#polystichum munitum

[pnwnativeplants]

Native planter box update: oops! all palmate coltsfoot edition

[foxsoulcourt]

tis bloomin’ + unfurlin’ season

[colorsoutofearth]

Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) and Big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), Olympic National Park

Photo by Jack Dykinga

[noosphe-re]

Polystichum munitum, 1928 Karl Blossfeldt

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Ever wonder how the western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) got its name? Let's take a closer look!

[thegreenwolf]

Hey, I just put a couple more sticker designs on Etsy! One is a portrait of Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa), one of my favorite native wildflowers here in the PNW. The other features an array of fungi and plants, to include king bolete (Boletus edulis), fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus), western sword fern (Polystichum munitum), and western rattlesnake orchid (Goodyera oblongifolia).

You can find them, along with all of my nature-themed stickers at https://www.etsy.com/shop/thegreenwolf?section_id=43697433

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

New species I’m getting this year!

Antennaria rosea (Rosy pussytoes)

Arisaema dracontium (Green dragon)

Asplenium scolopendrium (Hart’s tongue)

Calycanthus floridus (Sweetshrub)

Carex aurea (Golden sedge)

Claytonia virginica (Fairy spuds)

Echinacea pallida (Pale purple coneflower)

Equisetum hyemale (Scouring rush)

Iris setosa (Bristle-pointed iris)

Linnaea borealis (Twinflower)

Lonicera canadensis (Canadian fly honeysuckle)

Lonicera involucrata (Twinberry honeysuckle)

Osmunda claytoniana (Interrupted fern)

Passiflora incarnata (Maypop)

Pediomeleum esculentum/Psoralea esculenta (Breadroot)

Polystichum munitum (Western sword fern)

Triglochin maritma (Seaside arrowgrass)

Vaccinium macrocarpon (Large cranberry)

Viburnum acerifolium (Maple-leaved viburnum)

Viola pedata var. bicolor (Crowfoot violet)

Species I’m trying again this year after failed past attempt(s)!

Antennaria neglecta (Field pussytoes) Was planted in late summer and I was kept from watering it adequately.

Argentina anserina (Silverweed) No idea why they didn’t survive where I put them, but try, try again, elsewhere this time.

Artemisia frigida (Fringed sagebrush) First time ended up being white sage brush instead; second time plug was on its last legs on arrival, died soon after.

Chamaenerion angustifolium (Fireweed) Going to try this in yet another spot.

Dennstaedtia punctiloba (Hay-scented fern) Supposed to be aggressive! Mine was not. Maybe the one I get this year.

Dioscorea villosa (Wild yam) Planted the tuber but it never came up.

Glycyrrhiza lepidota (Wild licorice) Squirrels...Dug it up and broke the stem.

Lupinus polyphyllus (Big-leaf lupine) Leafed out nicely for its first and second year and then just didn’t come up again after its second winter.

Maianthemum racemosum (False Solomon’s seal) Squirrels! Dug it up and broke the stem.

Pteridium aquilinum latiusculum (Western bracken fern) I put it in a dry shady spot, as recommended, and it died.

Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan) SQUIRRELS!!! Dug it up and while I was visiting home and it dried out. Couldn’t revive it.

Silene acaulis (Moss campion) Sunny, wet, amongst rocks. Check, check, check, but they keep dying on me.

Sisyrinchium montanum (Blue-eyed grass) Two places tried, two place died. I shall try a third place this year.

Viola pubescens (Downy yellow violet) FUCKING. SQUIRRELS. Dug it up while I was at work and left it to scorch and dry out in the sun. Couldn’t revive it.

Species I’m getting again because I’m fairly sure mine didn’t make it

Apocynum cannabinum (Hemp dogbane) It might not have gotten enough sunlight thanks to the white mulberry that grew over. I’ll try it in a different area.

Sagittaria latifolia (Duck potato) It may come up after all but I don’t want to take the chance of planting too late if it doesn’t.

Sparganium americanum (American bur-reed) Not sure why, but we’ll try again this year. And I may yet be surprised.

Symplocarpus foetidus (Skunk cabbage) It’s possible it’s just young and takes longer to come up than it would if it were more mature, but I don’t want to take chances since there’s only one place I can get them at.

[vapidfirefly]

SLAPS THE TABLE ALRIGHT LISTEN UP Ferns are one of the most majestic creatures on this earth. They're older than dirt and some of them slowly give you cancer just by being in their MERE PRESENCE. The spores can be fatal as they are delicate and there's so many fucking variety's whose young fiddleheads are delicious to eat. Many have medicinal properties that are neat! Houseplant social media will tell you it's hard to grow them but fuck you I live in Seattle, we wine and dine in the under story of temperate rain-forests so I grow them like weeds in any east-north facing window that gets licks of sunlight and a full view of the sky Here's my growing collection of these marvelous creatures, I've only killed one (remember you always painted fern) and Ill probably accidentally kill a few more in pursuit of the perfect habitat but until THEN (ALSO YES MY NAILS IK IK LETS STICK TO WHATS IMPORTANT HERE) I prefer growing local varieties to north America and the PNW because that's where I'm located and it's just easier dude© but I'm not above buying Asian or European varieties if the photos upload in the right order... WE HAVE The Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium Trichomanes) which is confusingly NOT the same genus as my latter Maidenhair ferns.. it just looks like it is. It's classed as a miniature fern and boy is it fucking -adorable-, I plan to propagate them into lil moss terrariums. Its been used as a diuretic and cough suppressant so idk if u got the flu and a piss fascination this fern is for you Next up is the Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum Pedatum) and I love them, I would die for them, the delicate way they flit around in the gentlest breeze tickles the cockles of my heart. It's like looking at my gf on a summer day, ideal. Copypaste from OSU "Medical uses around the world for this plant has included bronchitis, whooping cough, chronic infections, hepatitis, snakebites, rheumatism, asthma, coughing, fevers, burns, and scalds. North Americans would chew the fronds and then apply them to wounds to stop bleeding."

Okay okay, ikik, so many maidenhairs but I can't help myself. What was I to do? this next one Adiantum hispidulum or, the 5 finger jack is from Australia, New zealand, and polynesia. It's got rosy colored young growth and more clover-like fronds. Couldnt find any specific medicinal uses I just like the cut of their jib So anyways I buy this next fern right, and the tag tells me 'ay, buddy, I'm an august fern' and for weeks I'm wondering where's the pretty orange streak? wheres the lil splash, why does the variegation look so different... well its NOT the marvel I thought it was! It's an East Indian Holly Fern! (Arachniodes Simplicior) and it's spores become big enough clusters they look like a bunch of baby spider nests! How neat! or terrifying, given your opinion on arachnids ig The next three pictures are of a Licorice fern, a Tassel fern, and an unknown variety I was given for free because it was unmarked and overwatered! The other two I bought from the clearance bin. They look rough, they look like they've been through the ringer, but I bet u a few months in one of my windows and all of em will have new fiddleheads and look happy as can be, give em a year and you'd never know they struggled. Kinda like people you love, treat em right and give em time, they'll probably start perking up too. I was explicitly excited about seeing the licorice fern as it's PNW native. The rhizomes are sweet and "..were chewed by numerous Native American groups, including the Squamish, Shishalh, Comox, Nuxalk, Haida, and Kwakwaka'wakw. The rhizomes were also usually used medicinally as a treatment for the cold and sore throats." FINALLY we got ourselves a Little lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) and what is probably a Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum). We pulled them out of the ground and split them off, accidentally taking rhizomes from both plants on accident! They don't seem to mind and have different growth habits so hey, why not

congrats if you made it this far, cheers to ferns

[plantsinposts]

-english ivy (Hedra helix)

-western redcedar (Thuja plicata)

-sword fern (Polystichum munitum)

-western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)

[pnwnativeplants]

photo copyright ©️ Lawrence Smith

[keik-keik]

PLANTOBER # 14 SWORDFERN

Swordfern is part of the large fern family of plants. These plants just went "yeah, all is good, no need to do much adaptation", so for 420 million years they did little to do any wild adaptations, mostly just being smaller plants, pretending being trees, and all of that. I'd love to actually write something smart, but this probably the wildest and most detailed family of plants, so will yet again gloss a bit…

So the swordfern is Polystichum munitum, the western swordfern. This plant is native to the western of the North America, but it does grow from up in Canada to the Mexico and even deeper south. This plant got naturalized into regions of Great Britain and Ireland, and from those regions, it did get exported even further.

Plants grow reaching up to 1.8 meters, creating lush, rich, spreading individual specimens, joined in groups.

Swordferns are exported to the global market, and are mostly used as a standalone plants, parts of gardens or cut and added to the floral compositions or bouqets.

In Poland, and all Eastern-slavic nations, there's a myth that during the Summer Solstice, if you manage to find the mythical flower of the fern, you will experience luck and riches. Ferns do not bear flowers.

A lot of people DO BELIEVE they do…

Even if the myths aren't directly related to swordferns, I wanted to enrich the narration for the ferns in general. These beautiful plants instantly remind me of the virgin and wild forests, so my hope is that they will, in a curious way, remind you as well of the calm that comes from the natural, wood terrains. That's how I feel about ferns in general… 😅

As always, thank you so much for taking a look at my art! Leaving a like, comment or sharing means a ton to me, and is more than appreciated! 🤗

Tools: pencil, ink, watercolor and watercolor crayons, white gel pen, white ink.

My socials: https://keik-keik.carrd.co

[rebeccathenaturalist]

How to Identify Western Sword Ferns

Originally posted at my blog at https://rebeccalexa.com/how-to-identify-western-sword-ferns/. Click here to learn more about the How to Identify article series.

Name: Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum)

Range and typical habitat(s): West coast of North America from southern California to extreme southern Alaska, and inland to the western Rockies in Idaho; also introduced to a few places in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Widespread through conifer forests at low elevations; while it is most commonly part of the understory of these forests, it may sometimes be found in nearby open areas as an early succession pioneer after disturbance.

Distinguishing physical characteristics (size, colors, overall shapes, detail shapes): This is a large fern, with individual fronds up to six feet long; the entire plant may be six or more feet across in very large specimens. The overall shape of younger plants may be a sort of “fountain” formation; with age and size some of the stems begin to droop downward, giving the overall plant more of a spherical or semi-spherical appearance. The leaves are a medium to medium-dark green; the spore-bearing sori on the underside are a rusty brown.

Underside of leaves showing sori. By brewbooks, CCA-SA-2.0

Each frond consists of a single stem (rachis). This rachis is round, solid inside, and may have a deep furrow down the center. It is green with rust-brown flecks along its length. Individual leaves (pinnae) grow in an alternate pattern along the stem; alternate means that one grows on one side, and then the next on the other just a little further down the rachis, and then the next on the first side a little further down, etc.) Almost the entire rachis is covered in leaves, except for a few inches at the base. Several of these may grow out of the same root/rhizome system, clustered close together, with dead growth from previous years lying on the ground at the plant’s base.

The sword fern is what’s known as single pinnate, meaning that there are leaves arranged in pairs along a single rachis, but those leaves are not further divided into smaller leaflets. Each leaf is lance-shaped with a pointed tip and finely serrated edges. The leaf has a main central vein, with smaller veins branching off of it in pairs, one on each side. On the underside of the leaf, the sori look like little brown fuzzy circles. They are arranged quite closely to each other in two rows, one row on either side of the central vein of the leaf. Each leaf varies from less than an inch to six inches long; the larger leaves are closer to the base of the stem, and get smaller toward the tip. The last few leaves near the tip may not be fully separated from each other. The leaves are attached to the rachis by very slender, short stems (petioles) at their base. The tips of some of the leaves may point away from the center/base of the plant, toward the end of the rachis.

Other organisms it could be confused with and how to tell the difference: While western sword fern tends to be the most common Polystichum species in its range, there are a few other species of the genus that overlap. You’ll need to look at small details to tell the difference; for example, P. imbricans can be distinguished from P. munitum by examining the leaves in relation to the main stem. In P. imbricans, the leaves are actually rotated on their petioles so that they are perpendicular to the stem like rungs on a ladder, rather than growing “flat”:

In addition to paying attention to small differences in things like leaf shape and arrangement, you also want to note where you saw the fern in question. Not every look-alike Polystichum species will be found in every part of western sword fern’s range; P. californicum, for example, only grows from southernmost British Columbia to central California. If you don’t have access to field guides, create a free account on iNaturalist. You can use the Explore function on the phone app or computer browser to see where people have logged observations of just about any species of living being you can think of; while it isn’t as exact as a formal range map, it’s a good substitute for casual use.

Finally, there are other ferns outside of the genus Polystichum that can also be confused with western sword fern. A good example is deer fern (Struthiopteris spicant). While it also has a cluster of individual fronds, each composed of a central rachis with pairs of leaves on either side, deer fern is smaller than western sword fern. A closer look shows that the leaves of deer fern are attached to the rachis by their entire bottom edge (sessile), rather than by a petiole:

Also, deer ferns have specially adapted “fertile” leaves that look different from the rest; western sword ferns lack these. These consist of a dark, tall rachis that has thinner, more widely spaced leaves; these lift the sori higher above the rest of the plant so that the wind can more easily blow away the spores. Their resemblance to deer antlers gives this fern its name:

A good quick guide that may help with distinguishing western sword fern from others in its range is Pacific Fern Finder by Glenn Keator. While it isn’t absolutely complete, it covers the more common species and is a dichotomous key that helps you narrow down your options by looking at various physical characteristics of the fern you’re trying to identify.

Anything else worth mentioning? Western sword ferns are not among the few species whose fiddleheads (young, curled-up fronds) are safe to eat. Reportedly the rhizomes have historically been used as a last-resort food source by some indigenous people. However, concerns about carcinogens mean this plant should not be considered a regular edible.

10000 Things of the PNW has a more detailed write-up of this species here.

Further reading:

Native Plants PNW: Western Sword Fern

OSU Extension’s Tourism Blog: Western Sword Fern

CalScape: Sword Fern

10000 Things of the Northwest: Polystichum imbricans (as a comparison to P. munitum)

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[plantsinposts]

-Western redcedar (Thuja plicata)

Douglas fir (Pseudosuga menziesii)

-Sword fern (Polystichum munitum)

Mossy cathedral

[parsley-sage-rosemary-thyme331]

Here we have Polystichum munitum in the POLYPODIACEAE family. Commonly, it is known as sword fern!

This evergreen fern can be identified by its pinnately compound leaves with alternate, serrated, dagger-shaped leaflets. It has spores year round in 2 parallel rows on the underside of its leaflets.

Polystichum munitum is native to the Western United States and Canada in moist coniferous forests. It reproduces via spores dispersed by wind and water. It can resprout from rhizomes, allowing for recovery from fire. Its fronds also allow for great shade tolerance, conserving of nutrients, and preservation of water.

[johnalton]

Common Sword Fern

Polystichum munitum

Some relevant facts about the common sword fern are that they grow in Washington State on both sides of the Cascades and the coast of Washington State. You can identify the fern by checking to see if it has alternative leaflets teeth on them. The spores on the plant are light yellow for identification. Also, animals use them for food and bedding to build nests. How Native cultures use them is by using their rhizomes and basal leaves as food, using the ferns as medicine for sore throats, treating burns, and using the leaves as bedding for mattresses.

Fern spores

work cited :

Polystichum Munitum. Notio. (n.d.). https://www.wnps.org/native-plant-directory/203-polystichum-munitum#:~:text=This%20plant%20grows%20on%20both,shaped%20and%20upright%20to%20arching.

[katev-design]

A botanical sketch of one of my favorite plants, the Western Sword Fern, Polystichum munitum.