Blechnum spicant is a species of fern in the family polypodiaceae, known by the common names hard-fern or deer fern. It is native to Europe and western North America. Like some other Blechnum it has two types of leaves. The sterile leaves have flat, wavy-margined leaflets 5 to 8 millimeters wide, while the fertile leaves have much narrower leaflets, each with two thick rows of sori on the underside. B. spicant is hardy and evergreen, growing to 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in). It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. * A sterile leaf * A fertile leaf with sori *