We at Santa Rosa Tropicals Ferns are always looking for new fern varieties to add.
Recently we were able to add a new Compact Autumn Fern to our assortment. This fern is a beautiful, compact, dark, strong type of Erythrosora. The leaves are intense coppery. This fern is already part of the top 10 outside ferns!
The compact Autumn Fern is a species of the family Dryopteridaceae, which is native in east Asia, from China and the south of Japan to the Philippines. The Autumn Fern is growing in light woodland shade on low mountains or hills. It is semi-evergreen, with bipinnate fronds 30–70 cm (12–28 in) tall by 15–35 cm (6–14 in) broad, with 8-20 pairs of pinnae. The fronds have a coppery tint when young, but mature to dark green.
The Latin specific epithet erythrosora means "having red spore cases". The Compact D. erythrosora can tolerate a drier soil than many ferns, but is most successful in moist, humus-rich soil, with a pH range of 6.1 to 7.5, with morning or late afternoon sunshine but not during the middle of the day. It grows best in the hardy zones 5 to 11. Numerous cultivars have been selected, including 'Prolifica' and 'Viridosora'. Propagation is done by division in spring, separating the small crowns from the larger crowns, or by spores.
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