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Intermediate wood fern

Dryopteris intermedia

Family · Dryopteridaceae · Irritating

Intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia)Intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia)
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Public domain · Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0

The commonest crown fern on the floor of Azorean laurisilva, with much divided fronds and brown scales with a dark stripe along the stalk.

Where it grows

Oak woods · Uplands · Streams and ditches

Also known as

evergreen wood fern, fancy fern

In flower

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

Harmless confusion

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.

Sources