Cyrtomium tukusicola

(aka: Cyrtomium macrophyllum var. tukusicola) Cyrtomium tukusicola hails from the mountains (3,000′ – 8,000′ elevation) of Japan, Taiwan, and much of southern China, but is somehow mostly missing from garden cultivation. This apomictic (self-gratifying and self-cloning) species forms an 18″ tall x 18″ wide evergreen clump. While each pinna (fern leaf) is larger than most other holly ferns, there are far fewer of them…for us, 2-4 on each side of the stipe, and a large trifurcate (3-forked) pinna at the tip. The dark black stipe color bleeds into the lower leaf veins for an attractive effect.