Ferns are some of my favorite plants. Their delicate leaves and strong architectural forms keep me looking at them. The little ginkgo-shaped leaves and black stems of the maidenhair fern have to be right up there among my favorite kinds of fern.

But with all the delicate-looking ferns to choose from, what’s got to be another of my favorite is the bird’s nest fern (Asplenium sp.). Here are some closeups of the sides of the undivided spears of a specimen at San Diego’s Balboa Park.