Northern maidenhair fern is native to North America.
It prefers rich, moist, well-drained wooded slopes, ravine bottoms, and rock faces with a lot of moisture.
Note: The photos from Ice Glen in Stockbridge MA look more
like southern maidenhair fern than northern. But southern maidenhair fern is well outside of its
natural range here, and a list of Ice Glen species includes the northern variety, so I have tentatively
assumed that these photos are the northern. Personally I think they are central maidenhair fern. Okay ... kidding ... but it is very likely that this fern is one of the other 250, barely documented species of Adiantum.
Plants: Plants are deciduous, 12-30″ (30-75 cm) tall. Stems are reddish-brown to black
and wiry; roots are also wiry, and black.
Leaves: Fronds are 8-20″ (20-50 cm) long.
Fruits: Spores are found on the outer edges of
spore-bearing pinnae,
and may cause the edges to fold.
This more closely resembles Adiantum capillus-veneris, but is outside of its range. · 10/17/2016 · Ice Glen, Stockbridge, Massachusetts · ≈ 10 × 6″ (24 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain
Semi-crested form. · 5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 17 × 12″ (44 × 29 cm)
6/22/2017 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 15 × 10″ (39 × 26 cm)
This more closely resembles Adiantum capillus-veneris, but is outside of its range. · 10/17/2016 · Ice Glen, Stockbridge, Massachusetts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (20 × 13 cm) ID is uncertain
Adiantum pedatum description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 5 Sep 2023.
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 13 cm)
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 17 × 12″ (44 × 29 cm)
5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 4 × 2½′ (131 × 87 cm)
6/12/2016 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area,
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 14 × 9″ (35 × 23 cm)
This more closely resembles Adiantum capillus-veneris, but is outside of its range. · 10/17/2016 · Ice Glen, Stockbridge, Massachusetts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (20 × 13 cm) ID is uncertain