Polystichum polyblepharum, Japanese lace fern or tassel fern, in the wood fern family Dryopteridaceae, has been mentioned in a few threads now, two quite recent. I am posting this because I am still awed by its tidy architecture, but also as a comparison to another of the same genus. On this one, the fronds are very stiff and tough-looking and the pinnae are shiny. Quite nearby, both of these in Morton Park across from English Bay, is Polystichum setiferum, soft shield fern, with a similar frond and pinnae arrangement, soft and so much more delicate, in spite of the "seti" part of its name coming from the Latin word for bristles. There are several cultivars: 'Herrenhausen' , 'Bevis', 'Pulcherrimum Bevis' or 'Proliferum', which I cannot distinguish, except that one of them is supposed to be 3-pinnate, but I can't remember which, and I don't trust the names given on the internet photos anyway. Wikipedia says the pinnae are opposite; I say they're alternate, an arrangement that I find curious and appealing.
Not met Polystichum polyblepharum before - except reading this, I think I have in fact. Some ferns I found in my local park look very like this, some similarity to P. setiferum (UK native) but too stiff. Presumably a garden escape. I'll dig out my pics later and add them here. I'll also add pics of my local native P. aculeatum (Hard Shield Fern), one of my favourite ferns.
Here is a labeled Polystichum setiferum Acutilobum Group, at VanDusen Botanical Garden. And just to keep me from getting too cocky, is one called Polystichum tsussimense, Korean rock fern. I hope this is only in botanical gardens here. Maybe it's a little less hairy than the P. polyblepharum, Japanese lace fern, the first one posted in this thread?
Here are new fronds on a Polystichum polyblepharum near me. They were even neater to see last Friday when I first saw them and the new fronds were about half the height, but when I went back with a camera, I couldn't remember which street they were on. They're only two blocks from me, but I walked about 12 blocks looking for them and gave up. Today there they were, on my usual route. The old fronds are stiff, and the new ones are very soft and a much lighter colour. When they were shorter, they looked more like a flower bouquet. Edited: I've added two photos from May 8.
