Fortune's holly-fern is an evergreen fern from East Asia that is grown in shady gardens in the US and has escaped into the wild in parts of the South. Its upright carry many pairs of dull green, holly-like leaflets, and deer and rabbits seldom bother it. It is also called Japanese holly fern.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Grows 1–2 ft (30–60 cm) tall and 1–1.5 ft (30–45 cm) wide, with fronds that can reach about 2.5 ft (75 cm). Fronds rise from a short, thick base that has brown scales.
- Growth form
- An evergreen perennial fern that forms an upright clump.
- Leaves
- Each frond has about 10–25 pairs of lance-shaped leaflets that are rounded at the base, plus one leaflet at the tip. The leaflets have a dull, not glossy, surface.
Look-alikes
House holly-fernCyrtomium falcatum
House holly-fern has thick, dark green, strongly glossy leaflets, and they are fewer (about 3–11 pairs) and broader. Fortune's holly-fern has thinner, dull leaflets in many more pairs.
Why they get mixed upBoth are called holly ferns and are grown in the same kinds of shady gardens.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Shade gardens
- Moist woods
- Rocky bluffs
- Range
- Native to Japan, southern Korea, and China south to Indochina. In the US it is an introduced garden plant. In 2009 a wild population turned up on a limestone bluff along the Green River in Kentucky, the first record for that state and a northward extension of its known US range.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers partial to deep shade and moist, humus-rich soil that drains well. Too much sun can bleach the fronds.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- It has no flowers or seeds and spreads by spores. Round spore clusters dot the whole underside of the leaflets, each covered by a round, grayish-white flap.
Growing it
- Care
- Hardy in USDA zones 6a–9b. Good drainage matters, because soggy soil can lead to root rot. Scale insects and fungal leaf spots can show up. In parts of the South it can become weedy and spread more than gardeners want.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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