Formely sold as: Cyrtomium fortunei var. intermedium

Cyrtomium fortunei is separated into four subspecies in Iwatsuki's Volume I of the "Flora of Japan".  Recent collections of new populations of Cyrtomium fortunei types have made me aware that there is great confusion in the trade with these various subspecies.  This fern was originally keyed as C. fortunei var. intermedium, but as more information has become available it has been re-keyed as C. fortunei variety clivicola! Takeko Hayashi, has most graciously been sending helping me sort out the various subspecies through correspondence, additional color illustrations, and actual herbarium samples for comparison. I started this endeavor at the end of the fall season so I look forward to pursuing sorting these out when I have new sporing fronds. The first key designation regards the color of the indusia. Both fortunei var. fortunei and fortunei var. clivicola have indusia that are colored uniformly grayish white throughout and fortunei var. intermedium and fortunei var. atropunctatum have bi-colored indusia, dark brown in the central portion and grayish white in the marginal portion. Nearly ripened sori are needed to properly observe this. The other interesting factor in growing these subspecies is that they are all agamosporous so they bypass gamete sex and bud directly from the gametophyte. This means they are usually very uniform in nature as populations. The distinctive features of this species are its satin chartreuse ovate-oblong pinnae with fairly smooth margins and very slight auricles on the upper edge next to the rachis. Cyrtomium fortunei var fortunei has twelve to twenty-six pairs of pinnae which are limited to twelve in var. clivicola. The pinnae are much larger, more lance-shaped and rounded at the base. The fronds of the type species have a fairly upright habit while this variation tends to a more horizontally arching habit.

Frond Condition:  Evergreen
Mature Height:  1-2'
Origin: Asia
Cultural Requirements:  Partly Shaded, Full Shade, Evenly Moist, Slightly Moist, Calcium (prefers alkaline soils)
USDA Zones: 6, 7, 8, 9