Don't you love it when the ferns emerge after winter?  I really love seeing the fiddleheads, and watching them unfold.

 

Polystichum acrostichoides, is also called Christmas Fern because the evergreen fronds are often still green at Christmastime.  It is one of the most common ferns in North America, living from Nova Scotia to Florida and west as far as Minnesota.  

 

An easy way to identify Christmas Fern is to look at the leaflets and you can see a small, triangular, "thumblike" lobe at the base.  Makes me think of winter mittens;  that's how I remember its common name.

 

I took this picture on the Creekside trail, where lots of ferns are emerging.  So exciting, Spring!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!