Lady fern
Athyrium filix-femina
Family · Athyriaceae · Harmless
The large soft fern of cold shady northern valleys, forming elegant crowns beside watercourses. Unlike bracken, which covers dry slopes, this lives only where moisture never fails.
Streams and ditches · Uplands · Oak woods
Also known ascommon lady fern
How to tell it
Fronds in a circular crown from a single point, delicate and much divided, luminous pale green. The axis is grooved and pale. On the sori, beneath, the covering is hook or crescent shaped, which separates this genus from the other crown ferns.
What it is confused with
Royal fern
Osmunda regalis
Both in crowns beside water. Royal fern has broad rounded leaflets and raises brown spike-like fronds in the centre; lady fern has finely divided delicate leaflets and makes no spike at all.
What it is for
No relevant use, and better so. It indicates well-preserved riparian woodland, and its presence in a valley says the water runs there all year.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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