holly fern

Questions about holly fern

What does holly fern mean?

holly fern means "any of various ferns of the genus Polystichum having fronds with texture and gloss like holly". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for holly fern?

Close synonyms include Cyrtomium aculeatum, Polystichum aculeatum. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is holly fern a common word?

holly fern is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.