Photos & Information

• Wildflowers

>Ferns

• Rare Plants

• Gardening with
  Native Plants

• Plant ID Guides

• Links

The Society

• Home

• Field Trips

• Meetings

• Newsletter

• Membership

• Get Involved

• Contact Us

• About this Web Site

This is Connecticut's largest fern. Its fiddleheads are food for ruffed grouse, and hummingbirds sometimes use the fuzz on young fronds to line their nests.

• Family: Osmundaceae
• Habitat: swamps, streambanks, shores
• Height: 2-5 feet
• Location of spores: separate fertile fronds are cinnamon-colored, narrow and erect
• Stipe (leaf stalk): round and slightly grooved; at first covered with cinnamon-colored hairs, later smooth and green
• Growth pattern: symmetric clump
• Persistence: deciduous