Polystichum acrostichoides(Michx.) Schott

Christmas fern

WFO wfo-0001109261 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Scott Allen Davis
fig. a Scott Allen Davis, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-10 / obs. 205103951
Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Clay Gibbons
fig. b Clay Gibbons, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205008752
Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Lori Schuster
fig. c Lori Schuster, CC0 1.0 / obs. 204991318
Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. d Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204119642
Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Frank Morgan
fig. e Frank Morgan, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 203649558
Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Mark Apgar
fig. f Mark Apgar, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203638667
Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Lynn Harper
fig. g Lynn Harper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 203963219
Polystichum acrostichoides, photographed by Steven Lamonde
fig. h Steven Lamonde, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205750154

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Confused withby our own model

These are not lookalikes we guessed at. Each one is a species our identification model genuinely mistook for this plant, and how many times. The error rate is published.

Also published as 29 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Aetopteron acrostichoides (Michx.) House
  • Aspidium acrostichoides (Michx.) Sw.
  • Aspidium acrostichoides var. incisum A.Gray
  • Aspidium auriculatum Schkuhr
  • Aspidium schweinitzii L.C.Beck
  • Dryopteris acrostichoides (Michx.) Kuntze
  • Nephrodium acrostichoides Michx.
  • Nephrodium acrostichoides var. crispum Hopkins
  • Nephrodium acrostichoides var. incisum (A.Gray) Hopkins
  • Polypodium acrostichoides (Michx.) Poir.
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. acrostichoides
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. crispum Clute
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. cristatum Clute
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. demittens C.F.Reed
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. furcatum F.Seym.
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. gymnosorum Neidorf
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. incisum (A.Gray) Gilbert
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. lanceolatum Clute
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. ligulatum Gruber
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. multifida Clute
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. orbiculatum Eames
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. recurvatum Clute
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. spathiforme C.F.Reed
  • Polystichum acrostichoides f. ventroperaferens Neidorf

and 5 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice, no toxicity claim and no native range, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.