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Polystichum lonchitis
Also called Holly fern, Mountain Holly Fern, Narrow Holly Fern, Northern Holly Fern, Hollyfern
Polystichum lonchitis is a species of fern known by the common name northern hollyfern, or simply holly-fern. It is native to much of the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to Alaska to Greenland and south into mountainous central North America. It has stiff, glossy green, erect fronds and grows in moist, shady, rocky mountain habitats.
Holly fern is an arctic-alpine species with a circumpolar boreal and montane distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It grows best in calcareous soil in cool, damp locations at the base of cliffs, on rock ledges and crevices, and among boulders and in deep cavities in limestone pavements. It also grows on other types of rocks as long as they are not calcium deficient. In the British Isles it occurs in Scotland and the western fringes of England, Wales and Ireland, and at scattered locations elsewhere. It occurs at a single location in Northern Ireland, at Lough Navar Forest Park in County Fermanagh, and because of its rarity there, it is listed as a Northern Ireland Priority Species.
Christmas fern · Hard shield-fern · Aleutian holly fern · Harsh Shield Fern · Polystichum bonapartii · Braun's hollyfern · Polystichum bulbiferum · Monte Guilarte hollyfern · California swordfern · Madeira Shield-Fern · Dudley's swordfern · Polystichum fallax
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Polystichum lonchitis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
