Christmas Fern

A winter's landscape, bleak and brown. Still, splashes of green brighten the steep bank.

Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides, maintains its luster all winter long, providing some solace for the botanically-minded.

Its festive names stems from being green at Christmas time, but the pinnae (leaflets) resembles a stocking, such as is hung from the mantle to be filled by St. Nick.