Adiantum pedatum L.

Northern maidenhair fern

About plant names...

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.

Online References:

The New England Wildflower Society’s GoBotany site

The Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut wildflowers site

The Missouri Botanical Garden

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

References:

Cobb, Boughton, Farnsworth, Elizabeth & Lowe, Cheryl, Peterson Field Guides: Ferns of Northeastern and Central North America, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005, p. 54

5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 15 × 10" (39 × 26 cm)

Semi-crested form. · 8/31/2023 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts

5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 19 × 14" (48 × 34 cm)

9/1/2017 · Worcester Road, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 12 × 8" (29 × 20 cm)

This more closely resembles Adiantum capillus-veneris, but is outside of its range. · 10/17/2016 · Ice Glen, Stockbridge, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 5 × 5" (13 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain

Semi-crested form. · 8/31/2023 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts

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
≈ 7 × 5" (16 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain

Adiantum pedatum description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 5 Sep 2023.

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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
≈ 14 × 9" (35 × 23 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
≈ 7 × 5" (18 × 13 cm) ID is uncertain

6/22/2014 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 19 × 12" (47 × 31 cm)

6/22/2014 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hamp­shire
≈ 12 × 9" (30 × 23 cm)

5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Mass­a­chu­setts
≈ 21 × 14" (52 × 34 cm)

6/12/2016 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area,

Range: Zones 3-8:

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