It’s the right time of year for Christmas fern to shine
The Christmas fern (
is a welcome splash of color during the winter months.
It also is one of the most common ferns in the eastern United States.
There are more than 11,000 true ferns worldwide. Ferns developed millions of years ago when Earth was warm and swampy, before dinosaurs and flowering plants. They can be thought of as living fossils.
The Christmas fern’s native habitat is rich woods, stream banks, ravines, swamps and thickets. However, it is easy to grow and can be used in almost any setting or soil. It thrives under trees and even in rocky areas. The fern will not naturalize, but the clump will increase in size over time.
Fern glossary
■ Fronds: large leaves with multiple leaflets; fertile fronds produce spores; infertile fronds do not.
■ Leaflets: the small leaf-like structures on the fronds
■ Spores: the reproductive bodies of ferns, which are plants that don’t produce seeds
■ Fiddleheads: the young, curled fronds, which on some ferns are edible when cooked
Fern growth
The Christmas fern typically grows 1-2 feet tall in a fountainlike manner. The fronds are lance-shaped with a pointed tip. They have 20-25 pairs of deep green, leathery leaflets that have a triangular lobe at their base.
The sterile fronds encircle the taller, more erect fertile fronds whose spores form on the underside of the upper leaflets.
Spores are produced between June and October. Spread by wind, a small percentage will find an optimal site to begin the complicated reproductive cycle.
The scaly, silvery fiddleheads rise in early to mid-spring. They are sometimes eaten
by gamebirds, such as ruffed grouse and wild turkeys, but are avoided by deer and rabbits. The Christmas fern fiddleheads should not be eaten by humans.
Because this fern forms a year-round, dense soil covering, it provides a protective, concealing habitat for ground-feeding and -nesting birds and can help stabilize soil for erosion control.
Growing requirements
■ Hardiness: Zones 3-9 ■ Sun: part shade to full shade
■ Water: dry to medium ■ Soil: sandy to medium loam; doesn’t tolerate clay
■ Maintenance: low
■ Propagation: root division
■ Pests and diseases: none serious
Medicinal uses
Native Americans used Christmas fern to treat chills, fever, pneumonia, and stomach or bowel complaints. A poultice of the root was made for treating rheumatism, and powdered root was inhaled and coughed up to restore the voice. Other notable Ohio native ferns
■ Cinnamon fern ( Osmunda cinnamomea): grows 2-3 feet tall, with constant moisture can reach 5 feet; sterile fronds turn yellow in fall; root fibers used in potting orchids; name comes from cinnamoncolored fibers near frond base
■ Lady fern (
grows 1-3 feet tall; fronds are lacey, light yellow-green; more tolerant of drier soils; Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit; name comes from elegant, graceful appearance
■ Maidenhair fern ( grows 1-2½ feet tall; delicate, fan-shaped leaflets; spreads to form large colonies; fiddleheads emerge pink in spring; name comes from slender, shiny black stems resembling strands of hair
■ Ostrich fern (
grows 3-6 feet tall; vaselike shape; fiddleheads edible only when cooked; Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit; name comes from the frond’s appearance as a long ostrich plume
Fun fact
Because ferns reproduce without flowers or seeds, Europeans in the Middle Ages believed ferns invisibly flowered and produced seeds only once a year, at midnight on St. John’s Eve (June 23), also called Midsummer Eve. Folklore said collecting the invisible seeds would allow people to become invisible, see into the future, and have eternal youth.