Polystichum munitum - Giant Holly Fern

Polystichum munitum, which is sometimes called Sword Fern or the Giant Holly Fern, is a beautiful evergreen fern that resembles the Christmas Fern, but has a more imposing stature and a particularly strong structure that provides excellent resistance to bad weather. It produces an abundance of large, narrow fronds shaped like sword blades, which are tough and glossy and deep green in colour, appearing polished. Its upright and spreading habit is elegant, and it has a generous appearance. It thrives in cool climates and humus-rich, neutral to acidic soil, adapting to shady or even sunny conditions.

Polystichum munitum is one of the ferns endemic to the northwest of North America, where it can be found all along the Pacific Coast, from southeastern Alaska to southern California, as well as inland to the Black Hills mountains. This cool-climate species thrives abundantly in moist undergrowth and deciduous or coniferous forests, at low altitudes. It is a perennial plant of the Dryopteridaceae family, with an ascending rhizome, closely related to the male fern. Polystichum munitum forms a stipe (a kind of false trunk) reaching 1/5th of the size of each frond, covered with brown scales. This short stipe releases a dense tuft of foliage, with a fountain-like habit, from 90 cm (35 in) to 1.5 m (5 ft) in height and width. Each Polystichum plant can produce up to 50 tough sterile fronds, bearing erect fertile fronds at their tips. The lamina, linear to lanceolate in shape, is pinnate and carries 30 to 50 pairs of pinnae.

The Polystichum genus comprises a highly varied and particularly decorative group throughout the year in most species and varieties. Fully hardy, the Sword Fern adapts to many different conditions, but it seems to have a clear preference for cool climates and neutral to acidic soils, making it an ideal candidate for underplanting conifers. Just like its cousin, the Christmas Fern, its large glossy fronds can be used to create beautiful arrangements for festive tables, at a time of year when flowers are scarce. In the undergrowth, it can be associated with simple plants like butcher's broom, hollies, Oregon grape holly, or cotoneasters. On a shaded slope, it can be paired with hart's-tongue ferns or a robust and undemanding conifer like Siberian carpet cypress. In a more refined border, it can accompany, for example, fuchsias, yellow loosestrifes, and bicoloured pineapple lilies. It also thrives near water, among candelabra primroses (Primula bulleyana) or Japanese primroses (Primula japonica).