Fern Frond

Unfurling of a young Fern frond. A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants. In the mountainous forests of Togakushi in Japan where this picture was taken there are a huge variety of Ferns and some are even used in the spring for wild food. In western countries they are more popularly known as either woodland weeds or ornamental garden plants due to the fact that some species are extremely aesthetically pleasing while others grow with wild abandon preventing other forest plants from taking hold.