Cheilanthes eckloniana coll. #A1SA-181

(aka: Notholaena eckloniana) One of the most exciting plants we saw on our 2005 expedition to South Africa was a desert fern, Anthonya eckloniana. Although we have only dropped to 15 degrees F since we have had it in the garden, it has remained evergreen so far. The steely blue-green fronds emerge from the hairy tan croziers to form an 8″ tall x 8″ wide deer-resistant clump. These spore-grown offerings are from plants around 4,200′ in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape. A. eckloniana is named after the 1800’s Danish plant collector Christian Ecklon.