Intermediate wood fern
Dryopteris intermedia
Family · Dryopteridaceae · Irritating
The commonest crown fern on the floor of Azorean laurisilva, with much divided fronds and brown scales with a dark stripe along the stalk.
Oak woods · Uplands · Streams and ditches
Also known asevergreen wood fern, fancy fern
How to tell it
Fronds in a circular crown, three times divided, lacy in appearance. The stalk is covered in pale brown scales, many with a dark stripe down the middle. The sori are round and covered by a kidney-shaped membrane, the genus's mark. It smells faintly of hay when crushed.
What it is confused with
Male fern
Dryopteris filix-mas
They are in the same genus and share the toxicity. Male fern is twice divided and coarser looking; this is three times divided and looks like lace. Neither is used.
What it is for
None
A genus warning applies: Dryopteris contain filicin, used in old medicine against tapeworm and abandoned for being toxic, with cases of blindness and death. No fern in this group goes in the mouth.
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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