#sword ferns

[oddestishottest]

06/25/25

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Ever wonder how the western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) got its name? Let's take a closer look!

[pytheon]

[vanishingsydney]

Wall fern forest. An unprecedented third consecutive La Niña weather phenomenon is predicted for the East Coast of Australia between 25° and 35° south this spring/summer. Flooding events are already happening in the bush, after last summer's devastation that resulted in 30+ deaths and a whole town of 35,000 folks being washed away and destroyed. The Sydney basin was not spared, especially at the foot of the Blue Mountains. The Inner West was largely unscathed, but the constant rain made this old part of the city smell like mould and there was a proliferation of wall ferns everywhere that are still going strong. Climate change is right here, right now. Make no mistake. Petersham.

[hiddenstashart]

[rjzimmerman]

Biologist Jamie Bails writes about the teachings of sword ferns.

Excerpt from this essay from the Center for Humans & Nature:

Sword ferns are ancient. Sword ferns have had a very long run. The fossil record of fern-like plants starts almost 400 million years ago, and they are still with us today. While the sword fern’s exact ancestry is unclear, it appears to be descended from the prehistoric class Coenopteridopsida, which is in turn descended from Trimerophytopsida. Sword fern fronds are comprised of simple, alternate leaflets, or pinnae. Their leaflets are finely serrated and have clusters of brown spore cases, called sori, on their undersides. There are thirty-two and sixty-four sori on each frond.

Sword ferns have been important in the botany of many peoples and cultures. Native people used nearly every part of the sword fern. Because of their non-stick qualities, the fronds were used on berry-drying racks, to separate food in storage, and to line baking pits. Roots were dug in the spring, peeled and roasted over a fire or steamed in a baking pit, and served with fresh or dried salmon eggs. The cooked rhizomes were eaten to cure diarrhea. The Quinault people boiled the roots in water and used the water as a treatment for dandruff. The young curled fronds were chewed to soothe sore throats. Lummi women chewed fronds to hasten childbirth. They were also piled together for use as mattresses. Children played a game called pala-pala in which they tried to pull the most leaflets off a leaf in a single breath while repeating “pala.”

Sword ferns have a spiritual significance. Recently, I met a spiritual healer in Mexico who rubbed my feet, traced my veins, and instructed me to plant sword ferns around my house. In Spanish, she said “plant ferns under the window so that wild spirits do not come into your dreams at night.” Each morning, I look outside to see sunlight emitting from the core of a fern, somewhere deep within the plant. That’s when I think of her, Elizabeth, instructing me in Spanish to plant ferns for protection from wild spirits. I did not interrupt to tell her that I had already planted a hundred ferns, that I am already protected by good forest spirits. Instead, I listened to her vision of my past and future lives. In the coming years, I’ll salvage and plant more ferns under the back window. If ferns are what protects me, a few more won’t hurt.

[i-carrion-icarian]

2017 ferns.

[roady-the-wayward-dragon]

Among the giants of the Cascadian rainforest, one's not entirely alone. Such ancient souls have seen generations of mortals come and go.