Info)		 Plant ID Sign:
Ready as-is PDF		 Plant ID Sign:
Editable Word Doc		 QR Code
(Links to this Webpage)



  

INFORMATION SOURCES FOR THIS PLANT
 
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Logo
  

 
    
Missouri Botanical Gardens Logo 2019
 
  
 



 

 
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