Garden Designers & Landscape Gardeners
Garden Buildings in South & East England

Cyrtomium caryotideum

This is the rarest of the genus Cyrtomium in the UK, its name comes from the palm name genus Caryota, commonly called the 'Fish Tail' palm, and as you can see in this photo some of the leaflets are indeed fish tail shaped. However the fish similarities go further, with beautiful scale like patterns on the leaves too.

This fern is worth tracking down and we have included it becuase it is not only the most exotic of  all the Cyrtomiums but is adaptable to different conditions as well; it can withstand dry and alkaline conditions and also some sun unlike many ferns. To get the darkest green leaf colour and the broadest leaves however it is best grown in moist, humus rich shade or semi shade, as this specimen was.

Available from Rickards ferns where we bought this excellent plant many years ago, see their link world-of-ferns.co.uk on our Resources Page.