Christmas Fern
Polystichum acrostichoides
Evergreen leathery fronds; tolerates dry shade once established. Young unfurled fiddleheads are cooked as a spring vegetable, like other fern fiddleheads — always cook fiddleheads thoroughly, never eat them raw.
- Family
- Dryopteridaceae
- Type
- fern
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 1–2 ft
- Spacing
- 1–2 ft apart
- Light
- part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic
- Wildlife value
- larval host
- Landscape uses
- groundcover, container, naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV