Plant · GBIF taxon 5275044
lady fern
Athyrium filix-feminaAlso known as Common Lady-Fern, Northern Lady Fern
Lady fern unfurls delicate, bright green, lace-like fronds each spring from a stout central rootstock. Native to moist forests across the Northern Hemisphere, this perennial forms elegant vase-shaped clumps that shelter small woodland fauna. Its spore-bearing structures form distinctive crescent or horseshoe shapes along the veins on the undersides of mature fronds.
PerennialShade-LovingDeciduous
—observations
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—peak records
Least ConcernConservation statusIUCN Red List categoriesLCNTVUENCREWEXLeast ConcernRed List categories, explained →
Diet & prey
- Sunlight
- Water
- Soil Minerals
Predators
- White-Tailed Deer
- Slugs
- Sawfly Larvae
ThreatsDeforestation, wetland drainage, and extreme drought
HabitatsDamp woodlands, stream banks, shaded ravines, and wet meadows
Life span10 to 50+ years
Size / weightNot available
Classification
- FamilyAthyriaceae
- SpeciesAthyrium filix-femina
Range data is not available yet.
Interaction riskLow
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Very high
- Why interaction risk is low
- Safe to observe at a normal distance.
Responsible observation
- Spore Inspection: Turn over mature fronds in midsummer to observe the comma-shaped spore cases.
- Spring Growth: Look for tightly coiled brownish fiddleheads pushing through damp leaf litter in early spring.
- Shade Identification: Notice how fronds stay delicate in full shade but turn pale or scorch under direct sun.
Look-alike Carl Axel Magnus Lindman / Public domain · cc0
Habitat Neighbor (c) Tom Norton, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Tom Norton · cc-by
Understory Companion Doug McGrady from Warwick, RI, USA / CC BY 2.0 · cc-by
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