Along with Dryopteris, the shield ferns are some of the best hardy garden ferns. Normally evergreen, fronds can be leathery. A good identifying characteristic for Polystichum is that the pinnae have a thumb-like lobe at the base, and bristle-like spines, particularly at the tips. The are nearly 200 species across the world and many more cultivated forms available.
In common with most ferns, this genus has few specific wildlife values, aside from providing shelter to beneficial predator invertebrates, especially in the evergreen forms with a strong shuttlecock growth-form.