Fertilis
/FER-tih-lis/🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate
An epithet indicating the plant is notably fertile — producing seed, fruit, or spores abundantly. It contrasts directly with sterilis and is sometimes applied to emphasise that a selected form retains its seed-bearing capacity where related selections may be sterile. Appears as fertilis (both genders).
Etymology
From Latin fertilis, meaning "fertile," "fruitful," or "productive," from ferre (to bear, to produce).
Example
“Osmunda regalis var. fertilis and selections of ferns described as fertilis have the full complement of spore-producing fronds — the fertile fronds that produce the next generation and give these plants their reproductive completeness.”