Polystichum squarrosum

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Thanks …, that’s very prompt and co-operative readiness.
I am  going to wait and see what … has to say

That’s Polystichum squarrosum – used for decoration sometimes, including in Delhi, but gathered around Simla.
Very pretty fern and quite rigid leaves. Nice photos you took!

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I did not take the pictures, … did, he even went back got us the spores pics… because i knew you would most likely want to see them.
I really appreciate your prompt help in the id and help. You are always kind ..

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Thank you … Our area is rich in ferns and there are several I do not recognise. Please expect more ferns soon.

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Consolidating my earlier post ‘Fern for ID/ABNOV05’ : 2 posts by 2 authors.
… had confirmed the ID of this fern from my earlier post as Polystichum squarrosum. Thanks to … for forwarding my post to … and his reply to me.
I am adding some new photographs with a few ID points here.

Pinnules have a projection at the bottom and the top edge has couple of teeth that dwindle in size toward the pinnule apex.
Sori are round, brown and about 5-6 in number on each pinnule.

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1800m
30 june 2015

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Polystichum squarrosum. For ferns you nearly always need to show the lower half of the frond plus stipe, rather than tips.
Both Osmunda claytoniana and P. squarrosum are very common and well known throughout the West Indo-Himalaya.

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Thanks again …

I remain a beginner with ferns. My apologies for neglecting to photograph the other parts of the fern- I should have known better but do have something as an excuse, since I had barely slept in two days (and the vehicle we had crossed the Sach Pass in was in very dangerous condition,

despite assurances to the contrary, so more than a little relieved to still be in one piece at the time) so my mind was not fully functioning plant-photography wise……

I think it will be helpful if I post a selection of images of a Dryopteris I photographed last year in the UK to illustrate for group members what shots would be useful for them to take (and the then the best selected) to post for you to look at, to INCREASE the chances you will be able to identify the less common/familiar species of fern AND to improve the value of such images to you.

Hopefully, in time, digital photography, provided high-quality close-ups are taken, can help with improving knowledge and understanding of ferns in India COMPLIMENTARY collection of pressed specimens. As with flowering plants, it is important that the photographer knows WHICH PARTS of the plant are the most important – as often in the past, these were omitted/missed altogether.

Last year I took 700+ images (for free of course) of flowers near a local canal. In the 1980s and 1990s that would have been the equivalent of 20+ rolls of 36 exposure slide film – the most I could afford for a month or more in the Himalaya. How times have changed. We no longer HAVE to limit ourselves to 1 or 2 photos per plant.

I am regularly requesting that more images are taken per flowering plant covering not just a general shot or two showing habit and the flowers but habitat, close-ups of petals, sepals, front and rear, foliage incl. undersides of leaves etc.

Whilst Marijn whose fern photos taken in Baltistan I have asked your help with, did not necessarily take all the close-ups of flowers or foliage I would have ideally wished for,  his often several images per species showing the habit and habitat are great (some of the images an absolute delight) and so informative.  Knowing better the environment where a plant grows is really important.