On Mar 2, 11:20*am, Des Higgins wrote:
On Mar 2, 9:05*am, oaks wrote:





Hi,
My wife and I own a small wood in E. Sussex, not exactly a garden I
know. Identifying and learning about the plants isn't especially easy,
so I wondered if you could help. If you can there will be lots of
questions.
I have read the rules on posting pictures, OK, I have a little forum on
my website that nobody uses so I will put my pics there.
My website can be found athttp://millwoodnature.com/butthat should
appear in my profile. The wood, by the way, is a chestnut coppice with
oak standards. It is filling up with bluebells and wood anemones and is
a lovely place to waste time.

Here's my first question, is this christmas fern? If not, can anybody
tell me what it is?http://tinyurl.com/2582g6
Thank you for reading this, hope it all works.
Colin

--
oaks

Hi Colin:

it is hard to see the photo clearly and I have never seen Christmas
fern
but if you look at the picture inhttp://www.portableherbarium.com/Polystichum-acrostichoides.jpg
and look at the bootom of each "leaf" (pinna), you see it is
asymetrical. Polystichums look like that (sticky out bit on one side)
and it joins the stem sith a very short but clear stalk.
Check yours to see if they match.
Hard fern (Blechnum spicant) is a common woodland fern here in Ireland
but it is confusing because it has two types of frond (sterile and
fertile).
Look at the pictures inhttp://www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye/blechnaceae/blechnum-spica...
Yours also look like sterile Blechnum fronds but I am no fern expert.

Des- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

p.s it does not look like P.acrostichoides grows wild in the uk