Polystichum lonchitis   Holly-fern

Polystichum lonchitis

I usually find this distinctive fern high up in the mountains growing out from underneath a rock but here in the Pyrenees at a height probably greater than those Scottish hills, it was a roadside weed. This is a northern hemisphere fern which is found in Europe, mountainous north America and even as far north as Alaska and Greenland.

Hill east of Gèdre, French Pyrenees, 8th June 2009

Added on October 20th 2011

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