I’m studying plants for the CPH exam (certified professional
horticulturist) and am fearful of the ferns. They are long on
Latin and difficult to memorize…so many syllables! Here are some
of the meanings of these four feisty ferns. (From Dictionary of
Plant Names by Timber Press) Blechnum spicant or Deer Fern. This
is an evergreen native fern. Blechnum is a Greek name for fern.
Spicant is tufted or hard fern. Polystichum munitum or Sword
Fern. Another evergreen native. Polystichum means many rows,
referring to the arrangement of sori. Munitum is armed with
teeth (leaf edges are toothed). Dryopteris erythrosora or Autumn
Fern has evergreen foliage. Dryopteris means oak fern (growing
beneath oaks?) and erythrosora is with red sori. Athyrium
niponicum ‘pictum’ is the Japanese painted fern, a deciduous
plant. Athyrium means without a door, for the enclosed sori, and
nipponicum is ‘from Japan’, pictum means painted.