{"id":600,"date":"2020-07-06T13:55:45","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T20:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/?page_id=600"},"modified":"2020-07-09T15:57:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T22:57:43","slug":"polystichum-munitum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/polystichum-munitum\/","title":{"rendered":"Polystichum munitum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Family: Dryopteridaceae<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common name: Sword fern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-flora BC: https:\/\/linnet.geog.ubc.ca\/Atlas\/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Polystichum%20munitum<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Polystichum_munitum<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sword fern is the most abundant fern in and around Nanaimo. It grows as an understory plant in our coniferous forests, interspersed with dull Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa<\/em><\/a>) and salal (Gaultheria shallon<\/em><\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sword fern is an evergreen, its leathery dark fronds are present in the winter too. This photo was taken in December. Photo credit: Richard Droker via Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Earlier in the season, the fronds (leaves) of sword fern are lighter-coloured and upright. Photo credit: Willamette Biology via Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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New leaves emanate at the center of the plant from a compact, hidden stem. Note the darker green colour of the older leaves. Salal (Gaultheria shallon<\/em><\/a>), dull Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa<\/em><\/a>) and starflower (Lysimachia trientalis<\/em><\/a>) are visible in the photo too. Photo credit: Douglas Fraser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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If you peer down the center of a sword fern plant, you’ll see the new leaves, tightly rolled up, covered in scales, and hiding the growing tip of the stem. Photo credit: James Gaither via Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Underside of a sword fern leaf. Note the rusty-coloured scales on the leaf stalk. The dots are sori, clusters of tiny spore-bearing structures. This leaf was photographed early in the season, before the spores mature. Later, the sori take on a rusty-orange colour. Photo credit: Douglas Fraser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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As the sporangia grow, the umbrella-like ‘indusium’ that covered them begins to disintegrate. You can discern spores as white rice-like grains inside the individual sporangia. When the spores are mature, the sporangia break open. The backbone-like structure on the sporangium acts like a loaded spring that violently turn the ruptured sporangium inside out, flinging the spores into the environment. Photo credit: Richard Droker via Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sometimes people get sword fern and licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza<\/em><\/a>) mixed up. A closer look at the leaves should clear up any confusion. On sword fern (left) the individual leaflets are attached to the stalk through a narrow attachment point, and the leaf stalk has rusty-coloured scales. On licorice fern (right) the leaflets are attached to the stalk by a broad base, and the leaf stalk is smooth – no scales or flakes. Photo credit: Lynda Stevens <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family: Dryopteridaceae Common name: Sword fern E-flora BC: https:\/\/linnet.geog.ubc.ca\/Atlas\/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Polystichum%20munitum Wikipedia: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Polystichum_munitum Sword fern is the most abundant fern in and around Nanaimo. It grows as an understory plant in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2649,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-600","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/600\/revisions\/780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol223\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}