Polypodium

A plant of many names, 'Grandiceps', 'Grandiceps Group', 'Diane' here we have opted for crediting the original selector of this strongly crested form of our native licorice fern. The edges and end of the fronds are highly curled and rippling ready to lend a flamboyant touch of crashing evergreen waves to the boulder or log of your choosing.

This unusual form of the Welsh polypody is one funky little dude. Pinnate fronds marked by pinnae of irregular length make it look as if it has undergone a friendly nibble from time to time, and each pinna is made yet more bizarre by a midrib that extends past its natural end to form a barb-like appendage akin to the stinger of its less amiable namesake. For the lover of botanical oddities (don't worry you are in good company) this is no doubt an absolute must have!

A princess in a tall tall tower, unicorn bait, or simply the most elegant of all the P. glycyrrhiza cultivars. Living up to the medieval chivalric ideal of beauty in chastity this is the true sterile 'Malahatense', a far superior variety to the cruder fertile form sometimes sold under the name. The usually entire margins of the species are transformed into flaming deeply lacerated plumes, often of an attractive blue green that fades into lightness towards the edges. Airy grace apt to induce fainting spells in the weakly constituted, keep the smelling salts nearby and be prepared to white knight your true 'Malahatense' queen against the pauper pretenders out there.

If, like me, your answer to what's better than a pinnate leaf is "why a bipinnate leaf of course" then you are in good company here. A fern for fine-foliaged fanatics fueled by feather-like flights of fancy, this welsh polypod has pinnately or sometimes bipinattely lobed pinnules especially towards the base of each frond creating the delicate effect of a fern shaped snowflake!

This is the Award of Garden Merit form of the species which has a superior presentation in its fronds which are blessed with a long terminal pinnae. And really, who doesn't want a long terminal pinnae? The typical species is a familiar sight growing on the trunks of our native Bigleaf Maples here in western Washington but this form is rare.

Also sometimes found as Polypodium cambricum 'Omnilacerum Oxford' this form of welsh polypody likes to get a bit wavy, so a perfect one to bring along with your mates to that all night rave. Or if instead of a slightly addled teenager you tend more towards florid Victorian you may describe it more viscerally as 'all lacerated'. Basically the usually entire margins of the pinnae can go from a gently undulating curvature to a starkly incised jagged edge, these forms tend to express a bit variably and develop with age but nonetheless add some extra character to an already excellent all-rounder fern.

There is some debate over the hybridity of this cultivar (or cultivar group potentially) and we are pulled in differing directions by the prevalence of hybrid suspicions normally winning out and the relative rarity of true hybridization in most ferns. Regardless of whether it is a mutt or a purebred it is a fine variation on an already classic theme. Finely cut fronds with such regularity in shape that one could easily be forgiven for assuming it to be an unfamiliar species. Cultivar ferns can be a bit marmite but I think even the purists would find this acceptable if not outright agreeable.